CASE STUDY • 2026 • ONGOING
Gotchu
A small-batch food project from two cousins. Eleven drops in, it's the project the studio is having the most fun on.
Client
Gotchu (in-house),
Bengaluru
Founders
Parul Kanodia &
Arshita Kanodia
Year
2026 to ongoing
Status
11 drops down
1–2 a week
Scope
Brand strategy · Naming · Voice System · Visual identity · Packaging system · Sticker Rotation · Merch · Social System · Photography art direction · Operation
01 • PREMISE
A studio's own client
Gotchu is what happens when a brand studio is the client.
We do this for a living for other people. Strategy, naming, voice, packaging, ongoing custodianship. We've spent years defending briefs in rooms full of people who all have an opinion about the logo. Gotchu is the version with no one to argue with. No client review. No brand committee. Just the work, and lunch.
Gotchu is Parul and Arshita's small-batch food project. We do limited drops once or twice a week, mostly layered bowls, with a few other things. Everything is made fresh in small quantities, and each drop is a little different. We prep on the day of the drop, chopped, mixed and dressed fresh, and once the batch is done, we close orders. There's no standing menu. Just good bowls when they're ready.
we gotchu <3
02 • THE WHY
We were tired of being disappointed by lunch
If you want a properly balanced meal in Bangalore, the options narrow fast. Most healthy places lean preachy or sad. Most everywhere else leans heavy. The middle, where a meal is fresh and bright and actually satisfying, is surprisingly empty for a city this size.
We love food. We love cooking, and more than that, we love feeding. Most of our conversations have been about food for years, somewhere between meal planning and small-time food criticism. We've taken food trips together, traded recipes, argued about dressings. Gotchu was less a decision than the next obvious step.
We run Gotchu out of our place. Arshita on the food, Parul on the brand, and both of us on everything else. The vegan protein in some bowls is Chanza, a Bangalore-made product we love and trust enough to put our name next to.
03 • THE BET
Drops, not menus
The strategic move was the one we'd have argued for if a client had brought us this brief.
Most food brands in our adjacent category go for predictability. A standing menu. Daily availability. Hand-cut-with-love photography. The same chopped salad on Tuesday as on Friday. We went the other way.
Gotchu drops. One, sometimes two times a week. Pre-orders open 48 hours ahead, close six hours before pickup, and once the batch is gone, the batch is gone. Each drop is a different bowl. Same kitchen, same care, different bowl.
The thinking was simple. Scarcity isn't a marketing trick when you cook everything yourself in a home kitchen. It's a kitchen reality. Once we accepted that, the rest fell into line. Drop culture isn't decoration. It's the most honest version of what's actually happening.
It also turns out to be the version that builds the strongest relationship with the people eating the bowls. You can't ignore a drop. You either catch it or you don't. The WhatsApp group, the countdown, the sold-out story, the waitlist for next week. The whole rhythm makes lunch feel like something you participated in, not something you bought.
04 • THE VOICE
One word, doing a lot of work
We wrote the voice system before we made the first bowl. The rules were short.
Dry. Confident. Internet-aware without trying. No exclamation marks. Short sentences. Talk to the customer like a friend, not a brand.
we gotchu.
limited for a reason.
small batch energy
cilantro supremacy
dress responsibly
crunch first.
made this morning.
gone by evening.
say less.
you're in.
05 • THE PACKAGING
Kraft. Stamp. Sticker. Repeat.
The base is deliberately cheap and good. Brown kraft paper. A two-colour sticker palette that can stretch wide. A hand-cut wooden rubber stamp for the wordmark, which we use as both a tool and a graphic.
The QR is the operational hinge. Every bag routes the customer to the next drop. Stay on drop mode is both an instruction and a wink.
We gotchu
Wordmark Stamp
Cilantro Supremacy
Stay on Drop mode
Limited for a reason
06 • THE BOWLS SO FAR
Eleven drops in nine weeks.
Starting 7 March. One to two a week. Different bowl every time.
drop 01
The Core Bowl
Roasted pumpkin, zucchini, bell peppers, quinoa, chickpeas, arugula, herbs, pomegranate. Tahini, garlic, almonds.
drop 02
Bean There. Done That.
Three beans, fresh herbs, sharp dressing, crunch where it counts.
drop 03
Beirut Bazaar
Parsley. Dill. Coriander. Pomegranate.
Veggies. Green olives. Toasted walnuts
drop 04
The Sprout Situation
Three kinds of sprouted beans.
(On the protein & fibre side of life)
drop 05
Moroccan Sun Bowl
Greens. Choose between flavoured quinoa or rice. Chermoula grilled vegetables.
drop 06
Sri Lankan Buddha Bowl
Moong, peanut, sev, tamarind, onion, coriander, lime.
07 • THE MARGINALIA
Things we'd never get signed off elsewhere.
The whole point of doing this without a client was getting to make the stuff that usually doesn't make it past the second meeting. None of it is essential. All of it is the brand.
In Case of 4PM, Break Glass
Energy Batch 01. A small acrylic vitrine with three energy balls and a hammer. Not for sale. Made because we wanted to.
First run of merch
A hot pink cap with GOTCHU embroidered in chunky white. We're wearing them. Some customers are wearing them.
The wooden wordmark stamp
Hand-cut. Used on every bag. Both a working tool and the brand's primary graphic device.
08 • WHAT'S WORKING
Eleven drops in. Every drop has repeats.
11
DROPS IN NINE WEEKS
100%
DROPS IN REPEAT ORDERS
7+
BOWLS FROM TOP CUSTOMERS (OF 11 DROPS)
1-2
DROPS A WEEK, CAPPED
Nothing about it I don't like. Bomb. All so well balanced. And each flavour is so bright. Beautifully presented. The flavours, the leaf mix is enough to get me weak in the knees. Take a bow ladies.
RHEA RAGHAVAN · DROP 01 · 7 MARCH 2026
09 • WHAT'S NEXT
Bowls were where we started, not where we stop.
Gotchu was always going to be a small-batch food project, not a salad brand. Bowls were the right place to start because we could control every variable. The plan is to expand outwards: kits people can finish at home, dips, snacks, dry-pantry things, the odd dessert. The drop format is the constant. The category isn't.
We're also stepping out of the kitchen for the first time. On the 23rd, we're catering the ZuprDupr launch at Depot18: 24 bowls, one room, one evening. We're in conversation with Open Court about a stall at their Saturday event, which would be our largest single batch yet at 80 to 100 bowls.
Beyond that, delivery, the next run of merch, and a few more pop-ups we've been talking about.
Credits
Studio
Parul Kanodia & Co
Founders
Parul Kanodia
Arshita Kanodia
Brand, Voice Packaging, Art Direction
Parul Kanodia & Co
Photography
Arshita Kanodia
Zoheb
(paid in bowls and chai)