The ULTIMATE PLAYBOOK for Building a FOOD EMPIRE in India in 2024: Technology, Trends & More! | TBWS

In this exciting new episode of The Barbershop, we break down the future of the food industry in India, with an exciting roster of guests!
🎙️Ravi Nigam, Founder, TastyBite
🎙️Raghav Verma, Co-founder, Chaayos
🎙️Sameer Khetarpal, MD & CEO, Jubilant Foodworks
🎙️Shashank Mehta, Founder and CEO, The Whole Truth Foods
🎙️Arjun Purkayastha, Senior VP, and Managing Director, Reckitt
We discuss important food trends, case studies of mind-blowing food technologies, and a lot more.
Navigate your way through the conversation :
0:00:00 - 0:01:12 Sneak Peek : Coming up!
0:01:13 - 0:05:34 Introducing our guests : Ravi Nigam, Raghav Verma, Sameer Khetarpal, Shashank Mehta, Arjun Purkayastha
0:05:35 - 0:17:37: Hot Takes on Packaged Food
0:17:38 - 0:22:32 Intent V/S Income : How Aware are Indians About Health?
0:22:33 - 0:56:00 Founders' Insights on Building FMCG Business in India's Health Trends
0:56:01 - 1:23:34 Challenges of Service Business
1:23:35 - 1:37:49 The Secret Sauce of Rapid Growth of Brands
1:37:50 - 1:43:00 How Food Inspires Personal Beauty Care
1:43:01 - 2:16:24 Playbook: How to Build a Brand from Scratch
2:16:25 - 2:28:00 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
2:28:01 - 2:29:03 Thanking our Guests!

[@sagarjaiswal402]

I love the humility in Shantanu saying this is inspired by wtf - NK. While he’s doing so well in thr content game. ❤️

[@farhanlabib3349]

Fr

[@AnkitSharma-el8hs]

True that.... I follow both of them and i always wanted this podcast also to have multi view points on a given topic.

[@Mrmaert]

i used to follow nikhil .but he lost the plot and now wtf is more of advertisement for 1 and keeping a close circle group.

[@meharenterprises4155]

True to that

[@dovhal]

@@MrmaertAgreed. Plus WTF podcasts are too long .They stretch over 3 hours

[@danivornoronha1142]

Dominos uses emulsified mayonnaise and markets it as cheese burst. Indian variants of global fast-food chain menu items have unto 10 times more sodium and trans fats in them. I would have loved to Shantanu take up this topic

[@sri_krishna44]

I think 'ID' founders would have been a fantastic addition. Great podcast nonetheless.

[@prakharraval]

Very truee ID foods also actually freshh

[@sri_krishna44]

@Vikas-nt3mkI agree, but the target customers for them are average working couple or a bachelor/student who wants to strike a balance between eating at home and avoiding eating outside. Convenience sells.

[@jkkarthi27]

1:15:09 Panda Express Americanized Chinese cuisine and scaled them 100x in 40yrs. So did Pei Wei and PF Changs - higher end Asian fastfood

[@flawedtruth]

Shashank's view on accessibility by privilege is true on a bigger scale. It's only after a point in life that one thinks about improving life quality, until that point It's only about survival. Whether it's food, health, living, travelling, investing, etc.

[@lokesh554]

I just wanna check what's going inside shashank's mind when shantanu appraised muscleblaze 😂

[@Sneak_Attak]

What’s the tea

[@romiljain2368]

It blew my mind when he said assurance of gratification in 10 Rupees.

[@varunkasat4148]

The amount of insights this podcast has is just insane...each line has something new to learn..this is fantastic work! Kudos to the team!❤

[@vaibhavyadav2674]

Loved the podcast, just completed watching it very insightful discussion, especially too much to learn from experience and personal story experience of panel members from the 3/4th to last part, i was asking myself why Arjun sir is not sharing his learnings but in the end he shared that too😇 Bring him often to podcasts, he seems to have vast area of experience

[@mahavirgill3787]

Great Episode !! Thanks for putting this panel. Please get Chaayos founder for one to one chat. He was awfully quite. Thanks again

[@documentin9171]

The quality of his food is also awfully quite sick!

[@anishjha7059]

In Gujarat, Patel Rajwadi Chai is another good example who have scaled way better than Chai franchisee's like Tea post, Chai Sutta Bar, etc.

[@shreyashpatel45718]

Yehh that's true and also other new Frenchie also started after them.

