Lumiere, the organic restaurant in Bangalore, grows all its needs in its own farms
Lumiere, one of the pioneers in organic agriculture, retail and food business in India, originated in Kerala in 2002 with a vision to show the world a sustainable “Seed-to-Table Organic” business model, thus allowing more and more people to pursue the same and make the whole world a safe and healthy place to live in.
The firm says it supports the organic farmer by practicing FAIR-TRADE. Currently, operations are based in Bangalore, through two organic stores and one organic restaurant. Leafy green vegetables come from their own organic farm in Varthur, Bangalore which also houses their free range poultry farm.
Their journey started when the founders purchased a 10 acre farm land in Kanthalloore, Munnar in 2002 and started
converting it into an organic farm. They cultivated vegetables and fruits there. Once they started getting their own produces, they tried to sell these to the community.
Since the whole concept of farmers’ market has evaporated from the country, they found it very difficult to market the organic produce to the customers. They were forced to find alternatives to utilize the produce. At this juncture, they came out with a plan of becoming an end user of their own organic produces by starting an organic restaurant.
In early 2006, they opened a restaurant in Panampilly Nagar, Kochi and started using their own organic produces in their kitchen. Thus, with the support of other such farms in and outside Kerala, they became Kerala’s first organic restaurant. Perhaps, they are India’s first multi-cuisine restaurant to go organic. This means that 100% of everything that you eat at the restaurant has been produced by organic growers and farmers all who share in Lumiere’s commitment to sustainable agriculture. They cultivate vegetables and fruits with traditional methods using bio-fertilizers and bio-pest control techniques like farm yard manure, compost, Jeevamrutha, Panchagowia, cow-urine, and other natural fertilizers etc.
Lumiere offers seasonal, fresh organic food, prepared in a healthy way. Free range poultry is raised in their farm
for their eggs and meat. They use natural proteins and azola and leafy greens grown on-site, to supplement
their feed.
In 2009 they moved to Bangalore and started an organic restaurant and an all organic store outlet where their
customers can shop all they want for their home kitchen. Unfortunately they had to close down the Kochi
operation during that period. Now they run their restaurant, store outlet, organic bakery unit and an online
shopping portal for Bangalore.
Thus their dream of having a ‘seed-to-table organic’ business model has come true and they hope that many
more such ventures would come up in their country as well as all over the world.
