When it comes to food we don’t mind spreading the word. That Food Company is another bootstrapping startup trying to bring affordable gourmet foods to the Indian Foodie. The company has had a few hiccups with product shipping and packaging but remains positive that they have found a real need to cater to.
This is what Nikunj Sharma, a cofounder of
TFC says about their startup.
How was TFC started? That Food Company (TFC) came to be while sipping cups of Americano and Java Chips when four people from very different backgrounds buzzing with very different ideas came together over their common enthusiasm for the F&B industry.
In its first avatar in December 2015, TFC started as a foodtainment company specializing in themed and curated food in the events space. We were distributing The Hulk burgers (as in The Hulk from Marvel Comics) and Elsa cupcakes (as in Elsa from Disney’s Frozen) at a Comi Con. They became a rage and got TFC its next series of events. It was at one such event at Taj Vivanta that TFC curated a range of relishes, butters and sauces and had its eureka moment.
Post that, TFC wasted no time pivoting from being in the events space to building a trend-setting product company in the FMCG space.
TFC spent two months in product design and stabilization then officially launched its current range of products in June, 2016. In its three months of operations, we have started retailing our products on our website, through online marketplaces, food focused platforms and select offline stores in Mumbai. We are four founders Nehal (Head Chef / Product Head), Laveena (Business Development & Sales), Gia (Branding & Marketing) and Nikunj (Operations & Tech).
Describe TFC to usThat Food Company aims to become the new age trend setting company in the FMCG space, providing progressive flavors and products for the ever evolving taste buds of the Indian foodie. We’re a bunch who believes in experimenting and exploring possible ingredients that can be blended to create delicacies that span the sweet as well as savory taste buds.
How is TFC unique?The products by TFC are unique in their combination of flavors and recipes. The key and most important feature of the products lie in its applicability. Though the flavors seem gourmet at the outset, they have been tweaked to enhance the daily eating experience of consumers.
The TFC team, having been exposed to delectable cuisines, has the perfect blend of novices, experts and in-betweeners to create the right product using obscure and clichéd ingredients on planet earth. TFC aims to be a company that has an ever evolving range of trend setting, unique and progressive products that engages with the consumers on an on-going basis.
How is it different to the rest of the relishes out there?Desi-foreign blend - The products are tweaked with a mix of global and local flavors and ingredients to meet the evolving Indian palate, thereby giving us Indians the experience in a form we can get comfortable with
Pricing – We aim for premium positioning with accessible pricing. The products are aspirational yet on par with international brands, but the pricing’s affordable.
Versatile - Our relishes can be used on many dishes, in almost any food combination you can think of. Instead of offering one particular condiment for a specific type of dish, our products represent food for all occasions. The products have been designed keeping the diverse range of consumer tastes in mind. (Gobhi with some Peri Peri flavoured Butter, anyone?)
Accessibility - Our products blend common ingredients with otherwise gourmet seeming ingredients and makes a premium offering accessible to an average middle class Indian.
What’s the funding status of TFC?We are a bootstrapped company and our current focus is on capturing market while maintaining unit economics and breaking even by increasing sales and ramping up production. We will seek external funding when we are ready to scale up to other cities, launch modern retail, expand our product portfolio and automate operations.
Has TFC gained any traction in the market?We’re currently doing 8-10 online orders, increasing at 25% MoM. Up to now, offline stores and event sales have contributed 40% of the revenue sales.
Is it tough being a bootstrapped company in the packaging food business? We faced logistical challenges in shipping our products outside Mumbai to places with a long transit time with unpredictable temperature changes and spikes. We have improved the shelf life post that and set up processes for quality checking of packaging and shipping.
With our complete team and the right domain expertise i.e. an experienced chef and a food technologist, TFC is now focused on making scalable and stable food products.
How do you plan to attract customers moving forward?Offline: Strategic partnerships with restaurants and other brands for cross – promotional activities, sampling at high footfall venues
Online: Content marketing and leveraging marketplaces to increase outreach
And future plans of TFC… Implement technology to enable huge volumes of production and supply chain demands.
Product innovation and expansion – enter other product segments.
Use sales and marketing spend to increase from conservative to smart product expansion with added boost towards reach
Are you confident this can be a hit? Let me cite some research from
ASSOCHAM It gives you an idea of the potential in this market:
- The current size of Indian packaged food industry is about $30 billion and likely to touch $50 billion by 2017
- 88% of people prefer to purchase table relishes like sauces, pickles etc.
- Average rate of annual spending on packaged food has increased by 22.5% annually during the years 2010 to 2015. Packaged food annual spending set to rise 32% by 2017
- 89.5% of the nuclear family feel that they have less free time and have less time to spend in the kitchen. It is in this background that home delivery business model for cooked food has grown multi-fold.
- 72.6% of bachelors prefer convenience of ‘instant’ food because of lower cost and because it saves time and energy with the added convenience of already prepared food
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
