Saucery: a one-stop shop for gourmet sauces, dips and spreads

This Mumbai-based startup aims to bring out the gourmet chef in you with its range of delicious sauces, spreads and dips. Completely natural, these products also come in popular international flavours.

“The more I studied eating habits or just food in general, the more I realised that it is the sauce that forms the base of every cuisine. Whether you’re eating paneer makhani, paneer chettinad or paneer in pesto sauce — it’s really the dips and sauces that form a huge part of the taste. This understanding was essentially my “voila” moment — and things have only moved forward from there,” says Gayatri Bhatia, Founder of Saucery.

Saucery is an artisan brand comprising a natural range of spreads, dips and sauces, free from chemicals, added sugar, preservatives, artificial flavouring or taste-enhancers. The brand works on the premise that when you eat natural, you’re automatically eating healthy. Also it has been established that products with natural ingredients are ­­­­­good for the body, heart, and the brain. Saucery ensures every product is made with fresh and natural ingredients and combined in perfect ratios. A ‘secret formula’ makes the products long-lasting without addition of preservatives.

The dips, breads and sauces are available in 13 different flavours including international favourites like Pesto, Aglio Olio, Schezwan, Hummus, Cranberry & Walnut, and more. Saucery products can be used for different purposes — to cook meals, and as spreads and dips.

Launched in 2015, Saucery was established by Gayatri Bhatia, who has earlier worked in the food and FMCG space with top brands like Hindustan Unilever. The 25-year-old entrepreneur, who holds a BBA degree has studied and worked across cities like Singapore, Toronto, and Sydney.

Gayatri remarks: “The idea of Saucery cropped up while I was studying abroad and had to struggle to eat healthy and tasty food at economical prices. After returning to India, I wanted to start something of my own in the food space.”

Influenced by her travels abroad, Gayatri wanted to give Indian consumers the accessibility of making international gourmet dishes in the comfort of their own homes. And thus Saucery was born.

Saucery is backed by a young team of five members with prior experience in the FMCG space. To deliver on its promise of all-natural products, Saucery also works closely with a reputed food technologist, Shabina NT who was previously with ADF Foods and TUV Labs.

Whether it was figuring out the right product formulations for a fresh, chemical-free product with scalability and shelf life, creating sauce recipes in a kitchen the size of wardrobe, figuring out the right food technologist, dealing with the hassles of starting out young, being objectified as a woman entrepreneur or pulling together people to believe in the brand and vision — the Saucery journey has been an eventful and bumpy ride for Gayatri.

Today the brand is present across 18 stores in Mumbai including popular modern trade stores like Nature’s Basket, Hypercity and Foodhall.

Carving a niche

According to industry reports, the Indian ketchup market is valued at Rs 220 crore with Nestle’s Maggi leading the market with a share of 37 percent, followed by 29 percent of Hindustan Unilever’s Kissan and 10 percent market share by Heinz. Experts highlight that people in urban areas do not consume much of ketchup.

Amidst established players, Saucery is carving a niche in the market with its international flavoured sauces mostly targeting urban consumers. Another important differentiator for Saucery is that the products are all completely fresh and natural.

Revenue model and plans for the future

The brand works on a simple revenue model and manages its entire value chain in-house – from sourcing of ingredients, management of supply chain, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and sales marketing. However, going ahead, Saucery hopes to strategically tie up with partners for the management of some of these functions.

The startup has recently raised undisclosed funding from an undisclosed investor and plans to expand Saucery’s presence pan-India. The brand has also built a significant online presence, partnering with seven e-commerce platforms while being available on its own website. Saucery is currently growing at a rate of over 20 percent month on month and has sold about 3,500 bottles last month in Mumbai.

Saucery products are currently available in Mumbai and the startup aims to expand its presence to Bengaluru, Pune, and Delhi by the end of the year.

“I want to help urban aspirers in India avail of gourmet food from across the world, without burning their pockets or compromising on health,” adds Gayatri.