Inchi Onboards Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi as Investor & Brand Ambassador
If Indo-Chinese food has a permanent place in your cravings, there’s a new partnership worth watching. We recently had front-row seats (and forks) at exactly such an occasion, as Melting Pot Food Products Pvt Ltd, the Navi Mumbai-based FMCG force behind the fast-growing Inchi brand, announced its powerhouse partnership with none other than Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi.
Yes, the chef who has become synonymous with bold, flavour-packed Indian and Indo-Chinese cooking is now officially part of the Inchi family — not just as the face of the brand, but as an investor and culinary partner. For anyone who has ever tried to recreate that restaurant-style Schezwan magic in their own kitchen, this is a collaboration worth watching.
Since its founding in 2017 by industry veterans Nikhil Bharti, R P Chatterjee and Manish Pardiwala, Inchi has built an impressive pantry of more than 100 products, spanning Schezwan dips and spreads, noodles, sauces, gourmet and instant soups, and cooking masalas.
The idea is simple but relevant to the way we eat today: bringing bold, flavourful Indo-Chinese cooking closer to the Indian home kitchen. And with Chef Harpal now bringing his expertise into product innovation and recipe development, that mission gets an exciting new dimension.
From the Restaurant Kitchen to the Indian Home
There is something uniquely Indian about our relationship with Chinese food.
What began as restaurant-style Chinese cuisine gradually evolved into something we made completely our own — from fiery Schezwan preparations and noodles to Manchurian, chilli dishes, soups and sauces that have found their way into everything from restaurant menus to home kitchens.
Inchi has built its identity around precisely this love for Indo-Chinese flavours, offering everything from Schezwan dips and spreads to noodles, sauces, gourmet and instant soups and cooking masalas.
Now imagine bringing that pantry a little closer to the restaurant experience, with Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi actively involved in the process. That is where this partnership gets interesting.
“I didn’t want this to be just another endorsement. I wanted to invest in a brand whose vision I genuinely believed in.”
For Chef Harpal, the association goes beyond putting his face behind a product. He is stepping in as an investor and culinary partner, bringing his experience into product innovation and recipe development, with the larger idea of making restaurant-style Indo-Chinese cooking easier to recreate at home.
And for anyone who has ever attempted to replicate that perfect restaurant-style Schezwan flavour in their own kitchen, that sounds like a proposition worth paying attention to.
Three Indian Names. One Flavourful Proposition.
At the heart of this partnership are three distinct strengths.
Melting Pot Food Products brings the business and FMCG experience behind the brand. Inchi brings an extensive portfolio built around a food category Indians have embraced wholeheartedly. And Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi brings culinary expertise, recognition and, perhaps most importantly, an understanding of how Indian consumers enjoy their food.
That combination could make a meaningful difference to how the brand evolves.
As Director Nikhil Bharti put it, the company was looking for more than a familiar face to represent Inchi. It wanted someone who genuinely believed in the category and could bring culinary understanding into the brand’s next phase.
“We were looking for a universally loved brand face who deeply believes in the Indo-Chinese category, and Chef Harpal was the perfect fit.”
It is an interesting distinction — brand ambassador versus brand believer.
And when the person representing a food brand is also investing in it and participating in its culinary direction, the relationship naturally takes on a different dimension.
A New Chapter for Inchi
For the Inchi team, the ambition is equally clear. The brand is at a crucial junction in its journey, with the company targeting ₹500+ crore in the next five years and setting its sights on a significant scale-up under the founders’ leadership.
With the directors bringing decades of FMCG experience to the table, and Chef Harpal adding his culinary perspective to the mix, this is a coming together of two worlds that increasingly overlap — the business of food and the pleasure of eating it.
And perhaps that is what makes this partnership more interesting than a conventional celebrity-brand association.
It isn’t just about putting a well-known chef’s name on a packet. It is about what happens when a chef gets involved in what goes into that packet, how it can be used, and how an everyday home cook can turn it into something that tastes a little more like the restaurant version they love.
For a category as deeply embedded in India’s food culture as Indo-Chinese cuisine, that is where the real story could unfold.
So, if you are someone who believes that a great plate of Indo-Chinese food can fix almost anything, consider this your sign to keep an eye on Inchi.
Because when Inchi meets Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, the next recipe may not just be about what is on the plate — it could be about how we bring that flavour home.
