Indian Grocery and Takeout

Jatinder Singh, Rajbir Singh, and Jaskaran Singh Grewal are three friends who saw a gap in Stratford's food scene. With dreams of providing the community with quality Indian grocery options and takeout, they opened Indian Grocery & Takeout in July of 2021.

Jatinder stated that the Indian population in Perth County often had to drive to Kitchener or London to purchase Indian groceries and cuisine, his three friends agreed that opening a specialized store would add to Stratford's increasingly diverse economic and cultural landscape. All three friends are working professionals with backgrounds in engineering. Jatinder continues to work as an engineer in Stratford during the day, and spends his evenings in the store serving customers and prepping in the kitchen.

With no prior business experience, Jatinder knew they needed support for financing and overall business advice. After reaching out to two traditional lenders, they were told that since they did not own a property, they could not obtain a loan. The team went back to the drawing board and searched the internet for alternative solutions to financing. Finding support for a new business proved more difficult than they had imagined.

After finding Perth CFDC through their online search, the team reached out and began discussions with our lender, Alex Toll. With the funds obtained from Perth Community Futures, the store was able to expand their offerings and build a brand new kitchen to offer takeout to the community. Jatinder noted that since the kitchen expansion, their profits have doubled and are expected to grow.