Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by RailRestro.
Today, nearly 6 billion people travel in Indian Railway and we Indians love this journey more than any other mode of transport. Train journeys, especially lengthy ones can get you hungry while you resist the desire to eat from the in-train caterer. The media has uncovered the pathetic side of train meals. This has made commuters apprehensive about consuming these meals.
To counter this issue, Manish Chandra came up with the concept of RailRestro. The objective of RailRestro is to ensure the easy and convenient availability of great food choices with variety & assortment and prepared in hygienic kitchen conditions for all consumer goods.
Railrestro was founded in the year 2015 to provide healthy & hygienic food in the Indian railways operated trains. Passengers can easily order food in train. It partnered with almost 8000 premium restaurants around the country. The company’s vision is to make healthy and hygienic food available in the train.
Research shows statics of food poisoning in the train and people are helpless to eat non-healthy food while traveling. The company’s motive is to provide all kinds of food to the Indian Railway travelers so that they can have healthy and well-cooked food in the train. Railretsro.com provides all kinds of meals on the wheel for travelers starting from baby food to the heavy Thalis of specific regions in the country.
RailResto provides Online food in train
Through its PAN-India based business, it has also helped numerous restaurants to increase their revenue by allowing them to deliver food in the train with the partnership of Railrestro.
The team believes in making the Indian Travelers railway journey a healthy, hygienic, and tasty one. The business slogan of the startup Ralrestro.com is “spice up your train journey”.
You have numerous cuisines to pick from like North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Mughlai, Hyderabad, Continental, Italian, Non-vegetarian, Vegetarian, and, of course, soft drinks. Besides all this, they ensure you that the local food suppliers, they have partnered with, cook hygienic food so that you do not have to rely on unhealthy snacks.
The railway food delivery company tracks the train in real time and makes sure that fresh food is made available to the passengers travelling in the train through its network restaurants across India. It provides online food in train at around 300 railway stations in India direct from the restaurant at the seat. Payments can be made directly online while placing the order or you can pay on delivery of the food too.
RailRestro – Founders and Team
Husband and Wife duo, Manish Chandra and Suman Priya are the Founders of Railrestro.
Manish Chandra and Suman Priya, Founders of Railrestro
Manish Chandra is the CEO & Director at Railrestro. He is a serial entrepreneur who has keen interest into e-commerce marketing buildups and startup Ideas
Suman Priya is Director and Co-founder at Railrestro. She is an inspiration who showed her faith in Manish’s idea and helped him with full zeal to actualize the business idea into a business operation.
Currently there are more than 100 people working in-office and more than 300 work as delivery chain, freelancer and Marketing professionals.
“We hire only those motivated youths who believe in startup concept and ready to work for it. Our team enjoy a lot while working in the office. The environment is friendly and lively. Clubbed birthday celebration, anniversary celebration, lunch parties and festivals are organized frequently”, says RailRestro owner Manish Chandra about the office culture.
Railrestro Team
RailRestro – Target Market Size
The company is into the e-catering services and having the authorization of IRCTC e-catering, it is operating in PAN India. It has served around 50 lakh meals on the train. The target audience is all the Indian railways’ travelers.RailRestro is into e-commerce so all the measurement is done digitally with its AI-enabled website.
How was RailRestro Started?
Frequent railway journeys during Manish Chandra’s ( Railrestro owner) college times made him realize the need for good food in the train. It was somewhere put in his mind to ring about some resolution to the food problems in the train. With the IRCTC portal and its partnership programs, the company came up in the market.
Initially, Railrestro owner, Manish discussed the idea with his family members and they were also the first investor of this company. His parents helped him to channelize and operate the business in the initial days. Later, Manish connected to different people in the same sector and fortunately, Railrestro received very good responses from the customers.
RailRestro has marketplace kind of business model, with wide network of vendor tie-ups with restaurants across India. It also has railrestro app for online food order in train. Passengers travelling via train can order food from the Railrestro Website, railrestro app or via call. It offers food as per the traveler preferences across multiple locations in India. It is an ISO certified company. Travellers need to provide their PNR details or train number information on the website to enable smooth delivery on time.
RailRestro – Growth and Revenue
During the first 3 months of Inception, RailRestro ran on a no-profit and no-loss model. It gained traction when it partnered with IRCTC, and started processing 600 orders/day nine months after starting out. The company’s revenue is estimated to be around $17M per year.
RailRestro – User Acquisition
The startup believes in providing a quality service to the passengers and that’s the single factor that attracts the customers to the brand. However, they are also onto the digital sphere so Google ads, Facebook campaigns, influencers programs also helped them to make Railretsro.com known amongst the general public at large.
RailRestro – Logo and Meaning
RailRestro embarked on this journey to be the most preferred brand for ordering meals during train journeys in India. Its logo has rail restro written between a symbol of train and a set of spoon, knife and fork. Rail Restro represents a restaurant in rail. It symbolizes that we can get our food in train from trusted restaurants. Its Logo rightly signifies the activities of the startup.
RailRestro – Funding
RailRestro is currently Bootstrapped (Nov 2020). It has no outside funding or other support launches.
RailRestro – Startup Challenges
“When we started our business the biggest challenge was to connect with the Restaurants and making them agree for the food deliveries in the train”, recalls Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Railrestro.
Initially the restaurant tie-ups were very difficult due to the trust issues and digital-unawareness. Slowly, their marketing team turned this hurdle into its strength by tie-up with more than 8,000 restaurants in each corner of the country.
