When chartered accountant Dharmesh Ratanghayra and his spouse Manisha Sharma worked in London, they fed their child natural fruit and vegetable purees.
The market for organic toddler meals, in particular, fruit and vegetable purees, changed into properly-mounted in Europe. It changed into as easy as choosing up some tasty fruit puree from the nearby supermarket.
But on their visits to India, Dharmesh and Manisha observed it hard to source the identical natural fruit purees.
“I realized there was a lack of nutritional, healthy, less costly, and organic selections for infants in India,” Dharmesh tells SMBStory.
Organic food in India is often now not certified like it is in Europe, and in addition, it is expensive. Also, local farmers might not have the existing capability to fabricate excessive high-quality natural fruits and greens without the usage of any insecticides, chemical compounds, or dangerous fertilizers.
These have been simply some of the numerous motives Dharmesh recognized for the shortage of natural fruit purees in India.
“I always desired to be an entrepreneur and I commenced to think about how I may want to bridge this hole for natural toddler meals in India,” he says.
Despite the demanding situations he diagnosed, Dharmesh wanted to begin an organic food puree emblem in India.
In 2016, he stop his cushy activity as Finance Director at a London tech startup and began to expand his natural child meals concept.
A specific model
After visits to natural farms in Spain, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia, Dharmesh came up with a technique to keep away from the demanding situations of creating natural infant meals in India. He determined to manufacture the products in Europe and promote in India.
In 2018, Dharmesh invested Rs 40 lakh from his personal savings to start organic infant meals brand ‘Tiny Spoons’ in Mumbai.
Dharmesh deliberate to supply the culmination and greens from farms in Italy and Spain, and additionally do the processing and packaging in Europe too. The final product would be imported and sold in India.
The concept became ambitious, at the least, but Dharmesh becomes decided to make it take place.
However, setting out in Mumbai supposed his circle of relatives had to pass back to India.
“My spouse changed into supportive of this when we moved lower back to India, she persisted working,” he says. Dharmesh then raised a round of seed funding from buddies and circle of relatives.
Tiny Spoons consequently started selling its EU-certified, organic, prepared-to-devour fruit and vegetable purees in June 2018. The corporation also claims that its purees haven’t any additional and dangerous preservatives.
Tiny Spoons’ purees made from plums and prunes, and blueberries, apples, bananas, and strawberries value Rs one hundred sixty for a packet of a hundred and twenty grams.
Dharmesh explains the pricing, saying:
“We need to awareness on the mass top rate segment in the pinnacle few cities in India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Right now the packet charges Rs one hundred sixty, however, we’re operating to bring the cost of our merchandise right down to Rs 100.”
He also says that the organic infant food products speedy became an achievement, at the same time as including that he does now not want to reveal company 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 also Mumbai obligation-unfastened,” he says.
The products are also to be had on Amazon India, FirstCry, Big Basket, Snapdeal, Flipkart, and many others. “We have a high sticky rate based on our online customer facts. This indicates that mother and father and kids love Tiny Spoons and believe us to offer simplest the fine. Our cohort suggests a growth in on line and offline patron base, that’s encouraging,” he adds.
Looking beforehand
At the moment, there is probably no immediate opposition, however the logo pursuits to preserve using the first-rate substances and processes, and additionally, launch new merchandise.
“For example, our purees are pasteurised, and now not sterilized like different brands. Further, we use excessive best and secure packaging,” Dharmesh says.
