OPENING
Jugmug Thela was built a certain way from the beginning. Not because it made good copy. Because it was the only way that made sense to the person building it.
KARM MARG
Before Jugmug Thela existed, I volunteered with Karm Marg — a residential care home for disadvantaged children in New Delhi. That was not connected to any business plan. It was just something I did.
Growing up in India, you see children working at roadside chai stalls. Very young. Long hours. No school. The chai stall was where I spent some of my happiest hours — and also where I first understood that the same cup of chai meant very different things depending on which side of it you were standing.
When we launched in 2013, two graduates from Karm Marg became our first employees. That felt right. It still does.
Since then, we have maintained ongoing partnerships with Karm Marg and Sunshine — an NGO near our Champa Gali headquarters. People from both organisations have trained and worked with us over the years. We currently sponsor fitness trainers at the Karm Marg care home.
It is not a programme. It is just how we operate.
HOW WE HIRE
Equal pay for equal work. A transparent salary structure. A visible path forward for everyone on the team.
We do not discriminate — on the basis of sex, caste, religion, colour, sexual orientation, or anything else. We pay above the industry standard for our sector. Our workplace is gender-inclusive.
None of this is complicated. It is just what we decided from the beginning.
HOW WE BUILD
The Champa Gali headquarters was built from upcycled construction waste. Reclaimed glass. Salvaged bricks. Discarded pallets. Sustainable pine. Not because upcycling was fashionable at the time — it was not, particularly — but because buying new felt wrong when the right materials were already there.
The design followed the materials. That is not a design philosophy. It is just what happened when you build something yourself, with what you have.
On plastic — our default is no. We use it where food safety or glass shipping requires it. Nowhere else.
This commitment goes back further than the business. In my teens I volunteered with CYWEN, part of CEE Ahmedabad — one of India’s leading environmental education organisations. Some things stay with you.
HOW WE SOURCE
Where possible, we source Indian ingredients directly from farmer groups and small producers. Shorter supply chains. Fairer prices at origin. We say where possible because that is honest. We are working toward more of it.
CLOSING
We have not always got everything right. We have got better at most things.
That is the only claim we make.