RailRestro – FAQs
What is RailRestro?
RailRestro is an e-catering and e-commerce company in the food industry for Railway food delivery. It serves online food order in train.
Who is RailRestro owner?
Manish Chandra is the owner of RailRestro.
When was RailRestro founded?
RailRestro was founded in 2015.
How is the RailRestro’s review?
It has been rated around 4 by the customers who ordered food in train from RailRestro.
Current lifestyle of young generation is leading to many diseases. Today’s era though junk is spread everywhere but people are looking for healthy bites with good taste.
Healthy Master is a Bangalore startup co-founded by Shivali Agrawal and Dipti Singhal with a vision to “Replace Junk with Healthy”. It provides a platform where all healthy food items are available so people should not give second thought before purchasing. Read this article to know everything about Healthy Master.
Healthy Master is founded by two Moms, Shivali and Dipti, with the sole purpose to provide quality bites with delicious taste. Moms are the ultimate champions when it comes to healthy eating habits. With nourishment being an inherent nature of a mother, two moms are now moving beyond their roles to launch Healthy Masters – A one stop counter for all healthy needs.
Their vision is to spread awareness on healthy eating habits while making quality products available at your doorstep. Today, the fast-paced life is increasingly making junk food the most appealing food trend for all age groups. Although junk snacks are tasty and easily accessible, they are proven to be the main culprits for bad health. Therefore, Healthy Master is determined to replace the junk snacks with healthy and tasty dry fruits, millet-based substitutes and many more varieties.
Healthy Master – How It All Started?
Being mothers, Shivali & Dipti used to talk about magical world where only healthy stuff is available so they can close their eyes and pick anything for their family. But in real life its not like this. Junk is easily accessible to all the places while we need to struggle for healthy bites. With that thought they planned to build one stop shop for all healthy needs.
Healthy Master – Product/Services
Healthy Master’s current product ranges are non-fried millet based snacks, cookies, dry fruits, and berries. They have around 150 healthy food items. The products use no preservatives, no maida and are high in fiber & low in calorie.
They take at least 30-45 days to bring any items to their platform. They decide their do’s and don’ts for all the products, like if its cookies – No Maida, No Baking powder & No Artificial color. Like wise Millet snacks – Non fried and with No Preservatives.
They don’t just sell quality products but also provide best services to their customers like timely delivery, customer care support, diet help for people with diabetic, gluten free, keto diet etc.
Shivali was a housewife and always passionate about cooking healthy food. She started a business of selling dry fruits in May 2018.
“As Shivali and myself we were close friends, we discussed to create a complete Healthy platform as being mothers we were struggling to provide quality bites to our family.”, says Dipti.
By profession Shivali is an interior designer and Dipti is a Chartered Accountant and worked with corporate for more than 13 years.
Healthy Master Team
Healthy Master – Name, Tagline, and Logo
The team of Healthy Master took almost 21 days to finalize the name. Many rounds of discussion happened to finalise the name. Finally, co founder Tarun has suggested ”Healthy Master” and Shivali & Dipti loved it.
As name says, Thisplatform is Masters of Everyone’s Good Health.
Healthy Master Logo
Healthy Master – Startup Launch
Healthy Master was started with few of the co-founders’ friends, and got an amazing response that helped them to build their confidence level and then they started putting exhibitions in various apartments, tech parks etc.
The most challenging part was to finalize business partners, as initially volume was very low and they have fixed do’s and don’ts for their product ingredients. Their business partners were not ready to work for small volume and with stringent ingredients norms. They faced many obstacles but with patience and continuous efforts they have overcome that phase.
Healthy Master – Future Plans
Company is doing good and the team is continuously studying products which require to build a good immunity and will bring all those products that is good for everyone’s health.
Healthy Master – Recognitions and Achievements
“Our biggest achievement is customer satisfaction.”, says Shivali.
Healthy Master is a Bangalore startup co-founded by Shivali Agrawal and Dipti Singhal with a vision to “Replace Junk with Healthy”.
What does Healthy Master provides?
It provides a platform where all healthy food items are available so people should not give a second thought before purchasing.
Who handles the marketing for Healthy Master?
Tarun Agrawal is a cofounder of Healthy Master. He has a strong marketing background and handles a complete marketing portfolio for the company.
Healthy Master – Conclusion
Healthy Master are very experienced and knowledgeable in introducing less oil & non-fried items which are made up of power food items like millet, wheat, soya, fox seeds & different variety of snack items. The company’s mission is to create a junk-free world by providing healthy products to the community. They believe in one vision “Vision to serve healthy”. One of the main priorities for this decade is to inspire people to overcome unhealthy eating habits. They have managed to exhibit their products to create health awareness among, individuals, schools, colleges, workspace to make healthy & happy living an essential part of everyone’s life.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by The Good Life Company.
Are you feeling tired or depressed? Are you having a bad day at work? Then, you should know that a simple steaming cup of tea or coffee can make you feel much better. Studies have shown that even holding a hot cup of tea or coffee can have positive effects on human mood and behavior. Tea and coffee top the list of most popular drinks worldwide. Also, there are wide varieties of tea and coffee available in different parts of the globe. The Good Life Company, a Mumbai-based startup is serving you the best tea and coffee from around the globe.
StartupTalky interviewed ‘The Good Life Company‘ founder Bhuman Dani& Shariq Ashraf to understand more about his venture.
