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 established in Europe. It changed into as easy as choosing some tasty fruit puree from the nearby supermarket. But on their visits to India, Dharmesh and Manisha observed that it was hard to source 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 not certified like it is in Europe, and also, it is expensive. Also, local farmers might not have the existing capability to fabricate excessively high-quality natural fruits and greens without the use 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 stopped 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 mfoodin India. He determined to manufacture the products in Europe and promote them in India. In 2018, Dharmesh invested Rs 40 lakh from his pevings to start the organic infant meals brand ‘Tiny SpSpoons’n Mumbai.
Dharmesh is liberate to supply the culmination and greens from farms in Italy and Spain and do the processing and packaging in Europe. The final product would be imported and sold in India. The concept became ambitious, at the least, but Dharmesh decided to make it take place. However, setting out in Mumbai meant his circle of relatives had to return to India. My spouse changed into supportive of this when we moved back to India; she persisted in working,” he says. Dharmesh then raised a round of seed funding from buddies and a 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 products don’t have additional and dangerous preservatives.
Tiny Spoons’ purees made from plums and prunes, blueberries, apples, bananas, and strawberries vary in price at one hundred sixty dollars for a packet of one hundred and twenty grams.
Dharmesh explains the pricing, saying:
We need to be aware of 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 stickiness rate based on our online customer facts. This indicates that mother and father, nd kids love Tiny Spoons and believe us to offer the simplest the finest cohort suggests growth in online and offline patron base; that’s encouraging,” he adds.
Looking beforehand
There is probably no immediate opposition, however, the logo promotes preserving first-rate substances and processes, and additionally, the launch of new merchandise. “For example, our purees are pasteurized and are no longer sterilized like different brands. Further, we use excessive best and secure packaging,” Dharmesh says.