How The Humble Momo Became Hot Business

A handful of organized players are betting their growth on a Tibetan staple

- Sayantan Bera

Driving down from Delhi to nearby hills you may have made a pit stop at one of the numerous roadside eateries. You may also have ordered bite-sized steamed momos and devoured them with a fiery chilli sauce. Chances are, those momos were mass-produced and manufactured; yes, you read it right—manufactured in a factory—a few hundred miles away, not far from where you live.

The thought may be revolting, eroding the charm associated with the steamy hand-pleated snack from the Himalayas. But it makes sense for restaurants and small eateries. They can buy frozen, ready-to-steam-and-serve momos for as low as ₹5 per piece, rather than hire skilled hands to make it fresh. Frozen ones can be stored up to a year, and often taste better than those sold by street side vendors.

In the dusty bylanes of a manufacturing hub in Noida, Nitin Panwar and his partner Amit Pul from Nepal, run one such factory, named Momos Pro. It's a three-storey building next to a small garment manufacturing unit. Inside, the floor space, measuring about 6,000 sq. ft, hosts a kitchen, a blast freezer, a cold store and a room where women workers hand-pleat the filling inside the rolled flour dough. The space is clean to the bone, insulated from the din and dust outside.

Momos Pro was set up two years back with an investment of ₹2.5 crore to cater to the booming demand for momos. As a business-to-business (B2B) wholesaler, it supplies fresh and frozen momos to more than 50 clients which include quick-service restaurants (QSR) and hotels in a 250-km radius. The daily volumes hover between 15,000 to 20,000 pieces, depending on demand.

"There is no dearth of demand. The problem is everyone wants it dirt cheap," Panwar said with a chuckle. Those who supply to kiosks in metro stations do not want to pay more than ₹2-3 per piece. "You cannot maintain quality at those prices. The ones we make are sold to clients for ₹5-7 per piece, depending on the filling."