According to Euromonitor data, the Speciality Tea Market has currently valued at INR 5,100 crore and growing at the rate of 12% p.a. whereas the CTC tea market has valued at INR 13,000 crore, growing at the rate of 3% p.a. in India. Globally, the tea industry is currently at $44 billion, growing at the rate of 5% per annum. As far as coffee is concerned, the instant coffee market in India has currently valued at INR 2,800 crore, growing at 5.5% per annum while the fresh coffee market at INR 1,500 crore growing at 6% per annum. The global coffee market currently stands at $85 billion growing at 4% per annum.
In India, as of 2019 orthodox tea accounts for almost INR 10,000 crore of sales growing at a rate of 10% annually whereas other teas account for INR 13,000 crore of sales at a growth rate of 2.9%. Combined, the tea market in India is expected to be at INR 22,000 crore by 2022.
Founded in 2016, TGL Co. is the fastest growing hot beverages startup in India that sources the finest quality teas and coffees from around the world with a deep focus on fresh, clean and natural ingredients. The Mumbai-based startup envisions itself becoming the largest hot beverages brand in India.
TGL sources teas from the best plantation around the world/ from China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and India, then blends them with dehydrated fruits, flowers, and spices to give them an aromatic flavor.
All About The Good Life Company
The Good Life Company – Team
TGL Co. (The Good Life Company) was founded by Bhuman Dani and Shariq Ashraf in 2016.
Bhuman Dani is an ex-management consultant of BCG, London. He did his MBA from INSEAD and BE in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani, Dubai whereas Shariq Ashraf worked as a management consultant in BCG, Melbourne. He did his MBA from Oxford University.
TGL | Co-Founders | Bhuman Dani & Shariq Ashraf
Bhuman & Shariq met at an alumni event of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Mumbai. Their shared love for tea and coffee coupled with a passion to bring inspired blends and beans to millions in the country, brought them together to change the norm for hot beverages in India.
Currently, TGL Co. has a diverse team of 85+ members across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, and Kolkata.
“The way we met is a perfect example of serendipity. As a start-up, we believe in wearing multiple hats, where roles are not clearly defined, and people are required to multi-task and handle various responsibilities. We have been actively involved wherever required, starting from packing teas to strategizing future business plans to raising funds,” says Bhuman.
When TGL’s founder Bhuman Dani walked into the East India Company store in London one day, little did he know that it would change his life. With no background in the world of specialty teas and coffees, this experience opened his mind to brews, blends, blades, and beans. On researching more about the Indian specialty tea market further, he realized that there was no player he could clearly relate to when it came to premium teas.
But this appetizer only fueled his thirst for more knowledge in this space. So, he began his apprenticeship with Jane Pettigrew, one of the most renowned master blenders of tea in the world, and learned about teas, origins, and influence of botanicals in creating the perfect blend. His interactions with Sanjiv Mehta (Director, East India Company) inspired him to pursue his passion and create an aspirational brand of premium teas and coffees in the very commoditized Indian consumer industry.
At the same time, in another corner of the world, Shariq Ashraf, an MBA graduate from Oxford University and a self-professed tea aficionado was inspired by another tea company. He got his Eureka moment while traveling to Antarctica via Argentina where he met Ines Berton, the owner of Tealosophy South America’s biggest specialty tea company. He got inspired by his enviable tea knowledge that helps him to know about teas, blends, and the business model.
This led him to quit the Boston Consulting Group and move back to India, following his passion to introduce a spectacular range of tea and coffee.
The Good Life Company – Name and Logo
TGL Co. lets one enjoy the goodness of life through its exquisite range of tea and coffee and believes that the world’s finest tea and coffee should be an everyday luxury that celebrates sophistication, tranquility and good health.
TGL Logo
They’re devoted to bringing an articulate revival to the known hot beverage experience by sourcing the best teas & coffees in the world and masterfully blending them with innovative flavors and botanicals. With every brew and blend, it is reviving the concept of tea and taking it to places where it has never been before.
TGL’s logo symbolizes the Ancient Tea Horse route which first enabled teas to travel beyond China. They want to take it much further into a new era of unwavering excellence. Towards the rapidly increasing tribe of tea aficionados. To re-imagine it, no longer as a legacy drink, instead as one that entices, excites and rejuvenates.
The Good Life Company – USP
TGL Co. brings to you the best of tea and coffee from around the world. Although the company was incorporated in April 2016, it had started selling in October 2016.
The Good Life Tea Company has various types of tea like white tea, green tea, oolong tea, black tea, yellow tea, and CTC tea. It sources tea from countries like China, Japan, Taiwan and Srilanka besides India. One can choose from a variety of ingredients, flavors and aromas.
It also has a wide variety of coffee in India and the different parts of the world.
The USP of TGL’s tea that sets them apart from the competitors are:
Sourcing of Tea Leaves: Most players source their leaves from the Indian subcontinent, i.e. India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. But TGL believes in sourcing the best tea leaves. A white tea grows best in the Fujian province of China. The humidity, temperature, altitude, alkalinity in the soil is optimal for these leaves to grow in these regions. So TGL, instead of just limiting itself to the Indian subcontinent, also goes to China, Taiwan, Japan, Sri Lanka, etc., and source the finest leaves from these countries.
