Shrewsbury high school student's first week at Worcester Public Market
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WORCESTER - For most teenagers, a sixteenth birthday means a party with friends, cake, maybe even a car.
Kashvi Vishal started a business.
A few days before her birthday March 26, Kashvi launched her new stall at Worcester Public Market, Edenish Salads. Inspired by working alongside her parents at Namaste Woo, the Shrewsbury High School junior aims to follow her mother’s example.
“She made it look so easy,” Kashvi said with a laugh. “You have to build a connection between yourself and the people around you and my mom just did that effortlessly.”
What’s in a name?
Eden was the first garden, pure and perfect, but in the real world, Kashvi knows perfection is hard to come by.
“We wanted to do something very nature connected; felt like connecting with Eden,” she said.
It may not quite be the legendary garden, but close - Edenish.
"Edenish is everything healthy and that I like. I wouldn't serve anything I didn't want to eat. I don't have any favorites because nothing tops my mom's."
Kashvi Vishal of Edenish Salads
The name also reflects the necessary adaptability of healthy eating, to try and meet customers halfway, she explained, balancing health, affordability and tastiness, "presenting health in the current society that we live in today."
Providing a healthy option
Having helped at her parents’ business over the last year, Kashvi began to notice a common question among patrons asking about vegan or vegetarian food options.
“I started wondering, 'Is there not really an option?'” she said. “Any restaurant will have one or two dishes, but there’s not a whole place built just for (vegetarians in the area).”
With a true business instinct, she recognized a niche waiting to be filled, and when a space opened up at Worcester Public Market, she pounced on the opportunity.
Her goal was not only to provide a healthy option, but an affordable one to counter the abundance of fast food places in the area and draw in a younger demographic, even among self-described “burger people” because “there has to be a salad person in everybody,” and Kashvi intends to find them.
Namaste Woo and Edenish share many of the same suppliers, said Pooja Vishal, owner of Namaste Woo and Kashvi’s mother, such as Worcester Regional Food Hub and local farms.
“We try to get it as natural, organic as possible, fresh from the farms,” she said.
Balancing work and school
"We women are born with being multi-talented multi-taskers," said Vishal, and her daughter is no exception. Vishal runs the business alongside Namaste Woo in the morning and early afternoon. When Kashvi finishes school and homework, she comes in around 5:30 until closing time.
Work and school are only going to grow more connected if she continues along her current course.
Before working with her parents, "I had like five different career plans," said Kashvi. "Namaste Woo gave me a strong direction into what I wanted to do and what suited me well."
She's planning to study business and nutrition in college.
Despite making food her business, Kashvi refuses to name a favorite dish.
"Edenish is everything healthy and that I like," she said. "I wouldn't serve anything I didn't want to eat. I don't have any favorites because nothing tops my mom's."
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Shrewsbury junior, 16, opens restaurant at Worcester Public Market
