Slurrp Farm

“Healthy food, tasty food and attractive food need not exist on different planets!”

They are friends, they are foodies, they are moms, and they are the founders of a startup which aims to give the little ones healthy and tasty products to munch on. Meet Slurrp Farm, a “health and organic food brand for children. It’s our mission to provide tasty and 100% natural alternatives to the junk food that surrounds kids today.”

I spoke to the founders Shauravi Malik and Meghana Narayan on making all things traditional delicious for the tiny modern palates.

The idea

Shauravi has a Masters degree in Economics from Cambridge University, while Meghana is an MBA graduate from Harvard University. With more than a decade of corporate experience under their belt, both Shauravi and Meghana always had plans for entrepreneurship. So was the leap into the world of pediatric nutrition based on their own experiences as mothers? “The idea initially hit us when we were working in London. Every time we would visit India; our friends would ask us for certain food products for their children. This request took us by surprise. On doing some research, we found that some of the organic products that we get abroad source ingredients from India. So why not have suitable products for children in India with the ingredients we get here?”

Meghana and Shauravi add that this thought was reinforced once they moved back to India and entered their own phases of motherhood. “One of the things that became obvious to us when we looked at the market for products was the lack of millet-based options. Millets have been a huge part of our food growing up, and we wanted to practice the same with our children. This really got us thinking about filling the void with the right kind of products.”

They decided to do just that with Slurrp Farm.

The Products

Currently, Slurrp Farm has two categories of products. Cereals for the post-weaning stage and cookies for the slightly older ones (yes, yes you can eat them too :)).

Meghana and Shauravi share that one of the first cereal prototypes they tried came straight from Meghana’s grandmother and the recipes have been worked on for ensuring nutrition, taste and a bit of fun. Cereals are available in three flavours; “Whole wheat, Ragi, Oat, Banana and Apple with Milk”, “Whole wheat, Moong, Rice, Spinach and Tomato with Milk”, “Whole wheat, Maize, Rice, Banana and Mango with Milk”. Addressing the post-weaning stage with these products, Slurrp Farm was very conscientious about getting the nutritional component right. “If they get used to eating well from the start, they carry that forward on their own.”

Owner and Chef of Smitten Bakery, Mandakini Gupta worked on the cookies at Slurrp Farm. In fact, the co-founders have an interesting story about how the three cookie flavours –whole wheat & cheese cookies, oats banana & raisin cookies, whole wheat ragi & chocolate cookies were approved as the flavours for the market. Mandakini worked on the cookie recipes and narrowed them down to seven flavours. The Slurrp Farm team decided to let their customers take the final call. “ We wrote a letter to 200 parents in a play school asking permission for their children to try Slurrp Farm cookies. We all had our personal favourites in those seven versions. The kids were very honest about the ones they liked, and they chose the three flavours you see on the website today.”, Meghana shares. “My favourite was not on that final list”- adds Shauravi with a laugh.

The co-founders say instead of demonising ingredients and completely ruling them out, Slurrp Farm believes in the right amounts of all that is needed. Ragi, whole wheat, honey, pureed fruit and a whole lot of natural ingredients are what Slurrp Farm products are built on. Being mindful of the fact that these products are being introduced to children as they begin to taste food or as they begin to form opinions, Slurrp Farm wants them to have the best experience at this formative stage. While the basis of the recipes came from their families, they worked out the right proportion for their audience by consulting nutritionists and pediatricians.

A cookie for all

Slurrp Farm was launched in October this year. However, the team has been working on the concept for almost two years prior to that; including a trial launch last year. The team already has 12 more products that have been tried and tested and will be released soon. Through their interactions with mothers, they have also realised that products are most needed for the breakfast and snack time. They hope to address these meal points through their future products.

As much as Slurrp Farm believes in bringing new products to the market, they are also working on addressing inadequate nutrition across different age groups and stages. They plan to broaden their reach to prenatal and postnatal women and the elderly. What is commendable is that they are already thinking about making affordable products, but are aware that they need to add scale and own manufacturing before venturing into that zone.

“Slurrping” it up

At the beginning of the interview, Shauravi and Meghana shared how they met in London at a Diwali party and how food has been a common interest for them. Over the next 30 minutes, as they talked about cooking, recipes, traditions and the issue of malnutrition it is very easy to forget that they come from different professional backgrounds. They have invested time in understanding the trade and in understanding the core issue. At each point, they have also consulted industry specialists, doctors, nutritionists and made multiple trips to the Central Food Technology Research Institute to ensure that their product is the best version of what they wanted. It comes as no surprise to me when they tell me that people across ages have loved Slurrp Farm products. While the cookies have found a place among children and adults alike, their cereals are also appreciated by the elderly which has made this team think about more products which are nutritionally balanced and easy to swallow. In fact, they have someone ordering seven packs of their Ragi cookies every week!

The outlets for their products have also grown in this short span of time. Slurrp Farm cereals & cookies are available on Amazon, Modern Bazaar (Delhi) and other key local stores across Delhi. They have a strong clientele from Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad as well.

Challenges & Advice

Slurrp Farm has come a long way since the first cereal recipe they tried out in their kitchen. As they talk about challenges, the friends agree that they it see it more as a learning- stepping into a new domain and working their way up. “It’s like having ten different jobs at the same time. At first, we had to learn about translating products from our kitchens to a manufacturing point of view. Once the products were set, we had to move onto learning retail, marketing, social media, etc. At any given point there is so much to know. ” But when orders come in from all across the country, they feel the journey has been worth it. ” When we launched our products, the first two days of orders were probably people we knew and had heard about our work. But then we saw someone from Hubli or some other corner in India order our products, and that was really overwhelming to see our products travel to people we have never met.”

Their advice to future entrepreneurs is everything they have been practicing. ” There are so many advances in the food sector that there is room for innovation. But you have to be patient and work each day with the same level of enthusiasm you started with. Having fun is important. But most of all it is important you make the change that you are expecting in this domain.“

For more information on Slurrp Farm visit their website and stop by their Facebook Page. Get started on your Slurrp Farm orders here.

Slurrp Farm Quick Facts

@SlurrpFarm is here on #TYT talking about #healthyfood for children and adults! #slurrpituphttps://t.co/aLX6NHGknP pic.twitter.com/HF1NMFmgwH

— Sharmila Vaidyanathan (@YellowTurmeric) December 22, 2016