Gladful For Children
According to several studies, over 70 per cent of Indians have protein deficiency. Gladful provides high-protein products for the Indian palette which are convenient to make and can easily fit in the tiffin box. Parul Sharma, Founder and CEO mentions, “We intend to solve for the busy mother by giving high-protein options to her kids and family.”
For the Jaipur-based company, the growth plans and investments rest on two pillars – distribution and innovation. This year, the brand is expected to bring out new products across various categories.
Parul Sharma quit her job during the pandemic and started product research. Each step took slightly more time than usual because companies were shutting new verticals, marketing spending was reducing, startups were downsizing and many other complexities.
The idea of Gladful was influenced by Parul’s personal experience when she was asked to significantly increase the protein content in her 9-year-old child’s diet. She built her own version of a protein calculator only to realize that meeting the daily protein RDA for active pre-teens is not easy for an Indian household. They sell cookies, nuts, cheela mix and much more in order to provide the adequate protein needed by a kid.
By designing functional foods and snacks, Gladful’s vision is to solve India’s protein and other nutritional deficiencies.
The past few months have been interesting with the increased cost of customer acquisitions and the environment’s focus on businesses that can grow sustainably. For Gladful, it’s a welcoming change, a necessary push as well as an automatic filter and only the best competition will truly stay, Founder and CEO, Sharma believes.
Consumer connection is the core focus area for the brand. It has served over 1 lakh customers until now. It also ensures to constantly hear all of them, speak to every one of them, take feedback and improve. Therefore, consumer centricity, feedback and dialogue have been the core of the business from Day 1. We are quick to change basis only on consumer feedback. The team at Gladful touches base with over 20,000 consumers monthly through WhatsApp, emails and phone calls.
Parul Sharma opines, “There is great strength in agility, especially at the early stage.”
It is a small team of five people including founders apart from the dispatch staff doing a business of Rs 6 crore ARR (annual recurring revenue) now
