Young entrepreneur with a purpose

With his excellent ventures in promoting local farmers and fresh produce, Sanjay Dasari, Co-Founder at WayCool Foods, is taking the business by storm at a young age. Team Culturama catches up with the entrepreneur about his successful business with SunnyBee and other future plans

What are the three qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

Optimism, action orientation, and integrity.

How did you come up with the concept of SunnyBee?

During my final year at Babson College (the United States), I was exploring the idea of launching a chain of food trucks in India. As part of the research and business planning process, I had spent a lot of time studying the fresh produce supply chain in the country. I quickly became uncomfortable with the lack of hygiene and transparency in the traditional food supply ecosystem, and when discussing with other food entrepreneurs, I discovered that most of them shared similar concerns. With this the idea shifted to a restaurant supply business.

In the early days, we wanted to get direct customer feedback and maintain 100% control of the end-to-end process, so we started with the retail venture called SunnyBee. We started on trucks, similar to the original food truck concept, and sent these trucks to apartments and office complexes, bringing farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to people’s doorsteps. Things snowballed from there as we diversified into wholesale business selling to restaurants and hotels, added staples and dairy products to the portfolio, and more.

What is your take on the agriculture market in India compared to that in other countries?

It’s an interesting yet concerning dichotomy. Agriculture is the primary source of income for nearly half the population, yet India has some of the highest rates of farmer suicide and farmer distress. India is also the world’s second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables and has a clear capability to be the world’s food source, but we suffer from 20% to 45%of food wastage due to poor planning, inefficient operations and other related issues.