The mission
From a lockdown barbecue to a fully built brand.
Mama Sood’s began with a lockdown barbecue. Neetu had been making her chutneys for family and friends, using recipes she had cooked since her kitchen in New Delhi in the early 1970s, and the reaction at that barbecue convinced her son Paalan there was something worth building. They tested it the honest way, by selling jars, and the first batch sold out in about twenty minutes. That was proof enough of demand to turn a family favourite into a business.
The problem
What it did not have was a brand. There was no identity, no website, no email programme and no social following. Just Neetu’s cooking and a son who could see the opportunity. As a sister brand to the agency, founded by Paalan and Neetu, everything else was Sood’s to build, starting with the identity and the jars themselves, and only then the stall, the stockists and everything that followed.
The solution
Branding
- Created the core logo from scratch: a mother-and-calf elephant silhouette, an Indian-heritage cue that also carries the “Mama” idea at the heart of the business.
- Built a two-logo system, a fuller hero mark and a simplified label mark, so the identity scales cleanly from a jar label up to signage and merchandise without losing legibility.
- Designed a tab and shield-shaped label that works as an off-shelf premium signifier, setting the product apart from standard jar labels.
- Colour-coded the range, giving each flavour its own colour identity so the products read clearly as a set on shelf, all built for a two-colour print process that keeps the palette vibrant while keeping production efficient at scale.
- Added a decorative pattern border as a consistent heritage cue, carrying the cultural story visually so the copy never has to lean on words like “authentic”.
That system was built flavour-led rather than illustration-led, which is why it has stretched to newer products like Brian’s Red Onion, Mixed Pickle, and Lemon & Lime without needing a fresh visual treatment each time. The elephant motif and the tab shape have stayed the throughline for several years of range growth, even as label detail, fonts and serving suggestions have developed.
Everything that followed sits on one tone of voice system, a written set of rules covering punctuation, numbers, currency and the words and phrases the brand does and does not use, so Mama Sood’s sounds like one person across the site, the emails and the social output.
Website
Sood built Mama Sood’s first website when the brand launched, then iterated as the business grew, later moving the store onto Shopify as the range and order volume justified it.
- Built out the product pages to sell, not just list: reaction videos pulled from social so shoppers see real people tasting the product, a Suggested Use on each one showing how versatile it is, and a “What the Judges Say” panel on the Great Taste winners that puts independent endorsement right at the point of purchase.
- Evolved the homepage and product pages to put Neetu at the centre as the brand matured, shifting the story from a product category to a woman and her kitchen.
- Wrote the Our Story page as genuine long-form brand storytelling rather than a standard about-us.
- Overhauled the recipe content, rewriting the method steps so the voice holds across the whole site, and added a Mama’s tip to each one, giving every recipe a personal touch while showing the chutneys in real use.
- Kept the ecommerce structure clean and decision-friendly at the point of purchase.
Sood built Mama Sood’s email programme from scratch and has run it since, several sends a month plus automations, first on Mailchimp and later on Brevo when it made better commercial sense.
- Created a repeatable email architecture: a hero graphic, a hook, offer and call to action, an events and supper club panel, and named testimonials with star ratings.
- Built the full automation suite and still runs it: a three-email welcome flow, a post-purchase flow, abandoned cart recovery with proper exit logic, and a win-back sequence for lapsed customers.
- Planned the calendar with commercial timing, such as a Great Taste bundle sent for National Chutney Day.
- Made subscription the core loyalty mechanic, written as a letter from the kitchen rather than a marketing push.
Social (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Planned a cross-channel calendar with rules specific to each platform.
- Drew the content from Neetu’s own words and kitchen rather than generic brand messaging.
- Developed ownable, recurring formats, including stall reaction clips, market recaps and product explainers.
- Treated markets and supper clubs as content engines, not just sales days.
- Ran daily stories across the channels, rotating testimonials and other social proof so the content stays varied and nothing repeats within a month.
Off the back of the same storytelling, Sood also built the trade and gifting infrastructure, reframing the retail pitch so the brand’s story opens the trade conversation too.
5
Great Taste stars
Earned across the Mama Sood's range.
12,000+
Jars in a year
A customer base built jar by jar.
45M
Impressions and views
Across the social channels, with over 1 million engagements.
40,000+
Followers
Grown across Mama Sood's channels.
The results
What started as recipes at a lockdown barbecue is now a fully built brand, and the results have followed the work. Mama Sood’s has earned five Great Taste stars, sold out its supper clubs at Shakespeare North Playhouse, and grown from markets to stockists with a customer base built jar by jar, more than 12,000 jars in a single year. The social work has reached 45 million impressions and views, driven over 1 million engagements, and grown the brand past 40,000 followers across its channels. Years on, the identity Sood created still holds across an expanding range, and the brand reads as one confident voice wherever a customer meets it, on shelf, on site, in the inbox and at every market and supper club along the way.