[@rocka_bye3455]

chai sutta bar is a shitty brand..

[@sangamiyer4143]

Really looking forward to this format of the show becoming a standard @ The barber shop. Amazing to see the wide variety of insights being pooled in together on a single show. 👍🔥🎉

[@JatinV1]

Man the insights Shashank has🙌 I mean The Intent vs Income he is so spot on!

[@kanavgoyal8089]

Yesterday I watched the whole podcast, The dream I had was there in the next podcast as viewer in person and asking questions and learning so much. I was so happy. Compliments to Shantanu!!

[@hinick11]

Ravi Nigam's (he would know...) honest acknowledgement of supplying pharma with a steady flow of patients, sums up scaled-up food succinctly. It's bad for you. Food brands are profit centers. It will be interesting to see when The Whole Truth plateaus, especially at those price points. The conundrum of scaling food high-quality, good for you products is apparent.

[@KaranSetia-xo5py]

Hypothesis- Burger pizza works in Tier 3/Tier 4 cities because people with lower disposable income are able to enjoy the flavour of a burger and a flavour of pizza both at the cost of a burger! It’s quantity over quality! Two things for the price of one!

[@rnjnmhta.catomato]

Do u live in any of those cities?

[@sandhyakautube]

I usually wait for the next episode of your podcast. They are all so good and informative! But, this one with all these tycoons together was just mind blowing specially at a time when I was figuring out what m I upto. As I also have started my journey to building a healthy food brand named Gud4Gut. Thank you so much for it! More power to you...

[@saibharadwaja9439]

Dear Shantanu, this format of your show has made me truly happy. Somehow, you've made a masterclass with industry legends in an entertaining, informative, and a chatty format. Please make more such shows.

[@MaheKutty]

the only long video i watched entirely without skipping in a decade time :) kudos to everyone ;)

[@mehulverma]

Hey Shantanu, regular viewer this side, I've been seeing most of your podcast from very starting to the very end and I enjoy every second of it. Bring more of these kind of podcast/discussion. Could you bring more VC/PE people on your show who invest in wide range of D2C, AI or Manufacturing or other various sectors too? Very excited for upcoming sessions. Thank You

[@sagarjaiswal402]

Not that I’m a content creator but when founders are talking the close up can be as good as WTF. The focus is on them usually!

[@sachinpagdhare2480]

Shantanu All I can say is …. MAZA AALI 🤞

[@CookieBomb.]

Mast !!!! very very very insightful . thankyou BSC for this .

[@chef.amitghotikar]

Amazing points. Indian food is not scalable as of now. We are working on cracking the code, scaling indian food and also maintaining the freshness.

[@user-vz3bs9fu6p]

Shashank!!!!! What a guy

[@ameyaranke2932]

Great podcast ...great initiative ...great knowledege exchanged ....delighted ...grateful...keep it up shantanu and team ..

[@darshilaagrawal9666]

Watching this as a PM in Swiggy. Hopefully will get good insights xD 🔥🥳😂

[@abhinandan1441]

Arey Swiggy Ke Pradhan Mantri Ji Namaste. Koi secret offer ho to batao... 😉😜

[@bhavyashetty-pp6mc]

Hey, can a commerce person start in PM role?

[@templogical3095]

Chayos delivers pathetic quality in Pune, in case founder is reading this

[@documentin9171]

Chhayos deliver pathetic quality food everywhere.

[@documentin9171]

Chayos delivers pathetic quality everywhere, in case anyone reading this.

[@YashGuptaPune]

Totally agree! Went there to see what’s the hype about, horrible! Never again would i want to be there! Kannu ki chai is brilliant on the other hand

[@aadiraj-jx8xj]

Yes ur right.local issue I guess.

[@stealthoverflow]

To be very honest, most products are pathetic at Chaayos at any place.

[@vaibhavyadav2674]

Great Initiative by Shantanu & team❤

[@hemangis]

Thank you so much for such an insightful podcast......all takeaways nicely put together by Arjun sir.

[@spandandey2345]

one of the best podcasts in Indian KZbin space and history

[@rohanpande4186]

This is the best conversation on the internet for me today! Thank you Shantanu for this.

