Madison-based Nommli sending culturally immersive experiences to customers’ doorsteps

It’s often said one of the best ways to learn is through travel. For families, this isn’t always feasible due to time or financial constraints. That’s the inspiration behind Madison-based subscription box service Nommli.

Each Nommli box offers customers exposure to different regions of the world through customized recipes, cultural activities, playlists of music and movies from that region, and more. The startup launched in beta mode last year, and fully launched at the start of this year.

Nommli was founded by Padmini Chintakayala. She and her husband have a deep love and appreciation for food. They would often take trips to large cities like Chicago to expose themselves to different cultures. Then, the pandemic shut the entire restaurant industry down. This, coupled with her son’s natural curiosity surrounding the different foods his friends would eat at school, led Chintakayala to question why food experiences couldn’t be sent directly to consumers.

“A lightbulb really hit me. I thought we need some kind of ethnic representation in mainstream subscription services,” said Chintakayala. “We’re not just shipping food from ethnic restaurants, but we’re building really immersive cultural experiences.”

Nommli partners with several restaurants to curate the meals sent out each month.

The company started with boxes representing the Indian, Japanese and Mediterranean cultures. Each month, customers get a box representing a different region of the world, complete with several cultural activities so families can make a night out of it.

For example, a box recently sent out representing a specific region of Japan included an origami activity for families. The box, which included the ingredients needed to make ramen, also offered educational materials on Japan’s different regions and expert tips on how the Japanese eat this well-known dish.

“We’re really getting very authentic recipes from generations ago,” said Chintakayala. “You’re really getting authentic Japanese ramen from a very specific part of Japan.”

Right now, the company is solely selling its boxes through word of mouth. Chintakayala’s immediate goal for Nommli is to reach 100 customers by the end of the summer.

“We’re looking to explore opportunities with school districts and to get in front of families. I think that’s where the real value is, not just for us, but for families,” she said.

Nommli has been mostly bootstrapped thus far. The startup completed the FOR-M incubator last year and won a $10,000 grant. Chintakayala hopes to end 2024 by securing some amount of venture funding.

“It really hurts me, coming from an ethnic culture, to just see a box or bag of food dropped off at your doorstep,” said Chintakayala. “We eat our food, not really realizing how much culture exploration is behind it. That’s what I’m bringing together.”