Naturally Made , Naturally Loved
When her toddler turned six months old, Hyderabad-based Shruti Ajmera Reddy found herself perplexed by the infant food options available in the market. “Honestly, despite the kind of information that is accessible, it is all so confusing. How does one know what is good and what is not!” exclaimed Shruti over a phone call. She finally did manage to crack the code on how to best feed her little one, but instead of keeping the knowledge to herself, Shruti decided to share it with all the mothers worried about their child’s nutrition. She set up Hapup to create products that are ‘Naturally made and Naturally Loved’. Meet Shruti, and here is her Hapup journey.
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The entrepreneur credits her late father-in-law, Dr.P. Sudershan Reddy, for conceptualising the venture. As a paediatrician, he always asked parents to go back to the basics when it came to infant nutrition. “Locally grown and sourced food is best for us in so many different ways. It really helps build immunity in children. That’s where our interest in the concept began. It was my father-in-law’s idea. He always asked people to include mixes made of millets, pulses, and other wholesome ingredients in the food rather than opt for the sugar-heavy alternatives available in the market,” she said.
Shruti also consulted nutritionists and people working with millets to better understand the ingredients. Team Hapup formed a network of experts to aid them with product development as they worked on various recipes. “Through Hapup we aim to answer basic questions like what would today’s mothers look for in food products, and how can we make it easier for parents to access the right ingredients in the right form.” Additionally, they also worked on creating products that were devoid of preservatives, salt and sugar, or as Hapup puts it – naturally made and loved.
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Hapup was first incorporated in October 2018 and initially, the venture received orders through word-of-mouth marketing. The Hapup website was launched in January 2019. Their products are now also available on Amazon and First Cry.
“Part of our production is done in our own facility. Right now we are manufacturing at a scale where we don’t need huge machinery to manage the production. We also work with micro-women entrepreneurs who have the capacity to do this from their home. We assign them a few products, train them, and once they start making the products, we regularly check on them to ensure everything is going well,” said Shruti while talking about product manufacturing.
Hapup manufactures a range of nutri-mixes using ingredients like ragi or finger millets, jowar or sorghum, bajra or pearl millets, peanuts, almonds, cardamom, we well as pulses like green gram, Bengal gram and kidney beans. Their proprietary recipes also involve basic processing such as sun-drying, sprouting and grinding, all of which are done in-house. On the current website, they have three products- Hapup Sprouted Nutri Mix, Hapup Sprouted Super Mix and the Hapup Sprouted Ragi Mix. The products are for infants 6 months or older, and after one year can be included in their daily meals.
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Adults, not to worry, there is something for you on the Hapup shelf as well. The venture recently added a range of healthy snacks including jowar chips and puffs and moringa khakhras. Shruti admits that these recent additions were the outcome of a growing interest in Hapup-based products at events. “We wanted to show that Hapup mixes are versatile ingredients that can be incorporated in parathas, chapatis and other daily foods. To highlight this aspect, we made some savories using the mixes, and soon we started getting queries about them. That’s how we introduced snacks at Hapup.” Shruti shared that mothers have loved Hapup products as there is no taste bias, and they can customise the food the way their child likes it. The Sprouted Nutri Mix is one of their top sellers along with the Jowar Puffs and the Amaranth Bars. “The bars leave a slightly burnt after taste which many people love,” added Shruti.
Hapup is incubated by the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, and was selected from 400 startups for a government funding. The venture mainly sources ingredients from organisations like Timbaktu Collective, and is working with scientists and researchers from the National Institute of Nutrition and IIMR to improve sourcing and build scale. But like most new businesses, the pandemic has forced Hapup to adapt to a new normal.
“Had you asked me this question a few months back my answer would be different,” said Shruti when I inquired about her plans ahead. “We have had to make some hard decisions while ensuring our customers are not impacted. For example, we had to revisit the sourcing of ingredients. We are producing infant food, and we don’t do much processing. So we are very particular about the quality of grains, and we pick our sources very carefully.” Currently, they have found accessible alternatives close to their facility, but Shruti agreed that it is a long road ahead. Her main goal at the moment is to protect her existing line of products before gradually returning to the market with newer products and investing resources for innovation and experimentation. “Eventually, we would like to be present in every household, in some form- as a nutri-mix, atta or the go-to health product. That’s our goal.”
For more information visit: Hapup.
Cover Image Courtesy Hapup