Embedded Files
1. Nutritious food is often designed as “healthy” first and “desirable” second. That’s the whole problem. “Healthy” is a promise about the future, while “desirable” is a feeling right now, and a cafe sells right now. Most people won’t trade today’s pleasure for tomorrow’s benefit.
1. Nutritious food is often designed as “healthy” first and “desirable” second. That’s the whole problem. “Healthy” is a promise about the future, while “desirable” is a feeling right now, and a cafe sells right now. Most people won’t trade today’s pleasure for tomorrow’s benefit.
Taste, price, and convenience decide the order. Health is usually just the tiebreaker. Worse, “healthy” labels often make people expect poor flavour, so the dish gets skipped before anyone tastes it.
The current market shows that health-conscious eating is growing, particularly around protein-rich foods, functional snacks and gut health. The niche is shifting, not disappearing. In India, Swiggy reported that 1 in 9 food orders in January 2026 fell under its EatRight category, and protein-led orders on quick-commerce platforms have risen sharply. Globally, the pattern is similar. But consumers still expect flavour, familiarity and value for money. Products that feel expensive, unfamiliar or less enjoyable than conventional alternatives struggle to become everyday choices.
The real opportunity lies in making nutritious food appealing without making it feel like a compromise. A nutritious product gets someone to try it once. But Taste is what makes them buy it again. A “high-fibre millet cookie” feels like a health product; a “dark chocolate ragi cookie” feels like a treat that happens to be good for customers.
From a food-café consulting perspective, I believe health should be built into the product, not be its only selling point. We need to start with what people crave, then optimise the recipe for nutrition, affordability and convenience.
Ultimately, the most successful nutritious foods will be those people choose because they genuinely enjoy them not simply because they are good for them. Health should be an added benefit, not a compromise in the eating experience.
2. What does it take for a food entrepreneur to turn a traditional or indigenous ingredient (millets, pulses, local produce) into a product people actively want to buy — through taste, packaging, or branding?
2. What does it take for a food entrepreneur to turn a traditional or indigenous ingredient (millets, pulses, local produce) into a product people actively want to buy — through taste, packaging, or branding?
Stop selling the ingredient and start selling the experience. Nobody wakes up craving ‘foxtail millet.’ They crave a crunchy snack, a comforting breakfast, a sweet bite with chai. Millets, pulses and local ingredients have tremendous nutritional and culinary potential, but their benefits alone do not guarantee demand.
Entrepreneurs need to focus on three things: taste, relevance and presentation. The product should fit naturally into consumers' eating habits, whether as a convenient breakfast, an evening snack or an indulgent treat. Packaging and branding should communicate its appeal clearly, while making the product look appetising, trustworthy and worth its price.
For example, instead of selling a millet snack only on its nutritional benefits, an entrepreneur could position it as a crunchy, flavourful everyday snack made with local ingredients. The story of its origin and nutritional value can strengthen the proposition, but the taste must deliver on the promise.
Ultimately, successful food innovation is not about making traditional ingredients look modern; it is about making them relevant to today's consumers without losing their identity.
3.How do entrepreneurs move consumers from a one-time curious purchase to a repeat habit?
3.How do entrepreneurs move consumers from a one-time curious purchase to a repeat habit?
Curiosity gets the first sale. Taste and ease get the second. Everything starts with the first bite: if the product disappoints even once, there is rarely a second chance, so the experience has to deliver before anything else is layered on top. For example, A consumer might try a millet cookie because it is new or a healthy snack because it is trending. Repeat purchase depends on whether the product delivers the expected taste, quality, portion size and value for money.
After that, the goal is to attach the product to a routine of customers. Habits form around occasions, not products, so positioning it as “your 4 pm snack” or “your Sunday breakfast” gives customers a natural moment to come back to. Make repeating the purchase effortless, too. Small packs, subscriptions, loyalty cards, and combos lower the cost of reordering and remove the need to think about it.
My advice is to test small, listen to customers and improve before scaling. A product that sells out once is encouraging, but a product customers return to buy without being prompted is a much stronger indicator of business viability.
4. What are the biggest challenges in scaling a nutrition-focused enterprise from local recognition to wider market reach?
4. What are the biggest challenges in scaling a nutrition-focused enterprise from local recognition to wider market reach?
