It is a widespread misconception that taste, and health does not go hand in hand. The generation today does not want to have boring options in healthy food available in the Indian market. So, the quick option is to pick up junk which takes care of your taste buds and is readily available.
Consuming such over-fried, extra salty, sugary, extra spicey, and mostly non-healthy snack food items frequently and regularly have a Short term and Long-term impact on Health.
In the overseas market, there are a lot of interesting options which are available. But in the Indian market, can you name one Indian Brand, which is entirely healthy, has no preservatives, no sugar, no added colours, gives you multiple options to pick and choose daily, is readily available, and economical.
How to address this concern? Sonal Mehta, CEO of Nutkhat Organics, the first Indian healthy snacking brand, promptly answers, “Nutkhat Organics is that brand. We want to change the perception of end customers that healthy food is tasteless or boring. We are the First Indian Healthy snacking brand which takes care of its customers’ indulgence and Health.”
Realizing Her Dream
Sonal is a double Master’s in Finance and comes from a corporate banking experience of 16+ years. She has helped corporate in their Growth Journey: Fundraising, Strategy planning. She has seen corporates grow from SME/Mid/Large Corporates.
Sonal says, “While interacting with promoters/CEO, my dream was always to sit across the other side of the table.”
She is also a part of NAREDCO Mahi, WICCI, for promoting women entrepreneurs and also a part of PhD Industry Affairs Committee.
Did you know the benefit of eating nuts?
Nutritional Facts: Do you know the benefit of making nuts part of your daily diet? Do you know what our brain is made up of? Do you know that regularly eating nuts as part of your diet can keep you away from more than ten medical conditions? Do you really know the benefits of eating healthy, unadulterated nuts ?
Almonds are popular dry fruits due to their numerous health benefits. Almonds are enriched with vitamin E—essential oils and antioxidants—making them ideal for adults and children. Almonds can be consumed raw or roasted. The health benefits of almonds include:
- Almonds keep your heart healthy
- Help in weight management
- Keeps skin and hair healthy
- Control blood sugar levels
Pistachios can be a good option for people, especially for those who love keeping their hands full with tasty nuts. Pistachios contain oleic acid, antioxidants, carotenes, vitamin E, copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, zinc, and polyphenolic antioxidants. This dry fruit in the shape of a heart has anti-inflammatory properties. Pistachios can provide numerous health benefits like:
- Control blood glucose levels, controls insulin resistance and prevent diabetes
- Lowers bad cholesterol levels
- Assists in developing strong immunity
- Helps in weight management
Walnuts are single-seeded, dry fruits enriched with omega 3 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and proteins. Individuals can incorporate walnuts into their daily diet by comprehending the health benefits like stress management, prevention of malignant diseases, and improving skin and hair. Walnut’s fatty acids can also help in losing weight and keep your heart healthy.
Red raisins, popularly known as Kishmish, are healthier substitutes for sweets made with refined sugar and sugary snacks. In addition to giving you an energy boost, red raisins are a great source of fibre, iron, calcium, potassium, and other vital minerals that keep your hair and skin healthy. Additionally, they are a quick and easy snack that can be had at any time of the day.
Typically, grapes are dried out in the sun before being processed in a factory to produce red raisins or Kishmish. Raisins are nutritionally very similar to grapes.
Cashews are especially known for their delicious flavour and smooth, creamy texture. Cashews contain high levels of vitamin E, B6, and magnesium—vitals essential for your body. The kidney-shaped seed can help you lose weight, improve your heart health, and control your blood sugar levels.
Takeaway Nutrition
Dry fruits are high in nutrients and have a variety of medicinal properties. They are considered delicacies, but they have become a must-buy due to their health benefits. Even children who tend to avoid fresh fruits are enamoured with them.
If you enjoy yoghurt, smoothies, oatmeal, or other healthy breakfast options, you can add dry fruits to any of these and embellish it with a tastier and healthier spin. Since dry fruits are smaller in size, you can take them with you anywhere and eat them anywhere to get a boost of energy and satisfy your hunger. Moreover, they are free of added sugars, cholesterol, and sodium, which is an exciting benefit.
Dry fruits are high in minerals and proteins. Every healthcare professional recommends including a handful of dry fruits in our diet to keep us healthy and fit. Dry fruits come in a plethora of varieties, including raisins, cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, and so on. Nutkhat Organics provides you with premium quality dry fruits and helps you live a healthy life.
Welcome to Nutkhat Organics
Healthy snacking is the need of the Hour. In the last two years during COVID, people have realized the ‘Importance of Staying Healthy and Eating Healthy.’
The global Healthy Snacks Market was valued at USD 85.6 Bn in 2021 and is expected to expand to a CAGR of 6.6% from 2022-2030. Revenue of the Indian Snacking food segment is Currently at $5839 Million, with a conservative assumption of Healthy Snacking amount to 2% of this. “Thus, it stands at USD 116 Million, which I think is huge enough to capture the market,” says Sonal adding, “The USPs of our Brand are,
- All our products are sugar-free/preservative free
- Options for consumers to pick and choose from Variants of Dry Fruits/Bars/Cookies
- Wide range of customers from the age of 2 years- 90 Years
- Available both Online/Offline, and
- Focus on Quality.”
Our Brand Story
Nutkhat Organics, a Gurugram-based D2C healthy snacking brand, offers 16 healthy options: high-quality dry fruits, bars, and cookies to take care of your indulgence and health. The firm has established itself in the last one and a half years on all Big online platforms, Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, and JioMart and have also started building traction in offline Modern Trade stores.
