From online salad meals to desi gathiya pizza, food startups now have healthy, creative options on their menu

AHMEDABAD: When it comes to food, colours, ingredients and their combinations can spice up the most insipid meal. Entrepreneurs in the food business know this instinctively, and have extended the principle to their offline and online ventures. From online salad meals to desi gathiya pizza and Vedic vegetarian food without onion and garlic – they have done it all, aided by health-conscious consumers.

Indore-based Akhil Kacholia, dropped out of his chartered accountancy (CA) course – much against his family’s wishes — and started Golden Sticks in 2012. Kacholia came up with the idea of replacing a Western food base, which is mainly refined flour, with gram flour.

In addition, he used healthy Indian ingredients to replace the junk component in the western food, keeping the taste intact with a domestic twist. So, sandwich bread was replaced by gathiya (a popular snack in Western India, made of gram flour) and brownies were replaced with wheat flour cookies. “Most western foods are based on maida, which is unhealthy if consumed over a period of time,” Kacholia says, adding he found demand for his products from parents and young professionals worried about their daily consumption of junk food. Golden Sticks sells 21 varieties across three outlets in Indore, Godhra and Ahmedabad. It generates Rs 2-3 lakh revenue per month from each outlet and has 80-85% repeat customers. By the end of this year, it plans to add 10-15 outlets across India. Similarly, Ahmedabad couple Rajiv and Khushboo Sharma’s startup, Joules Juice Café, sells fruit juices and smoothies. Rajiv, an IIT Kanpur graduate, quit his job with Tata Communications at Mumbai and relocated with his family to Ahmedabad to open his juice startup.

In India, fruit juice is either available at premium hotels or restaurants or at roadside fruit juice stalls, but there is no concept of a juice café, says Khushboo Sharma. “There are fruit juice shops, but they are few in number and not standardised chains,” she says, adding that an increase in the health-conscious population has added to their success. After three years of establishing ‘Joules Café’, the couple runs four outlets in Ahmedabad and one in Vadodara.

They have developed 60 varieties of fruit juices, shakes and smoothies, and are looking at starting up multiple cafés and franchises all over Gujarat in the next three years. Another startup, LoveForSalad, delivers salads through its online store. Started by Ahmedabad-based techie, Ashish Vyas, LoveForSalad sells salad meals at consumers’ doorstep.

“Currently, if you have no online option to order healthy food like salads, you end up ordering junk food,” says Vyas. He says he is providing an option to people who prefer homecooked food and want to avoid greasy food outside for lunch or dinner. Last year, Delhi-based Sattviko rolled out ‘Vedic’ vegetarian food without onion and garlic. “Although the Vedic scriptures don’t mention that only vegetarian food needs to be consumed, many positive aspects of a vegan diet are mentioned in Ayurveda.

We focus on vegetarian food to add the Yogic or “Yoga” factor to eating habits,” says Prasoon Gupta, cofounder and director, Sattviko. According to Gupta, onion and garlic are herbs with medicinal characteristics, but if cooked with general food items, turn into byproducts that come with their own side effects.

“Stomach ailments occur when food spiced with onion and garlic is consumed in large quantities,” he says. “A vegetarian dish without onion and garlic is a USP in itself,” he says, adding that he is targeting customers in the age group of 25 to 35 years, who would like to take their families out for a memorable, “pure vegetarian” dinner. “We are also targeting health-conscious people who want healthy meals with exotic tastes,” he adds.

Sattviko’s monthly revenue collection is at around Rs 17 lakh. “We are poised to increase our monthly revenue generation by three to four times,” says Gupta, claiming his venture is the fastest-growing QSR chain. Beyond cooking meals and stirring up healthy salads, startups are also active in the food reviewing space. Tummy Rat, another Ahmedabadbased startup, is an online mobile app which offers a platform to foodies to discuss, recommend, suggest options, in addition to upload pictures of food joints, street food and homemade food.