Maulik Mistry brings his Mojo to snacking Indians, promotes healthy eating

Maulik Mistry, Co-founder of Pure Snacks Ltd, which manufactures Mojo Bars, left his US dreams and returned to India to start a range of healthy snack bars. Unable to find any healthy snacks on shop shelves, Maulik, who had worked with Nestle, decided to manufacture a premium range of healthy snack bars. Along with Chirag Bhatia, an operations expert, and Kunjan Parekh, a food scientist, he started the manufacturing in Pune.

In an earlier interview with YourStory, Maulik said, “I began questioning people on the kind of snacking bar that they would like and what kind of ingredients they would like in it. At an outsourced lab, we began to experiment with fibres and protein that made sense.”

The company had invested Rs 25 lakh by then. Till June 2014, they spent all their time getting the licenses for setting up a company and manufacturing the product. They spent a good 18 months on the R&D of the product before hitting the market.

The initial task of finding a manufacturer took centre stage for the company. The founders met over eight manufacturers and finally homed in on one in Pune, who understood the processes that this young team needed. By January 2016, Maulik and team began working with around 75 kirana stores in Andheri, Mumbai, to test the market.

Around the same time, a large retail chain in the city championed the young company by stocking their product in their store in South Mumbai. In the early part of 2016, the company began to rapidly develop their network. They signed up 15 distributors who could give them a national footprint.

Around 80 percent of their business comes from retail outlets. Impressively, while being a young company, it has achieved a turnover of more than Rs 1 crore. The company also hopes to raise over $500,000 to expand operations beyond Bengaluru and Mumbai.

(Video: Dipti Nair)