Chirag Gupta, Founder and CEO of 4700BC, discusses the brand’s expansion and success in the transit retail sector
New Delhi: 4700BC, founded in 2012, began its journey with kiosks in shopping malls before expanding into institutional sales and larger stores. Over the years, the brand has grown into a household name, offering over 50 unique assortments of popcorn, making it the only Indian brand of its kind.
With an impressive consumer base of over 30 million, 4700BC has diversik ed into four categories—popcorn, pop chips, makhanas, and crunchy corn. The brand rapidly expanded into general trade, e-commerce, airlines, and railways with a range of innovative products, including pouches, microwave popcorn, protein pops, and gifting options.
As it scaled, 4700BC ventured into international markets, starting with Dubai and expanding to countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and the USA, marking its presence in over nine countries globally.
Chirag Gupta, Founder and CEO of 4700BC, discusses the brand’s expansion and success in the transit retail sector, sharing insights into the challenges faced and the strategies implemented to overcome them.
Edited excerpts…
What motivated the brand to invest in transit retail spaces and how has the experience been to date?
Airport and metro stations are high footfall areas with a large density of our target group on the go. Considering this, it was a strategic move to enter the transit retail space. Given the current lifestyle, snacking has become an essential part of today’s travelling population that is running short on time for transactions in long queues at outlets and hence align perfectly with the modern snacking culture—where convenience is key. These are also the right points of sale for brands like us where the target audience that has aligned tastes and preferences travels.
How do these transit spaces compare to traditional retail environments in terms of customer engagement and sales?
Shopping in most retail environments is mostly planned and while the intent of purchase is high, there is a large effort needed to draw attention to the category and the brand to support the purchase. Transit spaces are impulse purchase points of sales which are more driven by basic needs (small portion hunger or thirst) and this opens the door for us to engage with them in meaningful ways.
Transit spaces are also where the target group is willing to spend more for premium brands as there is anyways an expectation of being in an environment where spending budget is considerable. If it is business travel, it is generally paid for and for leisure travel the mood for consumers is to spend a little more than usual.
For 4700BC, these spaces offer a great opportunity to introduce innovative snacking experiences and drive trials for our unique products. At transit spaces consumers are more inclined towards consuming innovative brands/products; making them good to conduct trials for customer acquisition.
What are the key challenges faced in operating outlets in airports/ metros?
Typically, as the footfall is high, the rental for such locations is high as well, hence the operational costsare high for any operator. This has a direct impact on the margin and the advertising fee expectation which makes it difk cult for innovative brands to achieve return on investment that can offer a better consumer experience at such locations. Despite these challenges, we remain committed to delivering premium snacking experiences that are aligned with our brand’s ethos of quality and innovation.
How do you optimise customer experiences in transit spaces, where footfall is high, but interaction time is limited?
Food and beverage (F&B) operators must remember that consumer experience is paramount. Consumers demand the best products at touchpoints like airports, metro stations or any other travel avenue. Thus, instead of just focusing on high margins and serving sub-standard F&B options, operators must focus on premium and gourmet products to enhance experience.
This will get overall volume offtakes for F&B to increase, thus resulting in incremental bill value for operators; overall net margin value will increase as volume increases. Right assortment with the right category selection and making it easy for consumers to transact is the best optimisation in transit spaces.
At 4700BC, we prioritise simplicity and premium experiences. For example, we ensure that our product assortment, from gourmet popcorn to corn chips, is strategically displayed for quick decision-making. With clear and enticing packaging, our snacks stand out as convenient yet premium options. By making the purchasing process seamless, we help travellers enjoy our offerings with minimal disruption to their busy schedules, ensuring they leave with more than just a snack—a memorable experience.
How has the consumer behaviour in transit retail evolved?
There is a mix of both, certain travellers travel with time in hand and are more focused on luxury or experience; while a larger chunk of travellers prefer convenience. At points, a large number of consumers have less time for transactions, thus convenience, faster check out options, easy and on the go snacking and beverage displays as well as offerings are a demand these days as less numbers of travellers prefer to spend time on dine in experience at transit spaces. This is where 4700BC steps in, offering a balance of both—quick grab-and-go solutions that don’t compromise on taste or experience. At the same time, luxury and experience are important for certain travellers, which is why we also offer more premium snacking solutions that cater to their more indulgent side.
What strategies do you cater in these locations?
Frequent travellers are the ones that have lesser time in hand and have a schedule planned, most of the consumption for them is on the go. Hence faster check out options, grab n go displays/chillers are important for them. Tourists travel with more time in hand and value experiences, thus displays or point of sales offering regional experiences to the tourists, customised as per the location of interest is more important for this consumer set. Such outlets serve as a good point to engage new customers and acquire them.
Tell us about the expansion plans?
We are present across 9 airports currently and are expanding to 3 more in the coming months. We plan to be available across all major airports. We are present across 4,000 vending machines currently of which a major chunk is in metro travel space. We are present across more than 500 outlets at metro stations.
The goal is to be a staple in every major transit hub, providing travellers with high-quality snacking options that enhance their journeys. Whether they are grabbing a bag of our gourmet popcorn or exploring our corn chips, we want 4700BC to be their snack of choice.
Are you exploring pop-up stores to attract travellers?
We are planning more on the go and premium experience offerings with easy UI and faster check out points. We are exploring pop-up stores and experiential retail concepts to engage with travellers.
