Awareness on clean labels still lacks in Indian market: Bharat Bhalla, Yu Foodlabs
Featuring on D2C Revolution, Bhalla spoke about Yu Foodlabs’ objective, challenges and consumer behavior shifts in the ready-to-eat industry
In the latest episode of D2C revolution, Bharat Bhalla, Co-founder, Yu Foodlabs demystified how the Indian consumer is unaware of the harmful ingredients they consume, and hence, his company set out to promote ‘clean labels’ in India with their ready-to-eat meals.
Speaking of Hardik Pandya, who recently came onboard as their brand ambassador and investor, Bhalla said, “Me and my co-founder were very unsure whether we want a brand ambassador just two years into the business. Signing a brand ambassador is one thing, and spending marketing dollars is another thing altogether.”
But Yu Foods is a challenger brand, and so is Pandya, which makes him a perfect fit to represent the brand, according to the founder.
Yu Foodlabs also did an outdoor campaign recently in collaboration with SpiceJet, where the brand got a larger-than-life Pandya to appear on all their planes. SpiceJet cabin crew is wearing Yu-branded Pandya jerseys throughout the duration of the ongoing cricket world cup. The Spicejet fleet also has Yu branding on cabin bulkheads and skyline panels.
He said, “The branding was done around the ICC World Cup where we are wishing Pandya all the best, India all the best in a grand way.”
Indian consumers are hesitant to risk their taste buds with an altogether new flavour and a new product. To tackle this challenge, Bhalla believes they were very smart about this. “We have always innovated around categories. When we launched our noodles, we experimented with pasta much later when we were already an established brand in the noodle space. We did differentiation according to Indian flavours.”
In the end, it all depends on how a brand brings a product to the market by being creative around categories.
Speaking of increasing competition, Bhalla said, “We are trying to build the reputation of being an authentic, transparent and trustworthy brand in the minds of our customers. The consumer today cannot be fooled. There is still a lack of trust in the market out there and we are trying to bridge that gap.”
The top three consumer behavior shifts that the founder has noticed in the ready to eat category is consumers want premiumisation and don't mind paying a little extra for it. Secondly, the awareness on quality of promises on labels and the quality of product still has a very wide gap. Thirdly, the trend for Indian brands to go global is really going to exemplify in the next few years.
Towards the end of the discussion, Bhalla said he wished he had known to start the entrepreneurial journey much earlier. The right time is only now!