Sourcing of Ingredients: Most players source their ingredients locally that’s why the range is limited and quality is sub-optimal. TGL Co. after sourcing the leaves from around the world, ship them to Europe to its contract manufactured blending facility wherein they mix the teas with dehydrated fruits, flowers and natural flavors in the presence of European botanists and culinary experts – botanists to ensure blends are amazingly healthy and culinary experts to ensure the optimal taste. It uses exquisite ingredients that are both unavailable and unheard of in the country – such as Barberries, Mallow petals, Schizandra Berries, Muira Pauma, Thistle flowers, Osmanthus, etc. Apart from being amazingly tasty, most of these ingredients have medicinal values. TGL Co. follows a streamlined central purchasing principle. It sources ingredients from locations they grow best – for example, Barberries come from Iran, Schizandra Berries from Russia, Muira Puama from the Amazon rainforest & Mangoes and Strawberries from India.
The Blend: Most players have simple, conventional blends – Green tea with mint, Green tea with ginger, Green tea with rose, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chamomile, etc. A typical blend that The Good Life Company offers is Green Sencha Tea mixed with mango, banana, melon, guava, sunflowers, cornflowers and passionflower leaves. It has 8 ingredients in one tea that make it extremely flavorful, tasty & healthy with less than 6 calories a cup and is extremely high in quality because of the sourcing process.
The Good Life Company’s Coffee
The USP of TGL’s Coffee is:
Sourced from the Best Plantations: Some of the best coffee in the world grows in high appellation regions as high as 2000ft. above mean sea level and anywhere between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and in places with rich tree shade and a desirable microclimate. These are the kinds of coffee that TGL seeks out for its tightly curated collection. TGL Co. procures the highest quality Arabica beans from the best-placed coffee plantations world over, including Ethiopian Yirgachaffe, Colombian Excelso, El Salvador Santa Cristina, Peruvian Organic Coffee, Brazilian Santos, and coffee from award-winning coffee estates in India.
Expertly Roasted Beans: When you buy coffee off-the-shelf, it is likely you are buying something roasted many months ago and hence, stale. The truth is that the best tasting coffee is the one that is made from a batch of recently roasted beans, i.e. the flavors are freshly extracted and hence, in prime form. TGL Co.’s Indian coffees are roasted once every two weeks, and in small lots, to ensure the flavors are crisp, bright and intense, and for the good haul.
Ground To-Order: Pre-ground coffee rarely produces a cup that can match the complexity of the flavors and aromas that seep from a freshly ground lot. This is because from the moment the beans are ground, air starts to take effect. Most store-bought coffee is roasted many months ago and ground to a generic, industrial- standard. In sharp contrast, TGL Co. prefers and encourages grinding freshly roasted beans to-order, and to the drinker’s preferred way of brewing. This way, the coffee is exposed to minimal oxidative degradation and retains flavor better.
To be able to provide teas apt for the Indian palate, without compromising on quality and health, TGL devised more than 300 recipes with their team of botanists and culinary experts – some extremely fruity with tropical fruits such as TGL Mogo Mogo Green Tea. They also introduced naturally sweet teas, mimicking dessert and cocktail profiles such as TGL Strawberries & Cream Black Tea or TGL Ice Wine White Tea.
The Good Life Company – Revenue Model
TGL Co. has a robust revenue model. The company has different channels of sales based on its target market and each of them operates on a direct or commission basis model.
TGL Co. initially had a very narrow, well-defined slice of the population as the target audience. The company strongly believes that its products stand out in terms of quality and so, right from the beginning, their strategy has been to get as many people to sample and try out their products as possible.
The company reaches its target customers through the 3 following ways:
By partnering with the best hotels, restaurants and cafes in the country like Taj, Marriott, Westin, SOFITEL, Lalit, Hyatt, Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Indigo, Smoke House Deli, The A Club, Fatty Bao and many more.
By taking part in multiple events throughout the year and doing samplings.
Entering modern trade through Shop in Shop concepts where the company’s teas and coffees are displayed in beautiful glass jars, and the customer gets to smell and taste the products and realize the quality of their offering. This helped to build and anchor TGL Co. as a brand.
TGL | Tea
The Good Life Company’s tea is available at almost every major e-commerce platform online as well as its own website and on the shelf at multiple retail locations.
As said by Bhuman and Shariq, TGL Co. focuses on the following factors to attract customers:
Target Audience & Brand Positioning: An average Indian household can be segregated into 3 categories based on income – Elite & Affluent (> 10LPA), Aspirational (5 to 10L) and the Next Billion (<5L). Over the next 5 years, the segment that grows the fastest is the “Aspirational” segment. Thus, having a brand that is Aspirational and not masses, would be the first step to scale up in this category. The category is a commodity that is all about premium sizing and uplifting the existing category to cater to the “value-conscious Aspirational Indian”.
Reinforcing Health & Wellness: More than 50% of India is less than 25 years old & 65% is less than 35 years old. Young India is deviating towards health and wellness due to factors like global trends, peer pressure, influencers, celebrity endorsements. Hence, providing consumers with healthy offerings with natural ingredients having medicinal values that fulfill their health goals is essential.
Innovation & Indulgence: Just focusing on health, wellness and quality is meaningless without repeat purchases. And repeat purchases are only possible if the product is innovative and becomes a daily indulgence for consumers. When health becomes an indulgence, (and if the category is commodity-driven) it conjures instant fortune.
