Jeevash Vaid & Uni Vaid, Founders

Globalization over the years has upgraded itself several times. But in the case of western-origin food products, especially the processed ones, the subcontinent often gets to consume only the ‘Indian versions’. The rationale behind this convenient mediocrity is simple – the term quality is ironically perceived as a luxury in the country. Hence, while the foreign brands follow stringent standards & practices and process food in state-of-the-art processing facilities to ensure consistency in quality & authenticity, the Indian-counterparts compromise at all stages.

A pioneer of authentic ready-to-eat western food products in India, Jeevash Vaid is well determined to alter this conviction through his innovative & new-age food brand– Kuppies, which specializes in world class Ambient, Fresh (Chilled) and Frozen packaged foods prepared under world-class conditions. If you are not acquainted with this emerging indigenous brand yet, some of the Frozen Desserts range that treats your taste buds at all the 1700 stores of the Café Coffee Day and 1100 stores of Domino’s Pizza across India is from the house of Kuppies. Besides cost-effective Brownie being the best seller among its Frozen Desserts, the top selling product of the brand however is affordable Heat & Eat Pizza range, alongside Pasta, Calzones, and other savory Italian ready-to-eat products.

The Ultra-Modern Facility
If you have ever watched the food-season episodes of the NatGeo documentary – Mega Factories, you could immediately visualize the astonishing production facilities of the world’s famous food-brands. Those massive infrastructures are built to breath customer delight. To provide our country’s consumer market with an identical proposition, it takes similar facilities, not substitutes. Jeevash is thorough with this elementary fact. Having the back-lift of an expert team of food scientists & technologists, he has built a 25,000 sq.ft. spanning state-of-the-art production facility, which is equipped with automated & specialized machinery and follows stringent quality benchmarks & SOPs; not to mention the 200 people strong well-trained workforce. Remember, we are talking about a Market (Frozen Food), which is estimated to hit Rs.188 billion by 2024, flaring at a CAGR of around 17 percent. While boasting of an excellent facility, it’s amazing the way Kuppies alignwith the aspirations of this consumer market; its affordable price tags being a predominant example.

“It’s our knowledge of the western Frozen Food space that makes the difference, enabling us to produce authentic western ready-to-eat food for our customers. The dedication & passion of the entire team to delight our customers is

what separates us from the rest. Moreover, we use the same process techniques & ingredients that are used in the biggest markets like Europe & America,” asserts Jeevash.

"It’s our knowledge of the western Frozen Food space that makes the difference, enabling us to produce authentic western ready-to-eat food for our customers"

The Quality Approach
The high-end facilities alone couldn’t win any game, as the food products are as good as the ingredients used. By docking itself around this simple but strong principle, Kuppies source ingredients only from the best suppliers around the world. The company in truth goes an extra mile forward to ensure that even the suppliers follow the best manufacturing practices, inspect all food material before sourcing, and even demanda third-party authenticated ‘Certificate of Analysis’ for every ingredient entering its facility. The trust brought in by this stringent approach makes the whole process a lot easier.

Amidst everything that contributes to the magical savory, recipe is the forte of Kuppies’ products. Jeevash divulges, “All our recipes are built in-house through the collective efforts of trained chefs and food scientists & technologists. As a matter of fact, we have never hired an outside consultant to help guide with any of the Kuppies’ product recipes. This helps us in ensuring authenticity and unique taste of products”. Furthermore, the Kuppies’ recipe, which boasts of its sophisticated design specific to frozen application, forms its shape after rigorous testing & trials, as many as more than 300 times.

“All our raw material and also the final finished goods are sent to NABL approved laboratory for testing. We determine the shelf life of our products through several testing parameters including live testing, before launching them in the market,” Jeevash adds. Further complimenting this trust factor is the regulatory compliance & certifications of Kuppies facilities, starting right from SGS audit & certification to FSSC 22000, which is one of the highest certifications in the food industry. Additionally, on the other hand, the Kuppies’ facilities are subject to rigorous audits from Dominos Pizza, Café Coffee Day and WalMart USA, as a part of their business partnership.

An Exciting Story that Continues to Evolve
Having kick-started its operations five years ago from a small garage in Noida by selling just a few small cakes a day, Kuppies over the years has grown by leaps and bounds to now sell over 280,000 cakes a month. The company in truth has spent a significant amount of time to perfect its unique food products purely based on the generous feedback from its consumers. Today, at a time when the global Frozen Food market is projected to reach a value of nearly $282.5 billion by 2023, this indigenous brand has a new mission at hand – developing a strong consumer market in India by educating the customers about the enormous benefits of frozen foods. Jeevash explains, “It’s not known in India, but Frozen is the best form of preservation. It ensures that the

foodproduct remains the same as originally intended without losing any sensory taste, since there is no Microbial growth happening”. For the same cause, Kuppies intends to increase its presence across Social Media and other sources of Digital Marketing.

Thanks to the convenience its products bring into the life of millions, the customers keep patronizing Kuppies, making the company grow more than 4x since April 2018. With its philosophy of continuous improvement and a dedicated team with innovation in their DNA, Kuppies expects to increase its sales further by 3x this year. The passionate food-innovators help the company stay abreast of the dynamically changing consumer habits & tastes.

"With its philosophy of continuous improvement and a dedicated team with innovation in their DNA, Kuppies expects to increase its sales further by 3x this year"

Mission Expansion
Currently available in stores across Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore, Kuppies has already devised broad plans for this year – to expand to smaller markets in the Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities. It plans to widen its presence to all of the sales verticals including Modern Trade, General Trade, Online, and Railways, besides starting its own food services division. “Our target is to be available in 5,000 stores across India by the end of 2019. We, the Kuppies family, are truly enjoying this unprecedented growth,” concludes Jeevash.

Key Management:
Jeevash Vaid, Founder
Jeevash is a graduate of Boston College, US, and has over 15 years of experience in the Food Industry. He has been a franchisee of Subway Restaurants for over a decade prior to starting Kuppies with his Co-Founder Uni Vaid.

Kuppies in Spotlight:
•The only authentic ready-to-eat western food brand in India

•Founded by professionals from the food industry

•Customer centric company that also offers affordable pricing

•Having a state-of-the-art production facility equipped with specialized machinery

•It caters to the 1700 stores of the Café Coffee Day and 1100 stores of Domino's Pizza across India

Kuppies’ Ultra-modern 25,000 sq.ft. factorypossesses a daily production capacity of five metric tons. Some of its standout infrastructural differentiators are 15,000 sq.ft. Cold Storage & Blast Freezing capability, best-in-class Food Processing & Storage Machinery, and In-house Lab for immediate Product Testing & Safety.

Quick Facts:
Year of Establishment:
2014
Headquarter: Noida

Offerings:
•Italian ready-to-eat products including Heat & Eat Pizza, Pasta, Calzones and other savory
•Frozen desserts including Brownie, Mousse Cups, Lava Cake & Birthday Cakes