[@arvindinin4207]

Push is gonna come in long term gradually continue to experiment and expand trying new concepts

[@mainkaun2024]

While Watching this..I just got message from Whole Truth that your package will be delivered today,,,,😀

[@kunalshah4593]

Good theme and panel ! Great if we also double click on diary products like paneer and cheese in another episode with experts now……what is the good, what is the bad and what is sad ! 🙂

[@ashish1110]

I wish someday my product is kept on that centre and side table and everyone actually sipping it. Great Episode.

[@alanpinto2977]

Great panel discussion n insights in the podcast

[@worldintimelapse5539]

This was really good and so informative. Arjun is very insightful🙌🏻

[@shindeshubhamm]

Shantanu, special thanks for brief intro of the panel (and adding it to description). Great insights!

[@samipjoshi7100]

Excellent podcast, very informative

[@shubhamgarg1806]

thanks alot shantanu ,that were some great insights and loved it ... just gave me 360 degree perspective about the whole sector. Grateful

[@adityaagrawal1621]

A Sushi , Ramen , Dimsum , Noodles & Pot Rice QSR can become very big in India. You'll recall this comment in 10-15 years

[@shantanudeshpande]

Banaao aap :)

[@rohittalwar5602]

YES INDIA IS HYPER PRICE SENSITIVE BECAUSE OF TAXATION IS SILLY PER CAPITA GDP IS USD 2600

[@siddhimapxencar7173]

Watching this while having chayoos’s Meri wali chai and poha! ☺️

[@bipin984]

I think Chhayos should partner with Blink it to make it hyperlocal and solves the " time to make and consume " problem also if they could cross sell snacks though the same platform and may be upsell to premium offerings from Chhayos catalogue !!!

[@ankitdinkar3950]

What a episode! Loved every bit of it ❤❤❤

[@pratikjoshi9836]

crazyyyyy!! Letsss goooo Shantanuuuu

[@amitnawalrai8427]

Great job; full of rich content and very well hosted, congratulations 🎉

[@abhisheksrivastava8479]

How is this stuff free? Amazing podcast. Thank you!

[@gautamaggarwal5471]

Amazing episode, really enjoyed, thank you guys :)

[@GroveGalaxy]

Finally loving the format

[@alanpinto4214]

Great insights ..i watched this video twice!

[@abhishek30dec]

Great discussion 👍 The width of experience and wisdom is quite amazing. Keep up the good work.

[@KeerthyYalapalli]

I think Chayyos should try making of tea with adding sugar while preparing because if i add external sugar, it taste different than boiling tea with sugar.. Somewhere the bitterness of tea dust or leaves gets subtle sweetner. Dominos: i have seen untidy behavior of pizza makers...of cheese or vegetables falls on the making counter, they pick it and use it on pizza. Most of the times, the staff seems not neat be by their uniform what they wear and grooming wise. I think it matters if you serving food. In India, everything starts well- quality of food, employees are well groomed, places kept neat and slowly, all turn into poor!

[@rajeshg3804]

Fantastic format. Deep insights.

[@sankalppatil1873]

Shashank man really apt insights! Also, he does sounds like Kumar Varun and also has humour like him

[@lance958]

Thank you for this Shantanu.

[@rohitinfosys]

Shashank raises the level of this podcast by 10X.

[@kyaloonindia6486]

Hi Shantanu - I so look forward to these conversations. It’ll been interesting to see why JumboKing chose to lose its Indian roots and pivoted to westernised burgers. I think vada pav may have lacked the ‘aspirational value’ which burgers did. And in the process they could increase AOV and GPM. Secondly while all these heathy claiming brands are mushrooming no one talks of the harmful / sinful sodium content, preservatives, unhealthy substitutes that go in. BTW do you know most of Domino’s pizzas today esp variants like cheese burst is more mayo than cheese!

[@kvijay6409]

Podcast full of Insights, Loved this! Please follow theme, We can get POV of everyone

[@user-go3hp1nw2m]

2:15:15 Mehta sahab ke emotions dekho Yr.😂.inke hazelnut spread ne kya Dhoka diya Hai bhai inko

[@pratheekpramod7456]

If you can could you bring doctors(health experts) food industry experts like this and would be good to see the where can be the mid road in terms of health and food

[@Shannyyyyyyy]

Such great insights 🙌🏻 🫶

[@chunchun20]

One of best business and brand example is MTR huge huge fan of there products

[@juhipathania3974]

This podcast had really some great insights 😊

[@bipin984]

@shantanu...why Biryani was not represented here...the most ordered Food item on Zomato & Swiggy...you should have invited Biryani by Kilo founders Kaushik Roy & Vishal Jindal to understand how their networth reached staggering Rs 156 crores ( now probably even more than that) in no time.....this discussion would have given brilliant insights to the viewers if biryani would have been represented as without that this panel is incomplete also may be as an upcoming category even Burger is scaling huge ( Founders of jimis burger jimi bhore) also coffe ( blue tokai founders matt chitranjan and namrata asthana) !!!