The Good Life Company has raised a total of $1M in funding over 1 round by 2 investors Abu Farhan Azmi and Ayesha Takia Azmi. The Company has used the funding for-
Building a robust sales and distribution network across the country. It aims to reach 1000+ POS within the next 12 months.
Increasing its online sales, both through its own website and online marketplaces.
Revamping the existing website to cater to international markets. The soft launch in June 2019.
Brand building and increasing product awareness: visibility at HORECA, International Airport, Airlines (GoAir), Sports Teams (TGL Butterfly Squad)
Funding for a business is like fuel for an automobile. It helps the business propel faster towards its goals. While we are confident about the quality of our products, funding has enabled us to expand and exponentiate our growth 10x. What we could have achieved in 10 years otherwise, we have been able to achieve in a year.
The Good Life Company – Advisors and Mentors
TGL Co. was conceptualized after detailed discussions with Jane Pettigrew, Sanjeev Mehta, Ines Berton and certain BCG partners.
One of the foremost challenges was understanding the Indian palate and what tea drinkers in India would prefer to consume daily. Initial months were spent in rigorous market surveys wherein Bhuman and Shariq conducted extensive tastings with HORECA owners, various business owners and regular tea drinkers to understand the Indian taste profile. They were surprised to find out that the majority of consumers refrained from consuming loose-leaf tea daily because it was too bitter for their liking. They preferred teas that had a fruity aftertaste or were naturally sweet.
TGL | Challenges | Problem Solving
Another major challenge that TGL Co. faced was the phenomenal growth its products received.
“We grew too fast and too early. While we were extremely happy with the response we received, at the same time, we weren’t prepared then operationally to match the demand. And therefore, we did experience a phase where we had delays in order processing and manual errors in some orders” says Bhuman and Shariq.
With time, the company has been able to equip itself operationally to match the demand by implementing automated production practices and expanding their team.
Getting the sourcing model right was also a challenge that the company faced. For this, Bhuman and Shariq personally visited dozens of plantations across various countries, interacted with numerous tea masters and sommeliers, and selected the leaves from the high quality and best plantations.
Again, working out the supply chain to get these teas from around the world into Europe for blending, and then finally to India for selling was a huge logistical challenge. In order to ensure the freshness of the teas and the blends, TGL Co. air freighted everything instead of the traditional cheaper shipping model. While this adds significantly to the costs, the company believes that the value it adds to the freshness of its teas is invaluable.
Every startup from the outset is implicitly prepared to deal with various crises and dilemmas throughout the journey. However, some dilemmas can still astound you, mainly because it wasn’t anticipated or you simply don’t know how to respond to it.
The Good Life Company – Competitors
Owing to its unique blend, ingredients and tea leaves sourced from different parts of the globe, TGL Co. has been able to make a distinctive place for itself in the Indian tea market. As such there are no direct competitors to TGL Co.
At TGL, we have revived the known tea experience by sourcing the best tea from around the world and masterfully blending them with innovative real ingredients, such as Kashmiri Kahwa Green Tea with real saffron and almonds, Jasmine Blush Green Tea which is a refreshing version of a Jasmine tea with peppermint.
Such innovations have helped us stay ahead of the competition.
Some of the major milestones achieved by TGL Co are as follows:
TGL has witnessed exponential growth over the past 24 months. Revenues have grown ~7x in the past 18 months and the ultimate aim is to create an INR 100 crore revenue brand by 2024.
It has sold over 5 tonnes of tea and 2 tonnes of coffee in the past 12 months that ~25L cups of tea and ~3L cups of coffee.
The company is serving more than 85,000 happy customers and repeat buyers.
TGL is now available at more than 200 hotels, restaurants and cafes across 9 Indian cities including popular properties such as Taj, Marriott, Westin, SOFITEL, Lalit, Hyatt, Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Indigo, Smoke House Deli, The A Club, Fatty Bao and many more.
TGL is also retailing at more than 600 points of sales at popular modern trade stores such as Godrej Natures Basket, HAIKO across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata and Delhi-NCR.
TGL is also available at the Mumbai International Airport in the duty-free shopping areas and on the in-flight menu onboard GoAir flights.
The Good Life Company – Awards
TGL Co. has received the following awards:
Awarded as “Startup of the year 2020”
Awarded Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Award 2019 for“Most Admired Food Startup of the Year”
Listed in Sutra HR’s “Top 100 Startups to Watch in 2019”
Bronze Medal Winner in Global Tea Championship 2019
Awarded ET Now Global Award for Retail Excellence 2019 for “Food & Grocery Brand of the Year” (Hot Beverages)
Recognized as an innovative startup by Amazon and listed on Amazon Select.
Awarded Amazon Connect Extra Mile Award for “Outstanding Performance in 2018”
The Good Life Company – Future Plans
TGL Co has interesting plans for the future. Some of its future plans are:
Product Launches
Introducing tea range specially formulated by botanists and culinary experts with herbs, spices and medicinal ingredients aimed at improving overall well-being including immunity boost, digestion, sleeping patterns, etc.
Introducing premium single estate first-flush White Teas at affordable pricing.
Introducing high-quality traditional stone-ground ceremonial grade Japanese matcha and its exotic flavors such as sakura, lavender and more.
ExpandingChannels of Sale
Retail: TGL to launch teas and coffees in retail packs at 1000 Points of Sale across Tier I cities in India over the next 6 months.
Online: TGL to increase online sales via its website and third-party online marketplaces. The company is also setting up an international website to be able to serve multiple countries through their website.
