Tummy Yums rose out of adversaries. When the Pandemic hit Abhishek Tripathi , Founder Tummy Yums, felt the need to start something on his own, though it was fraught with risk he went ahead. He set-up his a company with the help of friends and families in 2020. The company deals in healthy snacks and is growing the company with his past experience in the food and beverage industry.
1. Before we dive into Tummy Yums please tell us about your background?
I began my journey like every average high school student to find a stable career option and so I landed into pharmacy medicine. But unlike every other individual I wasn’t ready to settle for the ordinary and having realized early on that I was meant to enter the entrepreneurial world I dropped out of my course and pursued my graduation from Mithibai College followed by Masters in Business. Remembering the very first job where I earned Rs10k in 2006 I had kept my change of career choice a secret from my parents until this point. Later, the monotony of the regular 9-5 working period was jinxing my innovative side which again wasn’t to my liking I said continuing to narrate my story to Startup story. I then was attracted towards the world of the internet and started working for an IT company and was awarded by NASSCOM. However, fate wasn’t in my favour at the time and I met with an accident while he was in the middle of starting my own company. But that did not stop me from getting back up and pursuing my dreams, like I say ‘Nothing should be allowed to distract you, focus is important’.
One of my previous clients was highly impressed by me and offered me a place as a consultant at FMC. This was his my step into the food industry. Elaborating more about my work Abhishek told Startup Story that I was working with a huge quality clientele for private labeling including Wal-Mart, Spenser’s, Haldiram’s etc. My work in the food industry served as the basis of experience for me to set up my own brand later.
Once the pandemic hit the world, my company also felt the blow and had to go through a layoff. Even though I was kept on board I took this opportunity to start my own business with a small funding from my friend as a part investor I set up a factory and launched TummyYums in 2020.
2. Your brand name is catchy. What was the motivation behind founding this brand?
Being a foodie myself and having a son who enjoys snacks just as much, his son would usually say ‘yummy in my tummy’, which led to him naming his brand Tummy Yums all the same adding a personal touch to it.
3. There are other companies who are using Makhana to produce snacks. How are you different from them or is the market so big that there is a space for more players?
Every brand has their own market share depend on quality & product positioning we as Tummy Yums have PET CAN packaging using food grade material well packed and hygiene also makhana as product vary from size to size we prefer bigger size 15 mm minimum quality parameter raw material we directly procure from Bihar. As far as taste is concern seasoning and edible oil place an important role we prefer high standard and quality product which we procure directly from trusted source.
The Makhana market will grow at a CAGR of almost 7% during the forecast period of 2019-2023. The global Makhana market size will grow by USD 72.5 million during 2019-2023.
4. What are the other products do you manufacture? How many SKUs do you have?
We have wide range of product from under Tummy Yums brand we are also into healthy chips segment we have 40 SKU’s as follows various categories Ragi Chips, Oats chips Chia Chips, Jowar Puff, Quinoa Puff, Vacuumed fried Sweet potato chips many more. We don’t manufacture each and every product we do also prefer contract manufacturing with our specification.
5. Could you throw some light on the size of the healthy snacks market in India?
Healthy snacking has become an enduring habit of snack lovers in the country. Driven by this smart snacking culture coupled with the recent Covid-19 push, a market which has been estimated to cross INR 1 billion will only touch greater heights, A survey conducted by IPSOS has revealed that while 72% of participants were aware of the nutritional needs of the body, 91% of Indians would like to explore healthier alternatives while looking to ‘snack up’. Prompted by a fast-paced lifestyle always pressed for time, people are consciously making healthy snacking an integral part of their regimen. In a recent world-wide poll conducted online on snacking habits and preferences of people that also included Indians, 63% of respondents affirmed that health was a top priority. snack makers and brands are increasingly switching to making products from established and widely-acknowledged healthier ingredients which are typically used for preparation of our regular meals. These healthier alternatives range from staples such as rice, wheat and pulses to gram flour, millets, oats, ragi, quinoa, barley etc. Our multigrain chips has been developed by blend of such ingredients.
6. How are your target audience? Which are the selling channels do you use?
We have got niche TG especially people who are health conscious believe in healthy lifestyle majority we are targeting T1 T2 cities, and selling our product thru Omni-channels. We are present in supermarket as well online platform too. As rising demand of social media facebook & Instagram is the best platform to create the brand awareness of your product.
7. From where do you source raw materials?
We have set of vendors in India every state is known for some grain or fruits as makhana we mainly source from Bihar.
8. Could you enlighten us about the technology that you use?
The future belong to D2C customer for the better margin and company growth perspective we have developed our in house e-commerce platform on open source platform which is taking care of all from inventory till accepting payment, supply chain is the biggest challenge for the last mile delivery, to make it easy we have integrated third party logistics channel Delhivery and shiprocket with our platform. Soon we will launch our app for android users.
9. What are the measures do you follow to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour and food safety norms?
We are ISO Certified 22000:2018 (FSMS) food safety management system. HAPPC certified company personally I have also done my certification which was conducted by Fostac, FSSAI Covid-19 Guidelines, at our facility we strictly follow all safety norms. In India, majority of people still prefer unpacked food but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed this preference and slowly and steadily we have seen a shift towards packaged food in tier 3 cities too. The packaged food reaches the consumer in protected packs and with minimum handling. Packaged food also offers ease of identification, and reduces the risk of adulteration and wastage due to spillage. Even packaged foods meet all the food standards and are fortified, we at Tummy Yums consciously using PET Can which is not only safety also more attractive and easy to carry.
10. Your advice to start-ups in HORECA and snacks market?
My advice to the food start-up & key mantra of success is to focus more on consumer listen to your customer frequently take the feedback of your product quality taste, packaging & pricing more customer centric approach as ultimately consumer is the king.
