A nutshell held a business idea for Vishal Shah (30) soon after he returned to Mumbai from the U.S. on completing his studies.
The year was 2015. Mr. Shah looked in every store for coconut water, but could find none. “I couldn’t roam around with a nut, and didn’t know where to throw it,” he thought to himself. “I needed something in my bag. Also, the neighbourhood nariyal pani walla did not come every day to deliver. What could I do?”
And thus, a business idea was born. Mr. Shah runs Storia, a venture that is into packaged coconut water, unique shakes and street-style drinks targeted at the urban youth.
Mr. Shah’s family already ran Drytech Processes, which makes ingredients for multinational food and beverage companies. “The idea was to not build a new category but to disrupt the existing category. On April 17, 2017 we launched packaged coconut water,” said Mr. Shah, managing director and founder, Storia Foods and Beverages Ltd.
The idea was to see how an unorganised sector could become organised. “The country knows about the benefits of coconut water, which is a big category, but there was no industry there,” said Mr. Shah.
A greater challenge was to educate consumers, because the belief in India was that packed products are not natural. “So we created packaged coconut water, which is 100% natural — no sugars, no flavour and no preservatives — at a price of ₹40, with a six-month shelf life. The idea was to inspire wellness.”
Two years down the line, the company is selling about 1.5 lakh packs of coconut water a month and has cornered about 2% of the market, which is estimated at about ₹100 crore. The target is to cover 9% for FY20.
The company uses aseptic Ultra High Temperature treatment technology wherein a product is heated for three to four seconds at a very high temperature and cooled immediately so that the fragrance remains intact.
In aseptic processing, thermally sterilised liquid products are packaged into sterilised containers under sterile conditions to produce products that do not need refrigeration.
Related products
In 2017, the company had come out with a beverage whitener, a milk substitute with calcium, potassium and protein but without transfat. “This got a lot more demand in the business to business segment. Today, every vending machine uses milk substitutes,” said Mr. Shah.
With an aim to disrupt the flavoured milk market, the company also developed a shake, introduced in September 2017. It then unveiled a range of shakes that are not flavoured milk, he said.
The idea was to create a different offering in the same category. “The vision of Storia is to disrupt the existing food and beverage industry. So, if you want juice, you don’t come to me, if you want a street-style juice, then come to me. Our product provides a value-added proposition to the consumer at the same price points,” Mr. Shah said.
The company recently unveiled a range of street-style drinks in the category of juices in flavours like pani puri with an apple base; guava chilli; green mango masala, and tomato masala to name a few.
“The category is a mix of food and spices. The idea was, anything you drink or eat on the street is converted into a healthier street-style option,” said Mr. Shah.
Again, aseptic technology helped preserve product purity. In September 2018, the company introduced ‘natural’ fruit shakes that have a six-month shelf life and are priced at ₹25 and ₹30. It produces 5 lakh bottles of shakes per month.
The market
The products are available in 33 cities and sold in over 50,000 outlets. Storia co-packs with Drytech and with another co-packer in the South for coconut water. The company aims to reach one lakh retail outlets across India for Storia and one lakh retail outlets for each product category namely coconut water, shakes and street-style drinks.
It has developed products in the health food category, which will be unveiled in the next five years. The company is now stepping up the branding and marketing, for which it is looking to raise $4 million to $6 million in funding. It recently started an outdoor campaign involving an investment of ₹15 crore across nine big cities.
The competitors
In flavoured milk, Storia is taking on Amul, the market leader in this category. In coconut water, it is competing with Dabur’s Real Active brand, which is the biggest organised player in this segment. And in street-style drinks, it is taking on multinationals such as Coke and Pepsi, which sell Maaza and Slice respectively, as also Parle Agro, which sells Frooti.
With Storia, Mr. Shah wants to bring people together. In particular, the brand capitalises on the Indian tradition of sharing stories while consuming food. “Storia means stories in Italian. The idea was to try and build a better society through food and stories.”
And how does he hope to achieve that? “There are success stories or how well you’re doing. Then there are failure stories, taboo stories, stories of empowerment. The idea is to build something that can work towards the betterment through food.”
The Storia thread
Founder : Vishal Shah
Funding: $3 million mobilised from family and friends
Revenue: ₹23 crore in FY19
Started in: 2017
Volume: 1.5 lakh packs of coconut water,
5 lakh bottles of shakes per month
Target: Youth, health-conscious people