HORECA: Association with popular properties Taj Exotica, Taj Rambaug and Taj Bengal for supplying teas & coffees in rooms as well as on the menu.
Alternate channels of Sale: Collaboration and listing with various co-working spaces, gymnasiums, and airlines.
Team Expansion
TGL aims to grow from a current team of 80 professionals to over 200+ in the next 12 months.
The Good Life Company – FAQs
Who are The Good Life Company owners?
TGL Co. was founded by Bhuman Dani and Shariq Ashraf in 2016.
What does The Good Life Company offer?
TGL Co. is the fastest growing hot beverages startup in India that sources the finest quality teas and coffees from around the world with a deep focus on fresh, clean and natural ingredients.
What is the Revenue Model of The Good Life Company?
TGL Co. earns revenue from the following sources:
HORECA – Hotel, Restaurants & Cafe (Direct sale)
Offline retail (Commission model)
Online retail via own website (Direct sale)
Online retail via third-party websites such as Nykaa, Amazon, etc. (Commission model)
Gifting (Direct sale)
Where to get TGL products?
One can find TGL products on both online and offline platforms. It is easily available in supermarkets and e-commerce sites, if not, one can visit its site.
The Coronavirus or COVID-19 which started last year in December in Wuhan, China has impacted the global economy and no industry sector has remained immune to it. All businesses, startups and industries across the globe are coming up with safety measures to deal with the virus like asking employees to work from home, avoid social gatherings, etc. Foodtech startups are no exception to this.
Top Indian food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy together deliver an estimated 2.6 million orders every day. But they have taken multiple measures to deal with the situation. These measures ensure the safe food delivery considering the safety of delivery executive as well as consumers. The measures are helping these startups to keep operations going and to reduce any negative impact on consumer deliveries
Foodtech Startups to Follow Hygiene Practices
Indian foodtech startups Swiggy and Zomato have announced several safety measures in an effort to combat the novel coronavirus. While the Bengaluru based foodtech unicorn Swiggy already sent an email to all its consumers how they are taking the different measures to cope with the situation. Zomato soon followed suit with safekeeping measures of its own like contact-less delivery.
The main focus of the announcements is to inform people about different measures that food delivery platforms are taking to ensure that their delivery partners follow all the safety and hygiene guidelines approved by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW). They also announced that the consumer will now have the option of choosing to ask the delivery partner to leave the food at their doorstep. Some startups are also offering insurance and financial support to delivery staff in case they are infected with the virus
There are certain directives that these startups are following. They ensure that the crew member who assembles the food, the one who packs food and the delivery executive do not touch the food with bare hands and take all possible precautions to ensure hygiene. The delivery packets are sealed and delivered by a runner who drops the order at a pre-appointed spot usually outside the door and then watches from a safe distance while you pick up your order and go back inside.
Co-founder and CEO of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal explained this through a tweet that “A consumer can now choose for this option through our ‘delivery instructions’ feature.” An app update over the weekend will make this explicitly clear to everyone.” Through this option, the delivery partner will keep the delivery parcel on a clean surface outside the door. When the consumer receives a photo of the delivered food, the consumer can then pick up the package at their convenience.
As India prepares to face the current health crisis, Westlife Development, the company that owns and operates McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, has launched contactless delivery service to deliver food to the customers’ doorstep. According to the company, McDonald’s India is ensuring that food reaches customers without being touched by bare hands and delivered safely with by following social distancing measures.
“Our customers’ safety has been and will continue to be our top priority. On one hand, we have increased the safety and hygiene processes at our restaurants. On the other hand, we are ensuring contactless delivery to retain consumers’ trust in McDonald’s. Both our consumers and the industry look up to McDonald’s for path-breaking initiatives and contactless delivery,” said Smita Jatia, managing director of Hardcastle Restaurants.
Online Food Deliveries Declining Fast
Unfortunately, even after adopting the hygiene practices, online food delivery has seen huge fall in demand. Online food delivery orders for Zomato and Swiggy have dropped 70% in the last 10 days as customers step back and top restaurants shut shop during lockdown induced by the Covid-19 virus outbreak. The reason behind this is that people do not want to perform any practices, which in any way, can expose them to the virus.
Their investors revealed that even before the lockdown, the orders had started declining. In the first two weeks of March, food delivery orders declined 20%. When lockdown was imposed, Swiggy and Zomato said about 60 to 70% of its cities would be shut for food delivery including few prominent ones. As a result, steady state of 2.5 million deliveries a day, the deliveries have fallen down quickly. In the last 10-15 days, online food delivery orders have dropped 70% to under 1 million a day.
But considering food delivery startups, the Grocery delivery apps are in demand more than ever not only in India but in many countries during this health crisis. As many countries are under lockdown, the governments are asking people to strictly avoid getting out of their houses to maintain social distancing. Hence, majority of the people are relying on the Grocery delivery apps to avoid social gatherings.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the countries, grocery delivery apps have begun seeing record numbers of daily downloads, according to new data from app store intelligence firm Apptopia. The firm said that online grocery apps like Instacart, Walmart Grocery and Shipt hit yet another new record for daily downloads for their respective apps.
Typically, these apps see tens of thousands to as many as 20,000+ downloads per day. But on April 12, Instacart saw more than 38,500 downloads and Walmart Grocery saw nearly 54,000 downloads. Experts told the delivery strategies need to be better optimised at this time of uncertainty. Considering grocery is in high demand, this makes sense for all players involved in it.
