News

Oct 17, 2024

Grocery store with Indian hot food and ingredients coming to Waukee

A Waukee resident plans to bring hot Indian food and fresh ingredients closer to home with a new grocery store in the suburb. The Waukee City Council on Oct. 7 unanimously approved a site plan for a

A Waukee resident plans to bring hot Indian food and fresh ingredients closer to home with a new grocery store in the suburb.

The Waukee City Council on Oct. 7 unanimously approved a site plan for a 6,000-square-foot grocery store with a small patio for outdoor eating. Co-owner Kalyan Tottempudi told the Register it will be a "community-based, grassroots store" that he hoped will open in late spring.

Tottempudi said he's been living in Waukee almost 10 years. But he and his family and friends have had to travel to West Des Moines and Urbandale for the culturally specific groceries they want.

So they got to asking, "'Why don't we have something nearby?'"

Tottempudi and five family members and friends are listed in state business records as the initial members of Super6 LLC. The group in April bought the 1.6-acre site at 1475 Southeast Bishop Drive for $700,000, according to Dallas County property records.

Tottempudi said the store will carry a range of groceries, including fresh vegetables imported from Florida and Mexico such as okra, bitter gourd, radish, raw jackfruit, drumstick and curry leaves. The kitchen serving hot food will most likely feature carry-out options including chicken tikka masala, biryani and naan, as well as Indian-style desserts.

More:Developers look to bring high-end apartments, 'eater-tainment' dining and retail to Waukee

American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2022 showed a population of more than 700 people in Waukee of Asian Indian ancestry. That was about double the count from five years earlier of 355.

Plans for the grocery store submitted to Waukee show there's room at the site for a later 4,000-square-foot addition.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X at @pslifeisabeauty.