Prachi Patil founded Suzu Agro in 2021 along with Aditya Patil. The company’s new brand AajPakao focuses on directly addressing the fact that cooking is time-consuming. The brand has developed an inclusive range of products that are quick to cook and accessible to all, including men who wish to dabble in cooking.
The heart of a traditional Indian household lies in its kitchen. Food is often prepared right from scratch and there are no shortcuts taken. Working to set up the ‘mise en place’ involves laborious and time consuming actions such as cutting, peeling, soaking, washing, grinding raw ingredients.
But in today’s times when lifestyles have changed and pace of life has increased tremendously, people don’t often have the time to cook food that requires laborious work. However, our love for traditional Indian food stays intact.
Prachi Patil was struck by the same dilemma. She had spent several years studying and working abroad. Upon her return to India she had her eureka moment. “I realized that there is a need for products to help cook better kitchen dishes without spending much time on preparations.” She thus founded Suzu Agro along with Aditya Patil in 2021. The company’s intention is to make essential nutrition easier to reach the customer and be easy on the environment as well.
Their first order of business was to help people cook with ease, thus their brand ‘AajPakao’ was established. AajPakaofocuses on Indian families, whether nuclear or joint, where cooking is a significant part of the daily routine. “We are focusing on directly addressing the fact that cooking is time-consuming. AajPakao is an inclusive range of products that are quick to cook and accessible to all, including men who wish to dabble in cooking,” explains Prachi. The brand also takes into account the unique cooking style and recipes in each household. “We aim to create solutions that incorporate this uniqueness and allow users to add their tastes or spices to make the best use of our products,” she adds.
Addressing Real Life Challenges
Much like several other innovators who drew inspiration from their personal experiences, Prachi too realized a gap in the industry through her own experience. While living abroad Prachi relied heavily on canned foods for survival. “It was fast, easy, and usually fun to consume,” she says. But when she returned to India for good after the pandemic outbreak, she missed the ease and taste of canned foods. “The existing options were low on health parameters and also quite expensive,” adds Prachi. This formed the foundation of the idea for AajPakao.
The brand initially introduced a range of boiled &sprouted beans and pulses and experimented with various gravies that directly represent classic Indian cooking. “We have come up with a base gravy packaged in vacuum-proof bags to help the curries retain their taste even up to 1 year. Our products are helping reduce the cooking time by 70% to 75%, and we now offer sprouts, cooked beans, and various ready-to-eat Indian curries,” explains Prachi.
At the heart of AajPakao is the deep love and understanding of Indian taste buds that are accustomed to varied preparations from across regions. “One of our USPs is that each gravy represents a food region, not just a state. We are bringing to the fore authentic regional flavors such as PavBhaji, Mangalorean Ghee Roast, GoanXacuti gravy, and Chettinad gravy,” says Prachi.
The Industry & Consumer Perspective
Prachi’s idea which has roots in real life issues faced by thousands of Indians is also well suited to current industry trends in the F&B sector. “In my opinion, this is the beginning of the ready-to-cook segment and an opportune time. All the players in the segment have various products because people increasingly realize the loss of interest in cooking. While healthy and tasty eating is desirable, there is a lack of desire to spend long hours in the kitchen,” explains the astute businesswoman.
Speaking about the shift in consumer’s lifestyle and preferences Prachi adds, “The urban lifestyle, corporate working life, and nuclear families significantly influence purchase decisions. Even hotels and restaurants are becoming conscious of what they serve their customers. Taste is not the only determinant but hygiene and health as well. The awareness is higher in the Horeca industry. Several hotel management and food tech courses focus on food safety, where the retort technology and AajPakao products gain brownie points. The retort is essentially a sterilization process similar to the pasteurization of milk which happens at a higher temperature for the food.Thus, one gets the cleanest food possible.”
She believes that owing to these factors, the demand for such products will grow across India and globally. Conventional ready-to-eat products from brands like ITC have generated buzz in the metro cities in the past, and now the segment is expanding to Tier2 and Tier 3 cities.
