SEATTLE – Khara biscuits are savory, Indian-style spicy shortbread cookies native to India. In a nod to the Khara biscuit, Mathew Thalakotur tapped his Indian heritage to launch Talkback Snacks in May 2024.

The company is a startup producing the spicy cookies in two varieties: chocolate and ancho chile and cumin and green chili.

“In fall of 2023, my neighbor went to his hometown of Bengaluru (India) and he came back with a box of these cookies and he didn’t tell me anything (about them) just here you go,” Thalakotur said. “They looked like regular shortbread cookies and they had green flakes in them. I took a bite and at first I was really mad at him because they were so spicy. Then I was like wow this is really interesting.

“So I asked him what they were called and he said ‘It’s a Khara biscuit.’ I then asked him where do you usually buy this and he said ‘You couldn’t buy it here in the US. It’s just a thing that they do in Bengaluru and different regions have their version of it.’”

Following the “swicy” trend, Thalakotur began developing the cookie’s formulation. Talkback Snack’s cookies are formulated with wheat flour, butter, sugar, cornstarch, green chili, ginger, cumin, salt and spices.

To produce the cookies’ spicy flavors, Thalakotur said the spices are “bloomed” into the butter rather than the dough — a technique he learned from his mother’s cooking.

“When I watch my mom cook with spices, she never puts the spices on the actual vegetables,” he said. “She’ll always get coconut oil or butter or ghee on a hot pan and then she’ll throw the spices in there. She almost toasts it and brings out the flavors.

“When we were putting it (spices) into the flour and baking it, the first thing you taste is the chili. What I wanted from this cookie is first a shortbread and (to) really enjoy the cookie and then have that heat come through. Because we whip it into the butter, it takes a second for the butter to melt from the warmth of your mouth for the flavors and the heat to get released. It’s like a gradual release, but then it keeps building. So, depending on your spice tolerance, it can get pretty spicy pretty quickly.”

Photo: Talkback Snacks

Thalakotur said the spicy cookies are a product that may encourage consumers to try flavors that they otherwise would not try.

“A shortbread cookie is a simple way to infuse flavors,” he said. “It’s a really great base to build all the global culinary cuisine into flavor palates. I’m eliminating the friction in trying new cuisines and experiencing different cultures through food.”

Cookies are the company’s first product, but Thalakotur said future products will feature different applications.

“The next product line is going to be savory,” he said. “There’s already an existing fan base of people who like spicy, so that’s where we started. The next one will be very different in that it will have spices, but it won’t be spicy.”  

Talkback Snacks is Thalakotur’s second go-round launching a startup. His first company was Mighty Gum, the maker of a functional chewing gum formulated with adaptogens, botanicals and vitamins that launched in February 2020.

Mighty Gum was doing a healthy six figures, Thalakotur said. However, a bad business deal ultimately led to the company’s demise.

“The first time I tried to do a very traditional (business) model and it grew to 500 doors,” he said. “I was working with a broker who said to build up inventory and that he had this foodservice customer. We built this pack size that wasn’t selling anywhere else — just for this customer and then that guy just ghosted me. We built about $1 million worth of inventory and he just disappeared. Four of five months later, he said he had another client who was going to pay him more so he focused on them so he wasn’t going to be able to help me.”

By pivoting to cookies, Thalakotur said the capital needed for cookies is small compared to Mighty Gum.

“Every run is small and that’s the reason why I’m not trying to get into any retailers,” he said. “I’m not trying to grow too fast. I just want to do this slowly.”

He also advised other founders to stay away from categories that require large minimum order quantities (MOQs.)

“Chewing gum required a large MOQ because you needed big runs to make it work at the cost per unit,” Thalakotur said.

Erring on the side of caution is Thalakotur’s plan for Talkback Snacks by remaining a “local darling” in Seattle.

While based in Seattle, consumers may find Talkback Snacks on the company’s website and Faire Wholesale Marketplace.

“I’m not trying to get into retail because this is such a niche product,” he said. “I don’t want to get into a bunch of shelves because I don’t think the product will necessarily move without it having this intrinsic built-in community of people that are going to buy this product that are aware of it. The next step in 2026 is I want to test out Amazon and do another year of farmers markets and then I’ll try to get into a local grocery store chain.

“I want this brand to be just something people from Seattle know is one of those local brands and when you go to Seattle you pick up a bag of Talkback Snacks and give us to people because you don’t really find it anywhere else.” 

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