Our History

Vijai and Jyoti Gupta on our plant lawn, 2010

Jyoti Natural Foods began as a pioneering effort in 1979 to bring Jyoti’s authentic home recipes to kitchens across America. Vijai and Jyoti endeavored to become among the first to bring ready-to-eat, shelf stable Indian cuisine to retail, at a time when such products simply did not exist.

Jyoti started testing her recipes and canning process in their Houston area home kitchen. The couple was determined to use only natural ingredients and ensure that when customers opened a can (and later pouches), the taste would be like they were joining Vijai and Jyoti for a home cooked meal. After successfully developing her first canned products, without preservatives, Jyoti Natural Foods began producing through co-packers and, in 1980, Whole Foods became one of the first national retailers to carry their products.

Despite a successful launch, and growing market share through the 1980’s limitations with co-packer technology and processes inhibited the company’s growth. One of the most significant obstacles in the food processing industry was ensuring that bean and lentil-based products were prepared without any natural impurities (stones, dirt, etc., that arise in the harvesting process). In the early 1990’s Vijai found a solution. He invented and patented a bean cleaning technology, unrivaled by any others in the industry, that solved their production challenges. With this technology at hand, the couple decided to build their own production plant which opened in 1996.

Today, Jyoti Natural Food’s plant in Sharon Hill employees nearly thirty individuals, producing twenty-four ready-to-eat, shelf stable Indian products and internationally inspired rice, grain and bean dishes in pouches. The company has also gained industry recognition for their private-label production capacity. Over the last several years, Jyoti Natural Foods has partnered with major national brands including Fillo’s, Iberia, Thrive Market, and Walmart, to provide private label production capacity for their products. Jyoti Natural Foods has also expanded its expertise towards frozen food and food service production including customers of scale such as the United States Army. The company’s patented and state-of-the-art technology allows it to produce all of its products with only natural ingredients and no preservatives. Jyoti Natural Foods has industry leading expertise in vegetarian food processing and specializes in making a variety of vegan and gluten-free dishes as well.