The December 2023 startup has already sold 1 lakh units across India, the US, the UK and Canada of its millet Bhakri and Khakra
Mumbai: Millets came into prominence last year with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
The healthy grains remain in the spotlight as demand for millet-based products continues to rise, spawning a whole new snacking subcategory.
One company that is making millet snacks interesting and affordable is Ahmedabad-based Nutritious Foods Private Ltd. (Nurasoi) founded by dietician Komal Patel and entrepreneur Chandan Maloo. The company sells attractively priced millet-based bhakris (a traditional Indian bread) and khakras in pack sizes that are nutritionally recommended under the brand name Vyndo.
“One 40 g packet is equivalent to a full meal and gives satiety for 3 full hours without giving a sugar spike as it is made from millets,” explained Patel adding that they started with bhakris and khakras because they wanted to offer a snack which was already part of the day-to-day Indian meal.
Family friends Patel and Maloo turned their respective expertise into a business in response to the increasing enquiries for healthy snacks from Patel’s clients. The products were launched after eight 8 months of research & development and trials. The bootstrapped company raised pre-seed money from family and friends and founded Nurasoi in December 2023. Since then till August end, it has sold about 1 lakh packets of snacks.
USP
When most products in the category have premium pricing, Nurasoi products are priced at Rs20 for a 40 gm pack, making them affordable to anyone. Also, nutritionally balanced products often lack taste, which is important to Indians.
“People have premiumised health food. There is no healthy brand, which is making tasty health products for the masses; we intend to bridge that gap,” said Maloo.
The founders claim that the so-called healthy snacks available on the market are made from maida, which contains gluten and palm oil whereas Nurasoi products are made purely from, ragi, jowar, bajra and sattu. Natural preservatives like green tea extract and Rosemary are used to extend the shelf life of products. In addition, double packaging is used to ensure the products remain fresh for a longer period.
“However, we are not positioning this as a health product but simply as a millet snack,” said Maloo.
Distribution
Unlike many new-age brands that first launch online before going omnichannel, Nurasoi took an interesting route to market, making itself available in the general trade in Ahmedabad before going online. It made its e-commerce foray through Amazon, which contributes Rs 2.5 lakh to its revenue. Now, Nurasoi products are available at 15 online touchpoints apart from its website, which was launched in July this year.
“We launched our website through a WhatsApp campaign and within an hour of launching the website, we got around 110 orders in the first hour and we did a business of around Rs50,000,” shared Maloo.
Today, the company works with over 2000 distributors and its products are available in 650 shops in Ahmedabad, and more than 354 shops in Mumbai.
The company is also available through over 500 vending machines by Dalchini, through which it is available at hospitals, refineries and other commercial establishments across the country.
“We have another department which is called New Nari. So these are 50 women working with us on a simple business model. They sell at MRP and get a margin from us,” Maloo said. These women partners also double up as the company’s sampling network. The company sends samples of new products to them, which they review and give feedback.
“Through that 50 ladies, right now we have a feedback network of around 1,000 people as the ladies share the products in their circles,” Patel said.
The company also exports about 2,000 units per month to the UK, the US, Australia and Canada and is in talks with Costco Canada for initial product placement. “We are pushing it as a millet snack,” shared Patel.
Future plans
Nurasoi plans to expand its product range by launching, soya sticks, food rings, and cheese balls made from jowar or chickpeas flavoured with Indian spices and pudina.
It will also launch other product categories in the months to come. The founders want to first make a strong base before scaling up and are setting up the team and process with that in mind. “We have 18 SKUs right now and are planning to add 10 SKUs by the end of October,” Patel said.
The expansion plan includes covering Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and some parts of Madhya Pradesh for the next six months. The company, which clocks a revenue of Rs20,00,000 per month is aiming to double its revenue to Rs40,00,000 per month by Diwali.
“So every month we are growing by about 25 to 40%, month on month. So July was Rs16,00,000. By March, we are thinking of a crore Rs a month,” Maloo said adding that the company will become net positive when it crosses Rs 35,00,000. After that, whatever it earns will be ploughed back into the business.
It will start spending on marketing after 30 SKUs are in place.
“Right now, we are standing at Rs 25 crore valuation. The next step in the next 6 to 9 months would be Rs100 crore valuation. Once we achieve that, we have an investor who is interested in investing in our next phase of growth,” said Maloo.
