Soniya Raisoni, the founder of Roast Foods is passionate about offering healthier snacking options to the available fried junk snacks in India and abroad. Being a conscious eater herself, she realizes that more people are now moving towards adopting healthier lifestyle choices and with fewer options available in the market, she came up with the idea for roasted snacks over fried.

In an exclusive interview with us, Soniya takes her through her professional journey being a woman entrepreneur.

Tell Us About Roast Foods' Foundation Journey. What Motivated You To Establish A Company That Creates Healthy, Natural And Gluten Free Snacking Options?
Hello! I am Soniya, the founder of Roast Foods, and a very conscious eater.

Today's on the go lifestyle has forced many to munch on fried snacks made from ingredients with little or no nutritional value. My work life made me fall for this junk culture too.

With time my snacking obsession made me feel guilty, but also made me realize the lack of better options available. I started researching plant-based seeds and ancient grains from which snacks could be made in a modern avatar. This is how Roast Foods was born!

With some trials, testing, and countless recipes, we can now provide lip-smacking snacks made with nutritious ingredients. Now that's what we call “Smart Snacking.”

Our snacks are Roasted, Not Fried and packed with love for all you snackers. It's time we serve our body with the good stuff.

What Are The Various Products That Roast Foods Has Developed So Far? What Has Been The Philosophy Behind The Company Andhow Do You Maintain The Quality Of Your Foods?
Currently, we are doing Roasted and Flavored Makhana (Popularly known as Popped water lily seeds in western markets) and also roasted and flavoured Jowar Puffs.

We are in the process to introduce more products in the roasted category with the same logic of using nutritious ingredients to develop tasty snacking.  The broader vision is to strengthen the urge towards leading a balanced life by offering nutritious, all natural and gluten free snacks. The snacks that we offer are not only nutritious but tasty too and also free from artificial preservatives and colours.

“Roast foods believes in "snacking smart" without sacrificing taste”

We have our own manufacturing unit located out of Pune. Our facility is ISO 2200 complied and US FDA registered. We take all food safety and quality standards seriously to ensure that the product quality is thoroughly maintained. For this we have an in-house team to check the quality of the product at every process of production. The quality is something that can never be compromised and if certain quality standards are not maintained at the production level, the product is out rightly rejected by the quality control team.

What Would Your Advice Be To Women Looking To Foray Into Being An Entrepreneur? Share Some Lessons That You Learned In Your Journey, Becoming And Entrepreneur.
Being a woman entrepreneur is tough but the journey is exciting. Work- Life balance is the key to any successful business. There will be many circumstances along the way when people will try to suppress your dreams, but you have stay strong-headed and focused at all times. It's always a good time to show the world that women can absolutely do everything and anything. I have had immensely supportive family and I am very grateful to them for coming so far.

As an entrepreneur, firstly, try keeping yourself into the customer's shoes and see if you would buy the product that you intend to offer. Secondly, packaging is the primary aspect of a first buy and can be a game-changer. Third and most important, taste of the product along with the nutrition benefits is something that will help in customer retention. Customer service is the most important thing to get recognized in the heavy competition and brand recall. Coming up with innovative products in your category is also the key to capture the market in the long-run.

How Has Roast Foods' Growth Journey Been So Far? What Is The Future Roadmap For The Company?
It has been a challenging journey for us as it was difficult getting recognized in the competition, but we as a team were successful in this. I have been very resolute and determined in achieving what I want. My passion and hard-work made me create a space in the sector. My team works with the same attitude and this keeps them motivated to work and achieve their targets.

We launched Roast Foods in New York, in Summer Fancy Food Show in 2019. We are happy to say that we are now available in global market in countries like US, Canada, Kuwait, Dubai and UK. We have been successful in becoming exclusive vendors for INOX Pan India and are available in Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

We are developing few more products made from super foods such as Raghi (Nachni), Amaranth (Rajgirah), Chickpeas (Chana), Soya etc. and aim to add another five products to our product linesoon. We aim to become a globally recognized brand where we not only sell to Indian ethnic stores abroad but sell in the mainstream markets in US and UK.

Soniya Raisoni, Founder, Roast Foods
I completed my education in Business Administration, however the chef inside me was always curious to make healthy recipes. I have always been a conscious eater which has been a part of my upbringing. Our Indian food comprises of lot of healthy grains and millets which can be used in a lot of ways for cooking. We choose to use them in our snacking in a modern avatar and provide a solution to many who are always looking to snack smart.