Their love for Lakshadweep delicacies made the three youngsters set up a humble outlet on Valentine’s Day last year. Celebrating its first anniversary on Friday, ‘Lak Dives’ on Kottaram Road here is now a favourite spot for those who have already fallen in love with Lakshadweep goodies.
Hamdulla Mohammed and F.M. Noushad, two students from Lakshadweep, and their Palakkad friend Nihal Parambil started off their venture mainly to test their entrepreneurship skills and in the hope of generating some additional income to support their studies.
While Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Nihal continue pursuing MEd on the Calicut University campus, their friend Nihal, who completed his master’s degree in Folklore Studies last year, has taken up the management of Lak Dives.
“We bring the goodness of Lakshadweep to Kerala with 20 exclusive products, including marine and coconut-based items. When we started our venture here on a 700 sq. ft. space, we were just students. Now, we have built a strong customer base so as to generate a net profit of at least ₹50,000,” says Mr. Nihal.
The products have an international market too, which has inspired the trio to set up their own production unit on the Island with government support.
‘Sarbath’ festival
To pep up the anniversary celebrations, the youths launched a five-day ‘sarbath’ festival on Friday featuring 49 items, including eight cold beverages, with unique names in the Island language.
Akkini Ikkini, Chankuneeri, Kunji Thiritti, Kithikili, and Basrakolli are some of the most sought-after items on the list, priced between ₹25 and ₹100. Dweep Surka was one of the exclusive sarbath items sold on Friday.
The product list at Lak Dives will soon see the delicious addition of octopus pickle.
Tuna pickle, coconut vinegar, tuna mass papad, tuna mass fry, tuna mass powder, tuna mass chips, and a number of medicinal syrups made of palm jaggery, dates, honey, and natural sugar already figure on the list.
