Consumer Connoisseurs
Entrepreneur magazine|Jan 2019

Ever wondered why VCs are so keen to put their money behind consumer startups as opposed to others? Simply because it’s easy to sell differentiated products. Entrepreneur spills the secret sauce of building a great consumer brand and why it would emerge as the biggest trend of 2019. The following pages feature some of the leading consumer brands sitting on billion-dollar opportunities.

Punita Sabharwal
Consumer Connoisseurs

The Fresh FMCG Seller

MUSTHAFA PC, CEO and Co-founder, iD Fresh Food

When the whole world was talking about increasing the shelf life of food, there was one company that didn’t believe in it. It was focusing on selling fresh food. When all the tech food delivery startups' core focus is to enable you to eat food from outside, this company takes you back to the kitchen. It does’t let you find ingredients in your kitchen and spend hours getting the recipe right but it offers you options, which are ready to cook and that too without preservatives — all natural. Started in 2005, as a little establishment in the bustling streets of Bangalore, iD Fresh Food has come a long way. Today, the company is funded by Premji Invest and Helion Venture Partners, and has a presence in 24 cities across India and overseas, with a team of more than 1500+ employees. The company provides 55,000 kgs of Idli/Dosa batter per day, with other yummy products like Parotas, Vada batter, Chapati and filter coffee among others.

Musthafa PC, CEO and co-founder of iD Fresh Food shares, “From day one we decided to give the unbranded pouch a brand name. Our packaging stands out in the market. We cover 20,000 stores everyday with our own 300 vehicles on a daily basis.” Being a fresh FMCG company is not enough, we realized it after speaking to iD as it’s a company run on IT. To sell fresh, they have to deliver fresh. They geo track every store to plan their supply chain.

Musthafa says, “Idli business is no rocket science without entry barriers. Innovation is the key to build a large business and stay ahead of the competition. To create best idli, you need the best batter. If you skip that you don’t get the right product.” The company invested not just in great grinders from Germany but also bought ERP solutions from SAP.

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