The Initial Push & Scaling Up the Idea
AajPakao’s journey started with the base idea of making gravy that could be blended with any added vegetables and still offer the best flavors. “At that time, packaged gravy was an unheard-of concept for Indian consumers, and we had to overcome the major challenge of creating a brand recall among our target audience,” reminisces Prachi.
Their first push was selling products at exhibitions and fairs held in the town. “Surprisingly, we got a tremendous response for our gravy bean combos like dal makhani, missal, and beans which became bestsellers soon,” she adds.
AajPakao has now discontinued these beans and has expanding its product portfolio to introduce multiple varieties. Currently, it offer six beans and seven curries, of which three are sprouts based.
The brand’s TG was in the 25-40 age group initially, but in the course of its growth journey, Prachi realized that the purchase decisions are influenced not by age but by the reduction in cooking time. “Thus, today, we are targeting everyone in the double-income group. We are also gaining traction among gym-goers, marathon runners, fitness enthusiasts, and diet-conscious people. Our online sales data revealed that 70% of our customers are male, and the rest are female. This was quite a pleasant surprise to see that a more significant number of men are now willing to share kitchen responsibilities,” says Prachi with amusement.
Building Block to Future
AajPakao currently has a presence in Mumbai and Pune. The brand now plans to expand to other cities such as Goa, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Prachi explains why, “These markets have a higher concentration of working population, and in most families, both husband and wife work. Thus, there is a lack of time to spend in the kitchen and a wish to eat healthy and nutritious food. This is the TG we will be aiming to focus on.”
The brand is also focusing on regional delicacies that can be cooked with little effort. “We are developing the famous Maharashtrian Missal, which people of this state and others find difficult to cook,” adds Prachi.
AajPakaoalso has global aspirations. The team is already in discussions with UAE and Southeast Asia companies. “The plan is to expand the portfolio and product base for B2B and retail. We are working on bolstering our backend with a greater focus on technology and building robust and efficient teams compared to how we were at the start. We will get experts from different fields on board and put the brand in a better position,” concludes Prachi.
This Foodpreneur’sQuick to Cook &Accessible to All Products are Making Cooking Effortless
Prachi Patil founded Suzu Agro in 2021 along with Aditya Patil. The company’s new brand AajPakao focuses on directly addressing the fact that cooking is time-consuming. The brand has developed an inclusive range of products that are quick to cook and accessible to all, including men who wish to dabble in cooking.
The heart of a traditional Indian household lies in its kitchen. Food is often prepared right from scratch and there are no shortcuts taken. Working to set up the ‘mise en place’ involves laborious and time consuming actions such as cutting, peeling, soaking, washing, grinding raw ingredients.
But in today’s times when lifestyles have changed and pace of life has increased tremendously, people don’t often have the time to cook food that requires laborious work. However, our love for traditional Indian food stays intact.
Prachi Patil was struck by the same dilemma. She had spent several years studying and working abroad. Upon her return to India she had her eureka moment. “I realized that there is a need for products to help cook better kitchen dishes without spending much time on preparations.” She thus founded Suzu Agro along with Aditya Patil in 2021. The company’s intention is to make essential nutrition easier to reach the customer and be easy on the environment as well.
Their first order of business was to help people cook with ease, thus their brand ‘AajPakao’ was established. AajPakaofocuses on Indian families, whether nuclear or joint, where cooking is a significant part of the daily routine. “We are focusing on directly addressing the fact that cooking is time-consuming. AajPakao is an inclusive range of products that are quick to cook and accessible to all, including men who wish to dabble in cooking,” explains Prachi. The brand also takes into account the unique cooking style and recipes in each household. “We aim to create solutions that incorporate this uniqueness and allow users to add their tastes or spices to make the best use of our products,” she adds.
Addressing Real Life Challenges
Much like several other innovators who drew inspiration from their personal experiences, Prachi too realized a gap in the industry through her own experience. While living abroad Prachi relied heavily on canned foods for survival. “It was fast, easy, and usually fun to consume,” she says. But when she returned to India for good after the pandemic outbreak, she missed the ease and taste of canned foods. “The existing options were low on health parameters and also quite expensive,” adds Prachi. This formed the foundation of the idea for AajPakao.
