March 8th 2014 Startup Saturday Bangalore Edition on Food and Beverages

Story of Hector Beverages – Neeraj Biyani, Co-Founder

The first inspiring story was from one of the co-founders of Hector Beverages, Neeraj Biyani. He and his other friends found that there is an immense opportunity for functional beverages in India. Though functional beverages do exist in US such as Red Bull, they had a thought of bringing functional beverage category in India. Unlike other software drinks, these functional beverages not only quench the thirst but also add that extra energy to the body. They introduced ethnic beverages in seven different flavours in February 2013. They use alternative processes because their beverages contain no preservatives or no artificial colours. Innovation is the key in addition to flavours, processing and packaging. The shelf life for beverages varies from 4 to 6 months depending upon the category of beverages. Based on their consumer’s tastes, they continue to enhance the flavours of beverages. Paper boat drinks introduced by them add much more flavour to the taste buds without compromising on the quality and functional benefits.

DosaMatic – Pitch by Eshwar Vikas from Mukunda Foods

The South Indian’s favourite dish is ‘Dosa’. Making different kinds of dosas always takes time and one needs a lot of patience to prepare scrumptious dosas. Many times you would have wondered what if there is an automatic dosa machine to make your morning breakfast effortless. The world’s first table top dosa making machine, DosaMatic, was developed by Mukunda Foods. Eshwar from Mukundha Foods pitched on how this machine makes a dosa in 60 seconds. It works with any type of batter and makes 700 dosas a day. Cleaning is easy. DosaMatic is a commercial model where it can cater to hospitals, self-help group, school, malls, NGO, mess and more. Eshwar announced that a domestic model will soon be launched in the coming year.

Story of Chai Point – Amuleek Singh Bijral, Founder

Boasting India’s first organized chain for chai, Chai Point is a preferred choice for consumers in Bangalore. After studying at Harvard, Amuleek Singh returned to India to start his venture. He said that teas are sold in different colours like red, yellow and green. Chai is a mass consumption product and the average working Indian drinks chai. Though technology plays a big role in food industry, his main focus is on the quality and consistency. As the palette varies and shelf life is high, it is imperative for Chai Point to come up with different kinds of flavours to cater to the needs of the consumers. They are working on their supply chain by connecting with real estate owners, Karnataka Milk Federation and ginger suppliers. Chai Point fosters high level of standardization and consistent training, offering quality tea. They organize Chai Masters every year where the entire company gets together. They have opened 30 outlets across Delhi and Bangalore and have plans to expand to other cities over the next few years.

Pitch by Prabhakar from Midnight Express

Launched in November 1^st 2013 to beat the midnight hunger pangs, Midnight Express is a late night food, offering services from 11 PM to 7 AM all over Bangalore. There is a huge magnitude of people in Bangalore who needs this service and they have catered 12,000 Bangaloreans till today. They use a distinctive delivery model, Relay Delivery Logistics System, which is recognized by Economic Times and DNA.

Since it was an international woman’s day, there were 8 stalls put up by women entrepreneurs.

2 Minute Pitch by Mamta from Orchid Tree

For Mamta, the passion for Orchids has inspired her to open the first farm in Bangalore after witnessing exotic varieties and beauty of Orchids in abroad.

2 Minute Pitch by Vijaya from Niche Collection

Niche collection provides storage solutions to keep your clothes, jewellery and other items gift items, purses and much more.

Panel Discussion – Trends, Opportunities and Challenges

The esteemed panelists include:

1. Afsal Salu, Founder of Delyver
2. Jacob Kurian, CEO at Vasudev Adiga’s Fast Food
3. Sandipan, Director – Sales and Marketing at JustEat.in
4. Mukesh Tolani, Founder of TOIT
5. Neeraj Biyani, Co-Founder of Hector Beverages

 

The panel discussion was moderated by the journalist from The Economic Times, Harsimran Julka. Afzal shared his story on how he started his business in 2010 where grocery delivery at the door step was something new for the consumers. Delyver.com delivers a wide range of products from food items, vegetables and fruits, restaurant food and cakes to flowers to gifting items. Jacob Kurian said that the toughest and challenging business is selling perishable products such as eatables.

Sandipan talked about key points such as setting the right expectations, escalating the issues to the right person and doing justice to the business by picking up one cuisine. Mukesh suggested aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on the food and value for money while cutting the cost. Neeraj Biyani said one should not have fixated on one idea but open to adopting a business model because entrepreneurship is not about being a hero.

Here is a list of key points suggested by the panellists for those who want to start a business on food and beverages:

1. Team plays a good role. Pick people based on core competencies.
2. Identify the metrics to improve customer satisfaction
3. Passionate commitment is needed
4. Adopt a business model
5. Distribute the tasks to the right people so that you can lead the team

The participants had a fruitful interaction with the panellists by asking various questions on delivery, supply chain, franchisee model and more. Panelists and the moderator were honoured by Amit Singh, co-founder of HeadStart.

Demo by Swarg Foods

Swarg provides Organic desi cow milk, organic sweets and organic groceries. The organic milk is not pasteurized but freshly drawn milk which is kept in the cold chain. The main objective is to protect the cow by supplying milk while ensuring that the farmers get the maximum benefits in the bargain.

2 Minute Pitch by Women Entrepreneurs

Swathi from eVibe

eVibe makes your birthday party planning in Bangalore simple where you get to explore the latest trends in party planning space and connect with professionals offering these services.

Sowmya and Diksha from Food Tribe

FoodTribe is an online food boutique store, offering homemade food products from independent food artisans

Babita from Baja

Baja is a modern women’s clothing brand, offering a versatile clothing range with the right mix of traditional and western wear.

Parvathi from Taste Theory

Parvathi’s passion in making homemade cupcakes, pickles and other food items, serving her family and friend’s circle has made her to expand the circle by launching her own brand, Taste Theory.

Kavitha from Kavithaworkshoppe

Kavitha is passionate about costume jewellery since childhood and that passion has made her to start Kavitha’s Workshoppe, offering exclusive hand-crafted jewellery collection.

The UnEmployables magazine, a monthly publication was launched and the first edition highlights inspiring stories on the theme “Food and Beverages” from entrepreneurs in Bangalore, startup ideas on starting a restaurant and much more to connect with like-minded individuals to strengthen their vision.

The delightful gifting partner at Bangalore, Kunalkant Sen from MySaugat sponsored gifts for the esteemed speakers. They even had a stall, introducing organic homemade whole leaf tea from gardens of Nilgiri for the participants to refresh their minds. Apparently, it was a stand-out event for all because it brought a wealth of inspiring experience. Thus, the exhilarating and interactive March chapter of Startup Saturday Event at Bangalore came to an end.

 Reported by 

Mary Abraham

Headstarter Banglore