Go Grin’s journey started three years back as a contract Kombucha fermenter for a fast-growing health food startup based out of Gurgaon. Over the next few quarters, Go Grin’s sales grew multifold on back of its consistent quality, superior taste and strong service orientation. As they added more and more B2B customers, Go Grin soon became the preferred Kombucha fermenter for many regional brands in Delhi.
The primary consumer survey shows that the most important purchase criteria for consumers when they buy a healthy beverage is that it should be healthy (with actual proven health benefits), derived from natural resources, free from preservatives, artificial colors, and flavors, tastes good with the right price point.
“Our rapid growth & positive consumer feedback gave us the confidence to launch our own brand in 2020, while still consistently growing our B2B business”, says Kamal Rana, Founder, Go Grin Natural Foods. “We have come a long way, from brewing two jars of Kombucha in our kitchen to
now having our own nano brewery where we are currently producing and bottling 10,000 SKUs every quarter”, he adds further.
While recalling his journey so far, Kamal says “It was during one of my visits to the US that I saw several retailers stocked up on locally brewed Kombuchas and within the next few months many established F&B players like Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Dunkin Donuts, and Pepsico picked on to this trend by introducing their own Kombucha brands. It is mind boggling to witness the explosion of this category”. The global Kombucha market size is now estimated to be worth $2 billion and is forecasted to reach $6 billion by 2028, as per the global Kombucha research report by Valuates.
“Go Grin Kombucha is a niche drink but we are trying to position it as a healthy alternative to other mainstream beverages, some of which are downright unhealthy like carbonated colas while others claim to be healthy but are far from it like most of packaged juices. Indian consumers are looking for healthier & more natural alternatives to high sugar and high caffeine beverages which currently dominate the retailshelves here”, adds Kamal.
Go Grin has tested its products on parameters like taste, quality, and price point acceptability of its target consumers. The startup has set some rigid benchmarks and parameters for its partners, both for product quality and service levels.
“We have identified three main goals for ourselves as a vision 2025 exercise now that we have the approval and endorsement of Go Grin in terms of quality, taste and price points from our Delhi consumers and partners. Firstly, we aim to expand to other cities having a similar consumer profile. Secondly, given that it is such a nascent category in India, we will continue to spend lot of our energy on spreading awareness about Kombucha and thus building the category. Thirdly, we plan to strengthen our Go to Market expertise and channel strategy.
Establishing a D2C channel to widen our distribution is a priority. However, this comes with its own category specific challenges like requirement of a refrigerated supply chain, breaking even on delivery costs on smaller orders and more, which we need to overcome to be successful in this regard. I strongly believe we are at an inflection point and early movers like Go Grin will definitely hold the advantage by being part of this rapid shift of consumer beverage preferences”, concludes Kamal.
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