My First Food Business Failed. Then I Served 46 Customers With a Snack Stall.

My first idea was to start a Dabba Wala service for hostel students. I thought selling homemade food would be a simple way to earn money during the EYFI Challenge.

I prepared the food in the morning before heading to college and planned to sell it to students in the afternoon. But by the time I started selling, the food had become cold. Most students wanted fresh, hot meals, and very few were interested in buying mine.

I earned just ₹200 against an investment of ₹500, leaving me with a loss of ₹300.

It wasn't the start I had hoped for. But it taught me something important: having a product people need isn't enough. The timing and quality of the experience matter, too.

From Dabba Wala to BYOB

After that attempt, I explored freelancing as another way to earn. I applied for opportunities but couldn't secure any work, partly because I lacked experience and couldn't find the right opportunities.

I needed a different approach.

That's when I came up with BYOB, short for Bring Your Own Bag. Instead of selling a standard snack, I wanted customers to create their own combinations.

The concept was simple: customers could choose chips, such as Lay's, and customise them with fillings like paneer, chicken, vegetables, and sauces.

It was a more interactive way to enjoy a snack. Customers could choose what went into their food rather than being limited to a fixed option.

I decided to set up an offline stall and test the idea.

One Week, 46 Customers

The BYOB stall ran for a week, and the response was encouraging.

Young customers were interested in trying the customised snacks. Having different options and letting people create their own combinations helped attract attention.

Not everyone was equally interested, though. Older customers were less drawn to the concept, which showed me that the same product can appeal differently to different audiences.

Over the week, I served 46 customers and generated ₹5,800 in revenue against an investment of ₹2,500. That left me with ₹3,300 from the stall after accounting for the reported investment.

The experience was very different from my first attempt. With Dabba Wala, the food had lost its appeal by the time I reached customers. With BYOB, the customisation and presentation were part of what made the product attractive.

I began to understand how much customer preferences influence whether an idea works in the real world.

What Failure Taught Me About Selling

My first attempt could have discouraged me from trying another food business. Instead, it pushed me to rethink what I was offering and how customers would experience it.

I learned that freshness matters when selling food. I also saw how giving customers choices can make a product more engaging.

Most importantly, I learned to pay attention to the response rather than getting attached to my original idea. When something isn't working, the answer isn't always to keep pushing harder. Sometimes, you need to change the product, the timing, or the way you sell it.

The EYFI Challenge gave me the opportunity to test ideas with real customers, face rejection, and learn from the results.

From a ₹300 Loss to a ₹3,000 Net Income

Across both food experiments, I reported ₹6,000 in total revenue and ₹3,000 in total investment, leaving me with ₹3,000 in net income.

The journey wasn't a straight line. I started with an idea that lost money, tried another route that didn't lead to work, and eventually found a concept that customers were willing to pay for.

I'm Thanushree H P, a Cohort 2 fellow at PES College of Engineering, Mandya. My biggest takeaway from EYFI is that earning isn't just about coming up with an idea. It's about understanding customers, testing your assumptions, and being willing to try again when the first attempt doesn't work.

---

This story was adapted from Thanushree H P's original EYFI Challenge report and edited by the YouStart team.