The Chakkakkoottam story: For the love of jackfruit

KOCHI: It all began when someone decided to start a WhatsApp group of jackfruit lovers. Never would Anil Jose, the face behind the WhatsApp group, think that the group would one day develop into a company.

In 2015, a study came out about the tropical fruit revealing that half of the country’s jackfruit is going to waste. “According to the report, in Kerala, one-third of the fruit went unused,” said R Ashok, chairman of Chakkakkoottam International Pvt Ltd. On learning about the amount of fruit going unused, the WhatsApp group began thinking of ways to promote the fibre-rich fruit, which has proven to be good for diabetes and find more uses for it.

The WhatsApp group began doing everything to promote their beloved fruit. “We shared details on the availability of the fruit, held small meetings at houses where they have abundant jackfruits, and found time to visit places where fruits are ready for picking. And we are still doing all these and more in the group even now,” he says.

According to Ashok, the WhatsApp group began by Anil Jose, a native of Palarivattom, today has more than 1,600 members. “We have outgrown and now have four WhatsApp groups. One of which is named Chakka and Manga group.”

The group has now reached all over the world. “We discuss everything about food and jackfruits during our meetings. However, politics is a big no in the WhatsApp group!" says Ashok.

According to Ashok, when the jackfruit lovers came to know about the Chakkakkoottam, several from other states and abroad expressed their interest. “The group has people who love to eat jackfruit to those who sell saplings and snacks,” he explains. 

“The idea to launch a company was mooted by a new admin of the group. He directed the discussion to the possibilities of forming a Private Limited Company (Chakkakkoottam International Pvt Limited) that would manufacture value-added products from jackfruit,” Ashok says about the spark behind their start-up.

“The aim was to ensure that jackfruit products are available to more people and create job opportunities,” says Ashok, one of the co-founders of the company besides Vipin Kumar, Manu Chandran, Sabu Aravind, Anil Jose and Bobin Joseph.

The company set up in a leased building is based at Kadayiruppu in Kolenchery and manufactures six varieties of jackfruit products.

“We have jackfruit chips, ripe fruit fried, dried jackfruit, powder, jam and halwa. We use air fry for the chips,” Ashok adds. According to him, instead of going around telling people that the fruit is good for those  with diabetes or suffering from cancer, the onus should be put on teaching people how to use the delicious fruit properly.

“I have been handling media and commercial photography. Vipin Kumar has more than 40 years of experience in the food sector. Sabu Aravind and Manu Chandran come in with more than 16 years of experience in marketing and Bobin Joseph is an expert in manufacturing and customising machinery for the food sector. So we are not completely new to the business side,” Ashok explains.

The discussions on the new venture began in July last year and by September the team finalised the concept. “Today, a company that was a WhatsApp group is competing with the giants in the market with a variety of Jackfruit products,” Ashok says.

“We have innovative products such as frozen idickkaka and chilli vegan meat (Idickkaka), which vegetarian lovers can prepare in less than five minutes. We have launched many products in the market. The company aims to ensure that the jackfruits in the state are not wasted. We are also trying to find markets for jackfruit in foreign countries,” Ashok says.