SATTVIKO, A packaged food start-up providing light and nutritious prepared snacks in various flavours of Indian origin was established in 2014. Offering traditional snack items from across the Indian states such as Khakhra chips, Makhana, Paan raisins, Gur-Chana, Ajwaini flax seeds, etc., the brand kick-started by learning about the increasing popularity of Satvik food.
Promising a rare combination of nutrition with delectable taste, according to Sattviko, the packaged snacks are completely chemical and preservative-free. Catering to the modern-day customers of all age groups seeking a variety of food with health benefits, today, the brand offers more than 25 varieties of delectable snacks.
Prasoon Gupta, Co-Founder & Director of Sattviko in conversation with BW Hotelier shared the brand’s existing product portfolio, potential markets in India and abroad, and their way ahead.
Founded & established in 2014, how was Sattviko conceptualised? What was the gap that the brand perceived?
Prasoon Gupta: We came across a magazine in the flight that wrote about a restaurant in Bangalore called Satvam, which serves modern food with the traditional recipes of India like a purity of Satvik in that recipes. So we thought maybe Satvik as an idea can be started in India and we can skill it across the globe. Portray it like an Indian brand that can be showcased like Lays is and we named it Sattviko.
The healthy snacking segment has been on a growth trajectory since quite some time now in India, how does Sattviko dominate this segment in India?
PG: We offer around 35 SKUs which are spread over 7 different kinds of products. These variants are available in various flavours and different packet sizes. We are now present across 3000 touch points in India. The largest retail stores being Big Bazaar (Future Group) followed by Metro, More (ABRL), Foodmart, Reliance Fresh are among the others. The intent is to create products that are pure and nutritious, thus making them light in snacking and consumption.
What is the product range that Sattviko has under its portfolio of healthy snacking? Which new SKUs are you looking to add to Sattviko’s portfolio?
PG: As mentioned before, we have around 35 SKUs spread over 7 different kinds of products. So we have different flavours, packed sizes and variants. The main distribution of
package products started in February 2017, but we started innovating with products in 2016 first quarter, that is when we got into snacks like Makhana (Foxnuts) and Khakhra Chips (Wheat Chips). There is currently a lot of demand for the Khakhra Chips and Makhanas. We plan to focus more on the general trade market and grow aggressive in that market, for which we are bringing INR 10 SKUs to reach this mass market. We have launched 10 rupees variants in Gur Chana and khakhra chips.
How do you service the institutional services market i.e. hospitality – hotels & restaurants and airlines, airports? Are you providing them with institutional packs? If yes, please provide details.
PG: Sattviko has a good presence in institutional services and offers different SKUs to cater to airlines, hotels & airports. Sattviko Pan Raisins is served as a mouth freshener with every meal served in SpiceJet airline. There are institutional and customized packets for 5-star hotels that we cater to, also we have institutional pack-size which is exclusively for their bar menus. For Airports, we have INR 20 SKUs for the Vending machines. Currently, we are present in 10 cities across India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.
Where are you predominantly seeing the potential for your sales in India? What potential do you see in tier-II & III cities in India and the overseas market? How are you looking forward to introducing your products to these markets?
PG: For the next one and a half years we see a majority of the growth coming from the top 20 cities in the Indian market, including metros. The SKUs that we are offering are currently for the Tier-I cities. The visibility in the Tier-I cities will help us increase our reach in tier-II and Tier-III cities later on. We have also expanded internationally. Since the vision of the company is to take Indianness to every home in the world, Sattviko is also expanding its footprint overseas. As an initial strategy, the aim is it to cater to the Indian Diasporas settled abroad. We want to gradually introduce flavours to the locals of the US and Europe crowd. We exhibited in SIAL, the largest global food exhibition in Europe. We also exhibited in Gulf food this year. We will slowly expand our international presence.
What is your vision ahead for Sattviko? What is the year 2020 goal for the brand in terms of value addition and revenues?
PG: At Sattviko, we are building the largest global brand for traditional Indian food products that are tasty as well as healthy and presented in modern flavours. The aim is to reach the millennial by blending the Indian tradition with a modern avatar. We are using our funding to reach a revenue run rate of INR 30 Cr top-line in next quarter. We have a revenue run rate of USD 2 mn (INR 14 Cr) per annum growing almost 20% month on month. Going
forward for FY18 Sattviko has targeted to reach USD 4 mn (INR 30 Cr approximately) revenues and aims to reach USD 10 mn (INR 70 Cr) in FY19-20.