Kerala woman turns ₹100 and a handful of snacks into premium cafe in Malappuram

When poverty closed in, Kalathingal Shereefa stepped out of her home with just ten unniyappams in hand. Thirteen years ago, she began her journey on the streets, selling the traditional Kerala snack. It was a mix of determination, resilience, and the sheer appeal of her cooking that kept her going. With each passing day, she gained confidence, walked further, and today, she is regarded as the most successful Kudumbashree food entrepreneur in Malappuram district.

At the heart of her success is the Kudumbashree Premium Café in Kottakkal, a space that proves how food, when rooted in honesty and tradition, can lift lives.

Her husband, Sakeer, works as a painter, but his income was never steady, especially during the monsoons when work would dry up. It was during one such difficult time that Shereefa took to the streets with unniyappam to help feed the family. Her only capital: ₹100 borrowed from a neighbour. Slowly, she added pathiri and chapathi to her offerings, and that’s how ‘Muthoo's Catering’ came to life.

The turning point came when she met Hemalatha, the Kudumbashree Mission District Coordinator, who guided her towards a ₹2 lakh loan through Kudumbashree. With that support, Shereefa expanded her kitchen, launching a "Dabbawala" project that delivered lunch in steel tiffin carriers to staff at the Civil Station. During the COVID-19 crisis, she served nearly 2,000 meals a day to patients at Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram.

To this day, she continues to supply breakfast to the hospital. Under Kudumbashree’s guidance, she has also run canteens at Kottakkal Ayurveda Hospital and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Malappuram. Her next leap was when she took over a restaurant in Kottakkal, investing ₹5 lakh into a full-scale venture.

That’s when Kudumbashree officials posed a new challenge: could Kottakkal welcome a premium restaurant run by a homegrown entrepreneur?

The answer is now served daily at Malappuram’s first Kudumbashree Premium Restaurant—a space where local women lead the kitchen and the menu spans Arabian, Chinese, and the bold, comforting flavours of Malappuram itself.

“I manage this unit, which now has 30 employees, only because of Kudumbashree’s constant support,” says Shereefa. “The mission is truly working to bring Kudumbashree into the mainstream and elevate women entrepreneurs.”

In Shereefa’s kitchen, every dish carries a story. And every plate served is proof that food can be the start of something much bigger.