Dr. Asha Patel of Bloomfield Hills - a doctor and a entrepreneur

Meet Dr. Asha Patel who spends her days on medical rounds at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, and at the end of her day, she trades her white coat for an apron, heads into her Bloomfield Hills kitchen and experiments with flavors that could consitute the next product in her Tasha Foods line of curry-based gourmet vegetarian Indian sauces. All are manufactured by Elena's Foods in Auburn Hills. They send 100 cases at a time to various distributors.

Dr. Asha Patel's goal at the moment is expanding the outlets for her sauces (coconut, cashew, ginger garlic and coriander tamarind), which are on shelves in 40 stores. Those include Hiller's Markets; Busch's; Holiday Market; Papa Joe; Market Fresh; Whole Foods; and 250 SuperTargets. Jars retail in the range of $5 apiece. They are free of preservatives and artificial colors and flavors, and are versatile enough to use with meat, fish, tofu or rice.

To save costs Dr. Patel could have sent manufaturing to India but according to her

I could also manufacture in India, but this is working better because I think I get the best quality. If it was in California or India, labor might be a little cheaper. I could probably make more of a profit, but I don't think the quality of my products would be the same

(via MLIVE)