Team Nutkhat understands the importance of nutritional intake in our daily life. In this hustle-bustle of your life, you often fill this nutritional gap with Unhealthy ready-to-eat food. Nutritionists across the world vouch for nuts and seeds as a worthy addition to your daily diet. “As I believe that a healthy outside starts from a healthy inside, we know that for many of us munching on these nuts and seeds can be plain and boring,” says Sonal.
But what if the same mundane munchies are coated and packed with Care, Hygiene, and Taste and give you ample options to pick and choose a different product each day? Sonal feels, “Unarguably, we all deserve food which is healthy and takes care of our Indulgence! Don’t you agree?” That’s how – Nutkhat Organics started in January 2021.
It started with high-end dry fruits, started selling on Amazon from April 2021, and then added Flipkart, Big basket, Nutri tap Vending Machines, Grofers, and Hyperlocal. The journey continues, “But we did not want to restrict it only to Dry fruits brand, so we started experimenting with Bars and cookies, sampling, resampling to end consumers, taking feedback from them,” says Sonal. It took three months before the final product was ready.
The team Nutkhat leverage an extensive global network that has been cultivated over the past years to source the best produce from various parts of mother earth. Nutkhat Organics delivers excellent quality products at the most competitive prices at your doorstep.
From Indian walnuts by one of this country’s most prominent exporters and processors to imported walnuts approved by the Walnut Board of California; from vacuum-packed nuts of Kashmir to premium nuts and other exotic dry fruits from around the world and from various options of Health bars and cookies which are made in house; Nutkhat Organics is the ideal option to satisfy all your needs.
Sonal says, “So, if you are looking for health blended with taste, then look no further, as, with us, you will only find the very best of products, with an emphasis on quality, taste, and health.”
Nutkhat 100% Pure Nuts:
The journey began when promoters from IT and banking backgrounds started working on Nutkhat. They launched Nutkhat as a healthier alternative to snacking.
Sonal assures, “We will never serve you a product that we can’t feed to our own family. Our products are fresh, tasty, and crunchy and will be an addition to your daily snacking habits! Don’t take our word for it; try them out for yourself!”
“We have some of our delicious and favourite Pistachio, Walnut, California Almonds, Red and Black Raisin, and we snack on them daily,” says Sonal.
Speciality Produce: From sourcing the finest quality of dry fruits from around the world to sorting, grading, roasting, and packaging them, everything is done by the team Nutkhat.
Sonal mentions, “We are on a quest to bring together and closer to you all things organic.”
Customer-Centric Policies
According to Sonal, there are some qualities that a leading F&B firm must possess, which at Nutkhat Organics they are striving to achieve. To be successful, any brand must be customer-centric; what is the end customer’s requirement, and how can you take care of that. Sonal adds, “We are proud to say that we are totally customer-centric:
- My repeat customers are between 55-60%,
- I have personally interacted with end customers for sampling and resampling in high-end societies and modern trade stores to get feedback from them before launching our new products, and
- A 100% exchange/refund policy if you are unhappy with the product.”
Trials and Triumphs
As per Sonal, there were some initial challenges Nutkhat Organics faced after venturing into this sector.
- Competition – Sonal feels, “There are established and new brands which are in the sector, so it was important for us to differentiate ourselves from the crowd. We proudly represent ourselves as a First Indian Healthy Snacking Brand, which takes care of your Indulgence and Health.” Its mix of variants in dry fruits/bars and cookies gives you options to pick and choose a different snack daily.
- Distribution – Due to COVID-19, Most of the buying was done online, so the bigger challenge was to tie up with online portals where they were already selling with n number of brands, but with a new concept of Quick delivery, need to add new products and brands helped.
- Compliance – In India, when you want to start something new, legal compliance, Approvals are a big hurdle. The same was with us took us three months to complete the process.
- Employee Retention and Work Distribution are the major challenges for a startup founder. Sonal follows an open-door policy for her team, is always available to discuss any new idea or concerns, is the first to pitch in wherever required, and keeps her employees motivated to do better. Sonal personally believes in the motto ‘Happy team makes a Successful company.’
And considering the changing industry dynamics, the challenges now are,
- Offline Presence and Distribution – Offline presence and distribution are still challenges as people have got into the comfort of online shopping, so the market for offline has drastically gone down. They have recently started offline with high-end modern trade stores and are regularly interacting with end customers and distributors to get feedback on the products.
Tech Key to the Future
Being an experienced leader, Sonal’s opinion on how technology is transforming the F&B industry and what advancements can we expect in the future is optimistic. She believes that in today’s scenario, where everything is technology driven, it would be difficult to run a successful venture without involving technology.
Gone are the days when there was a need for technology only in software companies or banks. Now even if you want to order basic groceries, you need to take the help of technology.
“Automation is the key to the future, so we need to prepare our people and make our business plans keeping the same in mind,” expresses Sonal adding, “We at Nutkhat Organics are conceptualising on some interesting ideas where you can design your own products.”
Value Added Advice
Sonal’s value-added advice to the aspirants who are willing to venture into the field of F&B is straightforward. She says that F&B is a sector which would be least impacted in any critical situation.
Rather if you look at the last two years’ records, even during COVID, where most of the sectors have gone into stress and bleeding cash flows, there has been a good jump in most of the companies in the sector; so, if you have a product which you think is adding value to the end consumer go for it.
On the Track of Tomorrow
Envisioning the future of Nutkhat Organics into the new normal, Sonal conveys, “We started during COVID, in Jan 2021 and with god’s grace the journey has been very satisfying. We are on track with whatever we had planned,” and concludes, “Watch out for us – Very soon we will be the first Indian healthy snacking brand with a global presence.”