In India too, Grofers, BigBasket and other grocery delivery apps have seen a boom in demand over the past week on the back of panic buying. As many consumers are stuck at home, they are heavily relying on these online grocery stores offering doorstep delivery. Seeing these demands, many foodtech startups are also turning towards these grocery sales to earn some revenue.
Food-delivery and restaurant discovery app Zomato has decided to try hands at the grocery sale as the category sees a major demand amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The Gurugram-based startup Zomato has decided to partner with e-grocers, Grofers and BigBasket, to sell food products and essentials on its platform by facilitating their deliveries.
Zomato & Swiggy have started to Deliver Grocery in Major Cities
Zomato has begun delivering grocery in more than 80 cities in India. Users can access this service by downloading the Zomato app and visit the Zomato Market section. Zomato Market identifies nearby grocery stores that are available and open for delivery. They have started grocery delivery in 80 plus cities across India to help with the supply of essentials.
CEO & founder of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal said, “Our delivery network in the country is the second best after India Post. Thus, we are ensuring that in every effort we put it to good use to serve the community. We would like to thank the government authorities, grocery stores, FMCG companies and other startups that have come forward to partner with us and support the community in this endeavour.”
Apart from its grocery deliveries, Zomato has also extended paid Zomato Gold memberships by two months at zero additional cost. This new extension is valid in India, UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal, and Qatar.
The food delivery app Swiggy is also not behind in this league. Swiggy has announced a new service to deliver groceries through the application. The lockdown has encouraged the company to spread this service to over 125 new cities across India. Swiggy will be providing essential commodities by partnering with numerous national brands.
Swiggy has launched a hyper local delivery service called ‘Genie’ that will pick and drop items from any local store that is open. The service is currently only available for essentials and even medicines. During the launch of the service in September last year, the service was labeled ‘Swiggy Go’.
Swiggy will be partnering with Hindustan Unilever Ltd., P&G India, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., Dabur India Ltd., Marico Ltd., Vishal Mega Mart Pvt. Ltd., Adani Wilmar Ltd., Cipla Ltd to provide essential items across various cities.
Due to lockdown, Swiggy and Zomato are finding it difficult to grow online food deliveries but this has led them to partner with local grocery shops to provide essentials to the people who want to avoid social gatherings. But this has given people a good opportunity to maintain social distancing by ordering groceries from home only.
Food is the basic necessity of the life and now has also become a luxury in many cases. People around the world love to eat delicious food, due to which there is a huge demand for food business ideas with low investment. To run any business successfully, you must have interest in doing that thing. Many people like to eat variety of food, many people like to make different kind of fusion food, many people like to make food for others. So, if you have interest and operate this business properly, it is very rare to find a food business failing to succeed. Here we have made list of startup food business ideas.
1. Catering Services
Catering Service | Food Business Ideas
Catering service is a popular business idea in the food industry. Do you love hosting parties, making food for your friends and family members? Then, this is best food business to start. For every small and big gathering and get together people are always looking for catering services. Apart from that, you will get business through event planners also. Catering business ideas in India is great idea as Indians give lot of importance to food in any sort of program, function, parties.
With moderate investment and proper planning, any individual can initiate a catering service of his own. Moreover, catering services are rising at a rapid rate to cater the need of customers and it is ideally a great food business ideas which can be started with low investment and can give you a high return.
2. Coffee Shop Business Idea
Coffee Shop | Food Business Ideas
Coffee is such a beverage which most of the people need to drink twice or more in day. Many people start their day with Coffee and many people end their day with coffee. Are you expert in making special coffee? Then this is the perfect business idea for you. Over the past decade, the coffee shop business is increasing rapidly. An entrepreneur who is passionate and talented about coffee can initiate coffee shop business with substantial capital investment. Although, the coffee shop is actually treated as a place outside of work and home to relax. Coffee shop business is one of the best ways to turn into a profit making business.
Furthermore, a classic successful coffee shop chain is Cafe Coffee Day which has a significant presence throughout the globe and now the rising coffee house which is much more renowned as Starbucks is expanding its outlet network in India. India with its high population and never-ending demand gives a very good opportunity to start a food business with a coffee shop chain.
3. Baking Business Idea
Bakery | Food Business Ideas
Are you an expert in baking cakes, breads? Do you like to make cake have tempting look with beautiful icing? Then, this idea is perfect for you. A bakery business can be initiated in two ways. You can establish a bakery with a retail location and sell fresh baked items from your store or you can establish a large scale bakery unit and sell product through the retailers. The bakery is one of the proven and most profitable food business ideas that can be initiated with proper planning.
However, some famous bakery which has quickly grown itself from scratch are Cookie Jar, Krazy For Chocolates, French Loaf, etc. They have immensely grown themselves with little investment and a great food business idea to work on.
4. Buffet Restaurant
Buffet Restaurant | Food Business Ideas
Buffet only restaurant is one of the most trending food business ideas. People always love to have the food according to their own choices by selecting from many options. Right location and proper marketing strategy are important in starting a buffet restaurant business idea. As well as one price, all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants have become extremely popular with the budget-minded dining crowd. This is a good food business ideas.
