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‘Chocopreneur' couple promises new international taste experience

Bengaluru: We have heard of many entrepreneurship dreams taking root across verticals like IT, finance, biotech in the silicon-valley of Bangalore. But how many of us would venture into chocolates? And how many of us would undertake chocolate research as part of a dissertation? Everybody does what everybody else is doing – coding and software most of the time. But here's a young couple who have taken some risk and veered off the track. While Anusha A Chowdaiah, Bangalore's local girl, took off from Vasanthnagar's vintage Mount Carmel College to Emlyon Business School, France, Zhejiang University, China, and the iconic Purdue University, USA, to do her Master's in Entrepreneurship, and eventually conduct research and write a thesis on chocolate studies at Purdue, her husband, Lijesh Vincent moved on from Bangalore's reputed Christ University to India's management Ivy League, IIM-Kozhikode where he did his MBA. Both of them set up a chocolate venture with the conviction that Bangalore being a global city should have chocolate delicacies on par with the famed, orig-inal, European Belgian and Swiss textures and varieties. Anusha and Lijesh believe that Bangalore's folks deserved the world's best chocolates made right here and have come up with L'inoui', a chocolate brand, that in French means, 'Incredible and extraordinary'. Up until now, the couple had reached out to Bangaloreans online, but felt the need to get people to experience chocolate first hand. So if one wants to experience a freshly baked croissant, right out of the oven, you are in treat at this Jakkur outlet. They plan on announcing the time when these goodies would be baked. And if you swing by their store at that time, you will get your stash. Anusha went abroad to pick-up experience on launching her own venture and to understand developments in the chocolate industry. She explains what prompted her to go abroad for her studies. 'I went abroad because my mum wanted me to see and explore the larger world be-yond Bangalore and get an experience of life, entrepreneurship and tastes in different countries. She encouraged me to explore multiple economic and cultural experiences abroad, which wid-ened my perspective and do something very different.' Lijesh is equally endowed in matters of business operations. He picked up solid experience in supply chain management working for top-notch companies, and while in Bangalore, got a call from Anusha, who was in China at that time, and she asked him why not launch an entrepre-neurial venture. This equation worked out and Anusha could easily team up with Lijesh be-cause they were both friends in Bangalore earlier. Having savoured the world's best chocolates, especially in Belgium, Anusha instinctively felt why shouldn't India, and Bangalore, have a chocolate that would be desired just like the Bel-gian counterpart? And why import them always or depend on others to bring them into Banga-lore? To ensure their chocolate's international stature and authenticity, Linoui sources its ingre-dients from around the world – California, Belgium, Switzerland, and little corners of Europe where chocolate making is a hereditary art. They have a manufacturing unit, which follows a zero- adulteration policy, which translates to using the best quality ingredients without adultera-tion. So, Indian consumers get to savour the best of treats without having to worry about the quality aspect. Linoui offers a variety of chocolates like chocolate velvets, truffles and pralines, Do It Yourself Hot Chocolate Dips, chocolate dragees and an assorted variety of Belgian dark chocolates, apart from pastries, cakes, croissants, cookies and macarons, all with chocolate infusions. Lijesh is very aware of health concerns and ensures that the sweet component in the chocolates is not excessive, the fruits used are authentic and trustworthy, the butter is 100% dairy (no mar-garine or vegetable shortenings) and that the whipping cream is 100% dairy - no artificial fla-vors or sweeteners. And the cocoa comes from Africa and South America, while the cream comes from Italy, and the butter to make the bakes like croissants comes from France – all of which ensures a real global touch to Bangalore's chocolate experience. Here's surely a chocolate experience worth trying. Head to Linoui, KCS Arcade, Jakkur, launching on May 4, 11.30 am.