A 20-year corporate career, an events business and eight marathons may not seem like the usual starting points for a food entrepreneur.

But Anju Kalhan's journey to building a healthy snacking brand has taken an unconventional route.

A graduate in Business Economics from the University of Delhi, Anju spent two decades working in corporate and industry organisations.

She served as a Senior Economist at ASSOCHAM and Deputy Director at the Hotel Association of India, where she also worked with SSH Rehman, former Managing Director of ITC Hotels.

She eventually left her corporate career to start an events company, organising FICCI events and corporate workshops. Alongside her professional commitments, she pursued fitness, completed eight marathons and trained as a yoga professional and fitness coach.

But it was a personal health experience that eventually led her towards the food business.

Today, she is the founder of Bliss by Anju, a food brand making plant-based snacks without added oil, ghee, dairy or refined ingredients.

What began with experiments in her home kitchen has grown into an operation with an in-house manufacturing facility and a retail presence across 41 stores in India.

Anju says she had lived with high blood pressure for nearly 30 years, along with severe migraines and sinusitis. Health complications within her family, including diabetes and high blood pressure among her parents, also made her reconsider their everyday food habits.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she began exploring plant-based whole-food diets, learning from coaches and studying the role of food in health.

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