Indian snacking has a conflicting problem—most snacks aren’t healthy and healthy snacks don’t taste that good.
“The snacks that we see in the market are unhealthy and full of preservatives. The few that are healthy don't taste great,” co-founder Shaurya Kanoria tells YourStory.
Combining age-old food wisdom with modern-day nutritional needs, family members Mridula Kanoria, Shaurya Kanoria, and Vidushi Kanoria launched Eat Better in 2020. The Jaipur-based D2C food brand says its snacks are 100% natural and made using quality ingredients.
“Our current range includes healthy, sugar-free ladoos (called The Better Ladoos), nuts seed mixes, and savoury snacks like millet mix and quinoa seed mix. All our snacks are vegan, gluten-free, and have no added sugar,” he adds.
The startup has 35+ SKUs. The price range starts from Rs 99 and goes up to Rs 525.
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Making snacking healthy
The products have been developed by founder Mridula, who comes with over 25 years of experience in the nutrition space and developing healthy food recipes.
Her son, Shaurya, comes with over 10 years of entrepreneurial and digital marketing experience, while her daughter-in-law, Vidushi (Co-founder and CMO, Eat Better), has worked in Godrej and also co-founded the D2C apparel brand Soxytoes.
Eat Better’s manufacturing is completely in-house, at Jaipur, and employs over 100 people. In line with the brand's mission to empower women, around 60 of those employed are women. In June this year, the company expanded its manufacturing capacity by a factor of 4X.
“Our in-house production setup helps us ensure the highest quality standards,” Shaurya adds. “If you look at the back labels of our products, you’ll see a list of ingredients that are natural, clean and familiar. All of them are sourced directly from the farms, making the farmers our trusted partners.”
Eat Better sources the raw materials straight from farms all over the country. Such a bird’s eye view of the manufacturing process is what sets them apart, Shaurya says.
“We control the manufacturing whereas most brands outsource this function to contract manufacturers who use a lot of chemicals, preservatives, and food colouring. Apart from this, all our recipes are developed in-house by a team of over 35 women. Our snacks are still made in small batches using the highest quality ingredients and are 100% natural.”
Eat Better ships pan India. The startup largely sells via its website, and through marketplaces like Amazon and Kindlife.in.
Funding
Earlier bootstrapped with an initial amount of Rs 25 lakh, Eat Better raised Rs 6 crore this year in its seed round led by Java Capital and Mumbai Angels.
The round saw participation from Shiprocket Ventures, Capier Capital, and Plan B Capital. Entrepreneurs including Harpreet Grover, Arjun Vaidya, Radhika Ghai, Vishesh Khurana, Bimal Kartheek Rebba, Ishank Joshi, Venus Dhuria, Bhavik Vasa, and Divij Bajaj, among others, also participated in the round.
“We are using this money to increase production capacity, launch new products, and invest in distribution,” says Shaurya.
Targeting people over the age of 30, Eat Better says it has found demand among working professionals, mothers, fitness enthusiasts, and in nuclear families where time to cook is less.
At the time of funding, Karteek Pulapaka, Partner, Java Capital said,
“Very few brands managed to get taste, form factor and healthy ingredients right at the same time. Eat Better has been able to do so which is reflected in the 38% MoM growth and high customer retention rate."
The company claims to have been profitable since its inception and has been doing sales of over Rs 1 crore a month. While it didn’t disclose revenue figures, Eat Better says it has registered over 400% YoY growth over the last two years.
The way ahead
India is slated to become a $30 billion market for health food by 2026, according to IBEF.
“It is very difficult for a small company to compete against FMCG majors. What helps is that customers are actively looking for healthy food options and there is great awareness now about what healthy food means. This makes it relatively easier for us to gain our customers' trust by providing them with great tasting healthy snacks,” Shaurya comments.
The startup competes with the likes of Yoga Bar, Nutty Gritties, Happilo, and Farmley, among others.
"Consumers are waking up to more conscious, healthy choices, and at Eat Better, we want to support them on their journey of health without compromising on taste," highlights Mridula.
The startup plans to scale to offline retail and enter other marketplaces. “We will also be increasing the number of products we are offering. Our goal is to be the go-to brand for a family's healthy snacking needs,” Shaurya adds.
Healthy eating: This Jaipur-based D2C brand gives nutritional twist to Indian snacking - YourStory
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