Millet jackpot. Troo Good: How a millet-snack start-up is disrupting the low-end snack market

Seeing a good demand for millets or nutricereals, several companies – small and big – have hit the urban retail markets with ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products. A Hyderabad-based start-up, Troo Good, has chosen to be different. It has treaded the mass market route by selling millet chikkis in two packs, priced at ₹5 and ₹10 each. It also sells millet-based protein bars and nutri bars.

Raju Bhupati, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Troo Good, said that the company has sold 30 crore chikkis in the last three years (barring two Covid-19 hit years) so far. “We are present in 30,000 retail outlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone,” he told businessline.

Troo Good logo

Remarkable growth

The company closed the financial year with a revenue of ₹55 crore.

“The remarkable growth we are experiencing can be attributed to economies of scale. This advantage allows us to achieve explosive expansion. We procure about 600 tonnes of millets per month,” he said.

“We built Troo Good on three foundational pillars – taste, affordability, and nutrition. In India, taste and reasonable pricing are crucial due to the price sensitivity of most people. Additionally, nutrition was an underserved aspect, particularly in the ₹5 to ₹10 price range,” he said.

Unfolding demand

An IT industry veteran, Bhupati worked as Chief Operating Officer of Adaequare and, then, Chief of IT Services at CSC, heading a 4,500-member team. He set up his first venture Hello Curry, one of the first cloud kitchens in the country, in 2013, and sold it off later.

He founded Troo Good in 2018, recognising the unfolding demand for millet-based products in the country.

“There is a misconception that health and nutrition are synonymous, whereas being healthy is more about adopting a lifestyle encompassing activities like morning walks and stress reduction. Our focus, as a subset of health, is on nutrition, which factors in aspects such as alkalinity, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. By addressing these factors, we aim to prepare the body for improved digestion and overall well-being,” he said.

The firm signed a seven-year contract to provide millet-based products to Akshaya Patra, which provides millions of meals to children in various States. It has recently tied up with the Vedanta group to join its nutritional programme.

Impulsive vs discovery retailing

He said the ₹5 - ₹10 price range of the company didn’t align well with the modern trade mindset.

“Modern trade shopping tends to be more focused on discovery rather than impulsive purchases. In contrast, kirana stores cater to impulsive buying, where customers may be enticed by an item and make an immediate purchase,” he pointed out.

While other brands had already established themselves in the chikki market, Troo Good aimed to offer a nutritional alternative at the five rupee price point, challenging the conventional sugar-coated peanut chikki.

“Starting with just 15 to 25 schools, we now reach out to 25,000 schools providing them with chikkis,” he said.

“We achieved a turnover of ₹55 crore last year and we are looking at breaching the ₹100-crore mark this year,” he said, stating that the company was registering 100 per cent growth in the last few years.

Asked where this additional growth would come from, he said the company established a temperature-controlled distribution network in four states of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. “We are looking at expanding our operations to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, besides penetrating deep into the existing markets. We are planning to open another factory in Chhattisgarh and one in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The company, which has two factories in Chhattisgarh., employs 300 people.

Funding plans

The company raised $8.4 million as funding from OAKS Asset Management Capital and Sashi Reddi and his family office.     

“We are looking to raise another round of funding to support the development and launch of our innovative products within the millet community. We are also expanding our product range to include millet-based noodles and cookies. However, chikkis remain our primary focus, and our ambition is to become the leading brand in the industry, akin to Cadbury in the chocolate market,” he said.

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