The brand initially introduced a range of boiled &sprouted beans and pulses and experimented with various gravies that directly represent classic Indian cooking. “We have come up with a base gravy packaged in vacuum-proof bags to help the curries retain their taste even up to 1 year. Our products are helping reduce the cooking time by 70% to 75%, and we now offer sprouts, cooked beans, and various ready-to-eat Indian curries,” explains Prachi.
At the heart of AajPakao is the deep love and understanding of Indian taste buds that are accustomed to varied preparations from across regions. “One of our USPs is that each gravy represents a food region, not just a state. We are bringing to the fore authentic regional flavors such as PavBhaji, Mangalorean Ghee Roast, GoanXacuti gravy, and Chettinad gravy,” says Prachi.
The Industry & Consumer Perspective
Prachi’s idea which has roots in real life issues faced by thousands of Indians is also well suited to current industry trends in the F&B sector. “In my opinion, this is the beginning of the ready-to-cook segment and an opportune time. All the players in the segment have various products because people increasingly realize the loss of interest in cooking. While healthy and tasty eating is desirable, there is a lack of desire to spend long hours in the kitchen,” explains the astute businesswoman.
Speaking about the shift in consumer’s lifestyle and preferences Prachi adds, “The urban lifestyle, corporate working life, and nuclear families significantly influence purchase decisions. Even hotels and restaurants are becoming conscious of what they serve their customers. Taste is not the only determinant but hygiene and health as well. The awareness is higher in the Horeca industry. Several hotel management and food tech courses focus on food safety, where the retort technology and AajPakao products gain brownie points. The retort is essentially a sterilization process similar to the pasteurization of milk which happens at a higher temperature for the food.Thus, one gets the cleanest food possible.”
She believes that owing to these factors, the demand for such products will grow across India and globally. Conventional ready-to-eat products from brands like ITC have generated buzz in the metro cities in the past, and now the segment is expanding to Tier2 and Tier 3 cities.
The Initial Push & Scaling Up the Idea
AajPakao’s journey started with the base idea of making gravy that could be blended with any added vegetables and still offer the best flavors. “At that time, packaged gravy was an unheard-of concept for Indian consumers, and we had to overcome the major challenge of creating a brand recall among our target audience,” reminisces Prachi.
Their first push was selling products at exhibitions and fairs held in the town. “Surprisingly, we got a tremendous response for our gravy bean combos like dal makhani, missal, and beans which became bestsellers soon,” she adds.
AajPakao has now discontinued these beans and has expanding its product portfolio to introduce multiple varieties. Currently, it offer six beans and seven curries, of which three are sprouts based.
The brand’s TG was in the 25-40 age group initially, but in the course of its growth journey, Prachi realized that the purchase decisions are influenced not by age but by the reduction in cooking time. “Thus, today, we are targeting everyone in the double-income group. We are also gaining traction among gym-goers, marathon runners, fitness enthusiasts, and diet-conscious people. Our online sales data revealed that 70% of our customers are male, and the rest are female. This was quite a pleasant surprise to see that a more significant number of men are now willing to share kitchen responsibilities,” says Prachi with amusement.
Building Block to Future
AajPakao currently has a presence in Mumbai and Pune. The brand now plans to expand to other cities such as Goa, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Prachi explains why, “These markets have a higher concentration of working population, and in most families, both husband and wife work. Thus, there is a lack of time to spend in the kitchen and a wish to eat healthy and nutritious food. This is the TG we will be aiming to focus on.”
The brand is also focusing on regional delicacies that can be cooked with little effort. “We are developing the famous Maharashtrian Missal, which people of this state and others find difficult to cook,” adds Prachi.
AajPakaoalso has global aspirations. The team is already in discussions with UAE and Southeast Asia companies. “The plan is to expand the portfolio and product base for B2B and retail. We are working on bolstering our backend with a greater focus on technology and building robust and efficient teams compared to how we were at the start. We will get experts from different fields on board and put the brand in a better position,” concludes Prachi.