[@gautamaggarwal5471]

Disagreeing to Shashank's point, I don't believe one needs to be at the top of the maslow's hierarchy to spend on health, even GenZs with incomes around 5-6 L are out there spending a huge chunk of their income on healthy stuff besides not being settled in life completely.

[@nishantbhaskaran7674]

Agreed with you completely.Even in have witnessed this

[@ShivaRapolu]

As he said there is a spectrum. Do you think a person with 5-6L income can "afford" the whole truth bars which cost around 120-150? I mean afford not trying it once or twice

[@annamalaian0711]

Exceptions don’t make the rule.

[@Kathakathan11]

@@ShivaRapoluI can make whole truth bars at home…

[@ashishtrivedi1991]

Great podcast and great format

[@indianghumakad]

Dominos and pizza hut created a market for pizza which has now become a part of every young one cuisine

[@shubham-yj2iw]

Those podcast adding such a large knowledge, tht i started using bombay shaving company automatically

[@shantanudeshpande]

Thank u :) hope u like us

[@shubham-yj2iw]

@@shantanudeshpande ur charcoal foam is awesome sir 🔥🔥i even gift it to cousin's

[@raunakagarwal8038]

Excited for this

[@priyankamanikshetti]

Brilliant podcast 🙌

[@poojasuresh5720]

Which was the previous podcast where they discussed red bull and sting?

[@ritikkhare465]

One of the best talks!!

[@SavanVyas91]

Amazing 🙏🏼

[@saisrichand7136]

Great!

[@ashwinsabu3485]

Thank you 🙏❤

[@user-up7ic5yw5f]

Hey Shantanu, I really enjoyed this format of the barbershop also. I think I am now addicted to consumer insights, thanks to you for this.

[@manojnikam3008]

Amazing insights

[@ManishKumar-dl1np]

Agar aap survey karo to pata chalega ki haldiram ke food quality ka negative reviews kam hai jabki wo vast varieties serve karte hain…just because of consistent and good going at pan India palate

[@indianghumakad]

I would only have an expensive chai if I don't get any other option to get a less priced chai..

[@anuragsaha8248]

Much insight

[@Mrmaert]

We need 1:1 discussion with dominoz guy. He os silent bit have great knowledge. Need 1:1 with him

[@Live-hh6li]

I love Chayoos at Koramangala I order very frequently and whenever I'm sick damn sure.

[@karnatakaauctionproperties]

Same with Jayanagar Bangalore 😮

[@ratanvaghela7666]

Very helpful ❤

[@juhipathania3974]

Do something in Furniture and Home furnishing category 😊

[@Gaurkut92]

Great podcast

[@DhavalBhadreshwara-gs9vv]

Would love to here some insights from Rebel Foods guys!!

[@arjunarya5835]

Great content

[@raunakagarwal8038]

Rice cooking has largely been standardised by Combi Ovens

[@gautamdandekar4924]

Hi, are you using combiovens

[@parvezvelani1471]

You should have asked about how fmcg sales has been digitized nowadays

[@gaju5720]

Good content.

[@amolranade2255]

wagh bakari tea lounge superb

[@akshblue]

They have insights that are 7-9 years old, many of the key indicators of market are missing, majorly in terms of food and beverages market in India

[@Singhrohit.1]

This is like reading a book

[@Shivam.Nagpal]

Thanks

[@user-zn2md7jc8p]

Hi bro it will be a great help to all the struggling entrepreneurs like me if you ask these questions to you guests -How did you start -How to find the product market fit -How much you invested -How much you invested in marketing -And how much was your sales with that spend -What worked for you -What marketing strategy worked for you -What will be your advice to entrepreneur -who is just starting this business -If you are given a new brand what all things you will do and make it a 100cr company and in how many days

[@AdaniJi]

You should include the same video shortcut in every short around it.

[@imsushantjain]

Arjun yaar Dim Sum se accha Chole Bhature ya Dosa ka example de deta.