Unlike a typical restaurant, a buffet restaurant has one major benefit for the operator–shorter work hours. Typically, buffet restaurants cater to lunch and supper diners and do not open until 11 a.m. and are closed by 9 p.m. Based on volume, a buffet restaurant can be very profitable, as often the operating overheads are much lower than similarly-sized restaurants, simply due to the fact that fewer employees are required to run the business. Additionally, wholesale food items can also be purchased for lower cost based on volume buying, which adds to beefed-up profits.
5. Cooking Classes
Cooking Classes | Food Business Ideas
If you love to cook and enjoy crafting new tasty food recipes then you should consider starting a cooking classes business. This can be initiated as a home-based business with small capital. You can have business tie-ups with the retail store that sell fresh fruits. Many people wish they had skills in the kitchen and are willing to pay to learn. Like other culinary jobs, a cooking instructor can focus on a specific area, such as baking or grilling, or be a generalist.
You can lead cooking instruction in your home, or have someone videotape you and you can sell the videos as part of a home-learning course. Another option is to create your own cooking show posted on YouTube, which can pay you advertising income. Therefore, one opportunity in segment gives you a by-opportunity to generate more and more money by little effort. This is a good food business ideas from home.
6. Food Truck Business Idea
Food Truck | Food Business Ideas
The mobile food truck business is different from the normal restaurant in two major ways. One is you are moving and you don’t have a permanent location. Second is you are going to the customers. A person having minimum experience in the food service industry can initiate this business in the city area. This can be a small food business idea. From food truck, you can sell frozen and packaged items like ice cream, soft drinks, sweets, and snacks or you can go for cooked items with a specific menu including for breakfast, Tiffin, lunch. Food truck business is profitable in India as people opt for outside food more now a days.
There are two types of food carts: the mobile food preparation vehicle (MFPV), where food is prepared as customers wait, and the industrial catering vehicle (ICV), which sells only prepackaged foods. An MFPV costs more than an ICV, and both cost more than a food cart. A used hot dog cart may cost under Rs. 50,000, while a retro-fitted used food truck typically costs Rs. 80,000 or more. A new MFPV could cost upwards of Rs. 120,000. Complying with additional health department rules and regulations can also drive up food truck costs.
7. Juice Business Ideas
Juice Bar | Food Business Ideas
The juice bar is one of the most popular food business ideas from the early days. You can also keep cool drinks including fresh fruit juices. Fresh juice bar can be initiated with low startup capital. Location plays an important role in getting success. A juice bar that serves customers fresh-squeezed fruit juice drinks and smoothies is a fantastic new business enterprise to put into action, as more and more people are striving to lead healthier lifestyles.
Ideal locations to establish a juice bar include busy tourist attractions and beach areas, mall food courts, fitness clubs, and public markets. To boost sales and profits, additional items such as sandwiches, salads, and healthy snacks can also be added to the menu. The profit potential for a juice bar will vary based on factors such as operating overhead and total sales. However, an established and well-run juice bar can easily generate profits in excess of Rs. 50,000, and the profits can go much higher by adding additional menu items and delivery services.
8. Pizza Delivery Business Idea
Pizza Delivery | Food Business Ideas
Now a days, people like fast food more. Pizza Delivery can be good fast food business idea. The main focus area of the pizza delivery business is choosing a right delivery boy and preparing the menu. A lot of the people will likely to have meals at their doorsteps due to their busy work schedule. Pizza is now well known, favorite, tasty dish all over the world. Although, starting a pizza delivery business can be profit making. There are two ways to start a pizza delivery business. You can either learn how to make your own pizza (which you would deliver to your customers on order) or partner with a notable pizza shop and simply buy from them to deliver whenever there is an order.
9. Sea Food Selling
Sea Food Selling | Food Business Ideas
Initiating a specialty seafood selling business is a wonderful and profitable business idea one can start from their home. You will need to source the products as a wholesale purchase and store them in a freezer. Through a delivery vehicle, you can make the delivery at customers door step. Proper product promotion plan is required in this business. This can be a good food business idea with small capital.
10. Tea Bag Making
Tea Bag Making | Food Business Ideas
Tea bag making business requires only two major raw material components tea and paper bags. A tea bag is a small sealed bag containing tea leaves and it is used with a hot cup of water to prepare the drink called tea. An aspiring entrepreneur having good knowledge about tea leaves can start the tea bag making business with moderate capital investment. However, the tea bag has a high sale as leading coffee shops, airlines, hotels, trains, etc, provide tea bags to their customer. Furthermore, you can start with a premium tea bag and set up high-quality tea with different natural flavors to cater to the need for tea lovers.
11. Organic Food Shop
Organic Food | Food Business Ideas
If you health conscious and you really give stress on quality before buying food, then this new food business idea is perfect for you. Now a days people are more conscious about health and what they are eating. People have started understanding the importance of organic food. They are ready to pay little extra and buy organic food. If you like farming, you can also do organic farming and sell products. This can be best food business ideas in India.
India ranks as the single largest producer of organic foods worldwide. You have many options to do organic food business depending upon availability of sources. Like,
Organic Farming
Organic Kitchen Garden
Organic Juice Stall
Organic Fertilizer
Organic Vegetable Seeds
Organic Health Supplements
Organic Body and Skincare Products
Organic Baby Food
Organic Fish Farm
Organic Poultry Farm
Organic Food Export
Organic Recipe Book
Like these, many options are there if you start thinking.
Being an enthusiast for food, these food business ideas with low investment will be great for you, so try them when in need. Also, do let us in the comment if you already have any Food Business which are running successfully.
Ashwini
