Pressing on with a Raw zeal

Anuj Rakyan is the founder and Managing Director of Raw Pressery, India's first cold-pressed juice company. From an idea born out of his kitchen to being on the cusp of taking India's raw and unprocessed products global, the 37-year-old shares his journey with 'India Global Business'.What in your view makes Raw Pressery a start-up success While experimenting on creating an honestly healthy beverage, I focused on simplicity and applied the philosophy of All Good, No Bad. The team and I have been driven by this philosophy to bridge the gap between healthy and tasty by making products that we as consumers would choose to buy.At Raw Pressery, we focus on listening to the consumers needs and preferences and delivering products that meet those needs. Our approach has always been led by demand versus flooding the market with supply driven alternatives. Our philosophy extends into who we are as a brand and foremost as people. We believe in keeping it RAW and hiding nothing from the customer. Success for us is not defined in number crunched excel sheets but for the positive consumer experiences we get with each bottle of RAW.What are some pitfalls start-ups should be wary of when setting up in India It is important to understand your market inside out before stepping into any new ventures. Another important learning is to be prepared for failures as they are best learning experiences. Your product is always at the core of any business hence it needs be 100 per cent honest and sincere for your customer to recognise and appreciate it.What makes the Indian market ripe for brands like yours India is the largest consumer of fresh juices in the world. The fruit based beverage category is the fastest growing with a CAGR of over 30 per centin the past decade. The rising number of health conscious customers actively boosts the cold pressed juice segment.With attributes like no preservatives, chemicals, colours, added sugar or water, cold pressed juices have become the preferred choice of discerning customers across the country. On the other hand, a 5 per cent annual decline in the carbonated beverage segment maps a new consumer journey from “cola to cold pressed”. These trends bare testimony to the fact, that cold pressed juice and clean label innovations are here to stay for the long run.What are the company′s global plans Raw Pressery has grown from strength to strength, expanding business to achieve its goal to be India's largest clean

label food & beverage company. We are currently available in 10 cities - Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai Chandigarh, Kochi and Ahmedabad. The brand has been receiving consistent enquiries from the Middle East and wishes to expand to the territory in the near future.The food & beverage market is blossoming with opportunities. We are the only company in Asia employing advanced cold pressurisation with High Pressure Processing to maintain shelf life, producing about 5,000 litres of juice a day. With the coming in of the new state-of-the-art pressery in Panvel, we have enhanced production capacity by optimally. This has enabled us to scale up distribution, increasing the foot print to 10 cities, reaching the consumer at 1,200 points of sale by the end of FY16, covering modern trade, institutions and direct-to-home channels.Making eating healthy easier for the Indian audiences, we plan to foray into the fresh food and packaged nutriments. We wish to further establish Micro Cold Presseries across our laid out geographies, each equipped with the best of produce and technology to give our discerning customer a truly phygital experience, integrating online and offline. These establishments will allow a consumer to place an order digitally and see their beverage of choice getting made, in real time.On a personal note, what have been some of your high points in the Raw Pressery journey RAW Pressery has achieved a number of milestones that have become its stepping stones to success and have helped it to position itself as India's largest cold pressed juice brand.Born in the kitchen, the company started production in June 2013 after the team had spent countless hours juicing and consulting with farmers. The company took baby steps towards achieving growth and began home delivery deploying the Dabbawalla network across Mumbai and Pune. In April 2014, the company entered into a partnership with modern retail outlets, Foodhall and Godrej Nature's Basket for direct selling of products.The same year, RAW Pressery bagged the first ever round of funding from Sequoia Capital. The year 2015 witnessed achievement of two major landmarks in the company's journey; it achieved notable growth with the expansion of retail and direct-to-home presence across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Also, the company set up its first High Pressure Processing Machine in Asia in its Pressery at Panvel in August.In January 2016, the company extended its special beverage portfolio launching four new categories- (Benefits, Basics, Boosters and Soups) and 19 new juices. The company spread its roots in five more cities across nearly 800 points of sale and more than 400 quick service restaurant outlets. Recently, Bollywood star Jacqueline Fernandez joined the RAW Pressery family as an investor, believing in its “cleaner and healthier future”. What attracted Sequoia & now celebrity investors to the brand In today's world, Raw is a rarity. Our food is becoming unnatural, our juices synthetic, our conversations processed. At Raw we believe everything is best in its raw, untainted and unprocessed form. Our recipes are simple and straight forward just as nature intended. Our partnerships are honest and fair without a fine print. Our world honest, authentic and free of pretence. We believe Raw is a way to be. And nothing else.It has been this manifesto that has attracted one and all alike to our product range and to us as people.