Scaling is where many good food brands quietly stall. The product that wins over a neighbourhood doesn’t always survive the jump to a city, let alone a country, and the reasons are usually practical rather than creative.
The first test is consistency. What works in a small batch often breaks at volume, and customers notice immediately when taste, texture, or shelf-life slips. Closely tied to this is the supply chain. Millets and local produce depend on smallholder farmers, seasonal swings, and uneven quality, so reliable sourcing is much harder than it looks from the outside.
Then comes the money. Distributors, retailers, and marketing all take a cut, and for products priced for everyday buyers, those thin margins can disappear fast. Shelf life and logistics add to the pressure: fewer preservatives mean a shorter life, which makes wider distribution risky and returns costly.
The least visible challenge is losing the story. The authenticity that won over local fans, the founder, the farmer, the handmade feel, can get diluted as the brand grows. The businesses that scale well are the ones that standardize the process but protect the soul of the product.
For smaller food enterprises, working capital and access to suitable manufacturing infrastructure can be significant constraints. Expanding distribution before understanding demand can also lead to wastage and financial pressure.
I would recommend a phased approach: validate demand locally, standardise production, establish unit economics, and then expand into carefully selected markets. Scaling should be driven by repeat demand and operational readiness, not just the ambition to reach more customers.
5. What kind of support funding, mentorship, market linkages, policy backing do these innovators need most to grow?
5. What kind of support funding, mentorship, market linkages, policy backing do these innovators need most to grow?
Money matters, but it is rarely the only bottleneck. they need support that helps them build commercially viable businesses. Food businesses take far longer to break even than tech startups, so patient funding is what counts. Beyond capital, practical mentorship makes a big difference.
Early-stage innovators often require access to food testing laboratories, product development expertise, shelf-life studies, food safety guidance, suitable processing equipment and packaging solutions. These resources can be expensive for small enterprises to access independently, especially those who started as passionate cooks or farmers rather than business operators.
Market linkages are often the real growth unlock. Market linkages are often the real growth unlock. Access to retailers, cafes, institutional buyers, and quick-commerce platforms gets a good product in front of customers at scale, which no amount of funding can do on its own.
Finally, policy backing levels the field for small players. Government programmes, incubators, research institutions and corporate CSR initiatives can play an important role by connecting these different forms of support. However, assistance should extend beyond training and product development to include market trials, buyer introductions and follow-up support.
The most valuable support is one that helps an entrepreneur move from “I have developed a nutritious product” to “I have customers who buy it consistently, and I can produce it profitably.”
6. Looking ahead, what would it take for nutritious food to become the default choice rather than the alternative, and what does success look like five years from now?
6. Looking ahead, what would it take for nutritious food to become the default choice rather than the alternative, and what does success look like five years from now?
Nutritious food becomes the default when it stops being a choice at all. That means offering food with better taste, a comparable price, and no extra effort—making nutritious choices accessible, affordable, convenient, and enjoyable for everyone, not just confined premium health cafés or specialty stores.
I believe the biggest opportunity lies in improving everyday foods rather than creating an entirely separate category of health products. Better breakfast options, nutritious traditional snacks, balanced ready-to-eat meals and familiar foods made with improved ingredients can help nutrition become part of daily life without requiring major behavioural changes.
Food businesses also need to make nutritious choices more visible and appealing, while institutions, schools, workplaces and public food programmes can help increase access and familiarity.
Looking five years ahead, success would mean that consumers no longer have to make a difficult trade-off between taste, affordability and nutrition. millet and pulse-based items would sit on regular cafe menus without a “healthy” tag, the base recipe of everyday foods quietly gets more protein and fibre, and local grains are a mainstream pantry staple rather than a specialty aisle item.
The real measure of progress will not simply be how many healthy products enter the market, but how many become part of people's everyday eating habits.
About Mr. Akash Mathukia (Food Business Consultant):
Akash Mathukia, founder of BRAND AXE, established in Surat in 2017, is a food business consultant specialising in café and food-chain development, franchise expansion, and premium property solutions. With over 400 café and food franchises successfully sold and more than 10 café brands created, he brings valuable industry insights into building and scaling food businesses. In his interview, he shares his perspective on integrating nutrition security into food entrepreneurship and making nutritious food more accessible, appealing, and commercially viable for consumers.
Page updated
Report abuse