Morning Fresh: Targeting 20-35 years Young Social Drinkers & Delivers Late-Night Too

BWDisrupt interacted with Mitali Tondon, Co-Founder of Morning Fresh and spoke to her about her plans in the near future with respect to her product.

Mitali Tondon, the young 25 year old, entrepreneur has always had an eye for detail. She wears many hats at the company but marketing and research are her favorites and she loves to build things and that’s exactly what she did with Morning Fresh. The entrepreneur bug bit her early in life as both her parents are entrepreneurs and she has grown up in a free thinking and independent environment. However, she did do a stint in a corporate to understand what the fuss was all about on the other side and very quickly gravitated towards the life of an entrepreneur. Once she got into it, it was very clear this is what she wanted to do – Live the entrepreneur life !

She understands that today the younger generation is very conscious of their diet and want to know what they are eating and drinking and how it affects them. Keeping that in mind, she has chosen to keep Morning Fresh, a first of its kind, natural and has zero carb and zero fat and helps flush alcohol out of the system. This will allow young party goers to enjoy themselves while ensuring the hangover does not follow them through to the next day and steal away the morning with its after effects. Of course, there is a science behind it

About Morning Fresh:

Two years of intense research have gone into it by a group of dedicated and qualified professionals before she launched it into the market. The flavor addition and the pocket friendly versions are an added plus. You can buy it at regular outlets and conveniently carry it in your pocket for your night out. It has already been met with very positive response and more requests just keep pouring in. So when you are out drinking be responsible not just for the night but also the morning after.

Founding date

We started ground work and research on Morning Fresh in 2014 and entered into the market in November 2015

Founder’s name- Mitali and Bharat Tandon

Startup description

Morning Fresh is a safe and natural alcohol detox drink that is meant to be taken as your last drink of the evening. It comes in a compact and light-weight 60ml bottle in 3 flavours - Cola, Mint and Strawberry. The primary ingredients are Vitamin C, Mulberry Extract and Proteins that help flush out all the toxins and help protect the liver. For more information on the science behind the product please visit our website and watch our product video.

How was it started?

We started doing research of Morning Fresh in 2014 and got into the market in end 2015. Our parent company, Sericare, founded by my father;Bharat Tandon, are pioneers in the field of sericulture and using silk as a bio-material. Our research found that certain amino-acids in the silk protein aided in breaking down alcohol in the liver and thereby boosting liver health in a natural way. I was quick to gauge the gap in the market, as binge drinking is on the rise, there is a proliferation of bars and restaurants in the city and youngsters are increasingly leading a fast-paced life. We developed Morning Fresh as the only post-drinking solution to help relieve customers from the after-effects of alcohol consumption. Most people rely on home-remedies/informal methods. Our target audience is also very health conscious and we were particular about keeping the product natural, portable and easy to consume.

Unique key feature/services

It's the only post-drink solution in India to help detox alcohol in the body naturally, that uses silk protein. At Sericare, we specialise at finding biotechnology solutions using silk based proteins to develop unique nutraceuticals like Morning Fresh.

USP'S - Its natural and comes in a liquid form so it's easily accepted and quickly digested in the body. It contains Zero fat and carbohydrate content and contains no caffeine or added sugar - which is important to our health conscious customers. Also, it has been designed to be light weight and compact so it is convenient to carry and consume in any situation/ at any point in time.

How is it different from existing ones?

Fundamentally the functionality of the product and how it works is really what makes Morning Fresh different from anything in the market. Since Morning Fresh is to be taken as your LAST drink of the night, it enables the liver to perform at it's natural best and aids in rapid break down of alcohol in the body [ aka detoxes it ]and converts it into non-toxic metabolites. Morning Fresh also contains other vitamins that help boost and maintain your liver health. This ensures that you wake up fresh and ready to take on your day.

The Current Funding status- Currently, Self - Funded.

Monetization model Experimented with

We currently retail through popular bars, restaurants and retail outlets in the city, to help set the context of Morning Fresh to our customers and also online via our website and other e-commerce portals like Amazon, Grofers where we cater to Pan-India demand. We also work closely with several wedding planners across the country.

Current Traction Details

We have received an extremely positive response from the market. Most customers that have tried the product and had a first hand-experience of it always come back. We are now working on creating widespread customer awareness campaigns. Morning Fresh has also been very well received in other states and we are now entering the Hyderabad market. Additionally, we have also received several export inquires that we are exploring.

Plans for Near Future

We are looking to ensure that Morning Fresh becomes synonymous with fresh mornings and responsible drinking in India. We are also likely to explore private equity funding in the future.

Marketing plans & Efforts Described

As a fun, young and cutting-edge brand, Morning Fresh aims to find innovative, disruptive and non-traditional ways to market itself as a lifestyle product. We are constantly thinking of fresh methods to reach our customers in an interactive and relevant way both online and offline.

For example –

a) We recently created 'The Bro'ster'; the first ever interactive digital coaster as an absolutely modern way to get our customers to discover, interact and experience the brand that is Morning Fresh. For more details watch this video.

b) Fresh Sets - We know how much the experience of Morning Fresh and music go hand in hand, so we started "Fresh Sets" which brings to you curated playlists to help our customers discover mood-based music for all states of mind. We invite our customers, local musicians, underground artists and upcoming DJ's to curate playlists for us and have received overwhelming feedback for this initiative.

Check it out: https://soundcloud.com/morning-fresh

c) We tie up with services that offer late night deliveries so we are able to cater to last-minute demands or impulse buy requests from our customers.

Challenges: Product: I think the USP of our product; the fact that it is the first of its kind and an entirely new concept to the Indian market has been both an advantage and a challenge. We had to do a lot of primary research to gauge consumer behaviours and market size prior to putting together our business plan. A lot of back-end scientific research and extensive product development was also required including testing and finalizing formulations.

Consumers: With Morning Fresh we are really addressing consumer mind-sets, so part of the challenge has been to educate customers about the product USP’s and to have it be successfully included into their routine/everyday life. Having said that, it is an optimistic challenge that we are actively working towards by constantly setting the context of the product to the customer and ensuring that it is easily available.

Market size & Opportunities Looking at?

I think it would help here to define our target audience. We are specifically targeting individuals that are between 20 - 35 years that are young, working professionals, health conscious that are social drinkers. While drinking is not limited these ages, we also broadly address customers over 35 years, as the use of Morning Fresh is particularly relevant in cases where the average metabolism rate of a person, slows down.

While rough liquor sale statistics look like 300 million cases of sales per year, we are currently targeting the urban cities and population with Morning Fresh.

Our overall focus in terms of our brand strategy is to focus on drinking responsibly and ensuring our customers stay healthy and fresh. Eg. Taking Morning Fresh after a night out with friends and colleagues will make sure you wake up in time for your early meeting, yoga class, and morning run.