The chef and her kitchen
Hari Ghotra is a chef, author, and teacher of Indian cuisine. After training at the Michelin-starred Tamarind restaurant, she built a wider body of work around authentic Indian cooking—classes, recipes, books, and spice kits. "I want to bring great Indian food to life for all the curry lovers out there," she says. "The very exciting next step for me has come in the form of the Hari Ghotra app."
Her community brings curry lovers together to learn from Hari and from one another. Members can ask detailed questions, share finished dishes, and develop their cooking in the same space that holds Hari's teaching.
The missing digital home
Hari already had recognised expertise, popular products, and a growing community. What she lacked was one digital home for all three. "I have been working hard in the digital space to make authentic Indian food and cooking become more accessible," she says. "I want to show people how fantastic, healthy and delicious Indian food can be."
She wanted recipes and kitchen advice to stay easy to access, while creating room for paid classes, premium content, cookbooks, and spice kits. Public digital channels could distribute individual pieces, but they did not bring the learning, commerce, and member relationships into one experience.
Free to join, with room to sell
The free-to-download Hari Ghotra app combines recipe libraries, cookery classes, groups, forums, live streams, and a shop. Members can learn a technique, buy the right spice mix, post a photograph of the finished dish, and discuss the details with Hari and the community. Selected recipes and class videos sit behind in-app purchases, and books and spice kits are available through the app—giving members a direct route from teaching to the ingredients and resources that support it.
A two-way kitchen
More than 400 dishes have been cooked and shared through the app, and the live streams and comments have turned Hari's digital teaching into a two-way exchange rather than a broadcast. Her books Hari's Guide to Zero Waste and Hari's Guide to Indian Herbs, Spices & Oils have outperformed other sales channels, and the app has earned a 5-star App Store rating. Hari can keep the main experience free while earning revenue from selected teaching and products inside the same owned space.
