Maruti Suzuki
Suzuki Motor Corporation, the Japanese parent company of Maruti Suzuki, is moving beyond cars and entering the kitchen as well. The carmaker has quietly entered the packaged food market in Japan with its ready-to-eat Indian vegetable curry, which has become a huge hit. Curry has set a new record in sales.
Launched as a business in June 2025, Suzuki Restaurant Indian Vegetable Curry has sold more than 100,000 packets in three months, emerging as one of the company’s most surprising success stories this year. An idea that started in a restaurant The idea was born in Suzuki’s restaurant in Hamamatsu, where more than 200 Indian engineers work. To make them feel at home, the company partnered with 150-year-old local restaurant Torizan to introduce Indian vegetable curry in early 2024. After months of tasting, a menu was prepared which not only had the authentic Indian taste but also appealed to the Japanese taste. These dishes became so popular that even Japanese employees started queuing up for them.
Ready-to-eat curry
Automotive journalist Kushan Mitra pointed out that Suzuki is entering the packaged food business in Japan. They have launched four new packaged Indian curries and sold 1,00,000 packets in four months. Seeing the response from office lunches to store shelves, Suzuki turned his internal experiment into a finished product. Together with Torigen, he developed a ready-to-eat curry kit that could be served after a few minutes of steeping in boiling water.
In July 2025, the company launched them across the country under the Suzuki Bhojanalaya Indian Vegetable Curry brand. Priced at ¥918 (roughly Rs. 500), each pack features images of Suzuki’s cars and motorcycles that both connect to its roots and expand beyond them.
The initial line-up includes four varieties
Big white radish sambar, tomato dal curry, spicy gram curry and green moong dal curry. Suzuki is planning to introduce 14 more flavors soon. What started as a workplace meal for homesick Indian employees has now reached Japanese homes. The brand’s growing popularity reflects Japan’s interest in global flavors and convenient, vegetable-based options.