When chartered accountant Dharmesh Ratanghayra and his wife Manisha Sharma labored in London, they fed their infant organic fruit and vegetable purees.
The marketplace for natural infant food, mainly fruit and vegetable purees, become properly-set up in Europe. It was as simple as picking up a few tasty fruit puree from the local grocery store.
But on their visits to India, Dharmesh and Manisha found it tough to source the same natural fruit purees.
“I realized there was a lack of nutritional, healthy, lower-priced, and organic selections for babies in India,” Dharmesh tells SMBStory.
Organic food in India is frequently no longer certified like it is in Europe, and further, it is high-priced. Also, neighborhood farmers might not have the existing capability to fabricate excessive first-class organic fruits and veggies without using any insecticides, chemical substances, or dangerous fertilisers.
These had been simply some of the numerous reasons Dharmesh identified for the shortage of natural fruit purees in India.
“I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and I commenced to think about how I could bridge this hole for natural child meals in India,” he says.
Despite the demanding situations he recognized, Dharmesh desired to start an organic meals puree emblem in India.
In 2016, he quit his comfortable process as Finance Director at a London tech startup and started to broaden his organic child meals idea.
A unique model
After visits to organic farms in Spain, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia, Dharmesh came up with an approach to keep away from the demanding situations of making organic child food in India. He decided to manufacture the goods in Europe and sell in India.
In 2018, Dharmesh invested Rs forty lakh from his non-public financial savings to begin natural child meals brand ‘Tiny Spoons’ in Mumbai.
Dharmesh deliberate to supply the end result and greens from farms in Italy and Spain, and also do the processing and packaging in Europe too. The very last product could be imported and bought in India.
The idea changed into ambitious, as a minimum. However, Dharmesh was determined to make it take place.
However, setting out in Mumbai supposed his own family needed to pass back to India.
“My wife changed into supportive of this, while we moved again to India, she endured operating,” he says. Dharmesh then raised a spherical of seed funding from buddies and own family.
Tiny Spoons for that reason commenced promoting its EU-certified, organic, prepared-to-eat fruit and vegetable purees in June 2018. The company additionally claims that its purees haven’t any additional and harmful preservatives.
Tiny Spoons’ purees made from plums and prunes, and blueberries, apples, bananas and strawberries fee Rs one hundred sixty for a packet of one hundred twenty grams.
Dharmesh explains the pricing, pronouncing:
“We need to consciousness on the mass premium section in the pinnacle few towns in India including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. Right now the packet expenses Rs a hundred and sixty, but we’re operating to deliver the cost of our merchandise down to Rs 100.”
He also says that the natural baby meals products fast became a success, while adding that he does no longer want to reveal organization financials.
“Our fruit purees are actually to be had at Mothercare, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Food Hall, Namdharis, Le Marche, MK Retail, other top-class retail shops, and additionally Mumbai obligation-free,” he says.
The merchandise are also available on Amazon India, FirstCry, Big Basket, Snapdeal, Flipkart, etc. “We have an excessive sticky rate based totally on our on-line consumer statistics. This suggests that dad and mom and youngsters love Tiny Spoons and trust us to provide only the great. Our cohort indicates a boom in on-line and offline patron base, which is encouraging,” he adds.
Looking ahead
At the moment, there might be no immediate opposition, however the logo goals to keep the use of the great components and techniques, and additionally launch new merchandise.
“For example, our purees are pasteurised, and no longer sterilized like different brands. Further, we use excessive high-quality and secure packaging,” Dharmesh says.
Manufacturing in Europe does come with its truthful percentage of challenges. Dharmesh says it’s miles tough for an Indian food emblem to source components from European meals manufacturers.
“Generally, India exports its food merchandise and elements to nations in Europe. But our model is the opposite. Therefore, it’s miles tough to gain the consider of our European partners who might imagine there may be some thing fishy happening with the enterprise version,” he explains.
While slowly gaining their believe and making extra contacts, Dharmesh is likewise searching at making in India.
