Student Switches From Networks to Groceries

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Kumar Venkata came to the University of Southern California in the fall of 2001 to get his master’s degree in computer networks. But by February of the next year, he had decided that the graduate degree wasn’t for him. Instead, he started an Indian grocery store near campus.


“It is a totally new experience. My father has a business but I was never interested in managing it. I have an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Hyderabad, India. The master’s degree was not really my thing though. So I dropped out and decided to start this store with the help of my brother who lives in Irvine.


“This area needed an Indian store. There are so many Indian students around who could definitely use a market with their own groceries. In the beginning business was a little slow. It was the middle of a semester and people did not know about the store. But once the new students started coming in, it picked up quickly. New students are always eager to come to an Indian store for food and groceries.


“The ‘ready-to-eat’ Indian food packs are what sell the most and at a terrific rate. It makes students’ life much easier you just heat the packet and food is ready.


“When I started, the store was much smaller and at a different place. Now it is much bigger. We also offer air ticket booking now and do a bit of catering over weekends if people ask. I also plan on starting a restaurant soon.


“Right now we have three people working at the store, including myself. We work till 9 every night.


“I haven’t been home since coming here in 2001. I just haven’t had the time. The store keeps me busy. But I am planning to go home this summer, it’s been too long.


“The most rewarding part of this experience is when someone comes running to the store in the morning and asks for a toothbrush, and they come back again in a few hours to pick up lunch. Maybe in a few hours again to get dinner. They know we are here for them.


“We may not have everything in the store, but we are always open to suggestions. It takes time to place an order for something and for it to arrive here. Stuff like vegetables and some frozen items we get locally, but spices and some other things have to be obtained from India.


“It was something I never planned almost like you jump off the mountain first and think of the parachute later. But it has been a good experience.”

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