Alum Ventures: Lo! Foods – Sudarshan Gangrade, PGP 2003
Binge on your favorite snacks, chocolates, desserts, etc guilt-free. Sounds unbelievable?? pinch yourself ..it’s true. Sudarshan Gangrade has a vision of a healthier nation and his entrepreneurial venture Lo! Foods is doing exactly that.
Assertion on good health has never been more need of the hour than now. Eating healthy is the easiest change an individual can make in his/ her life. Lo! Foods offers low carb and keto-friendly foods without compromising on taste. These are foods designed with nutritional precision Made in India for India. Lo! Foods has already become a popular brand among the health-conscious and is catching up with the wider audience.
Sudarshan Gangrade, Founder of Lo! Foods talks about his entrepreneurial journey and future of Health and Wellness in India.
Can you tell us more about your entrepreneurial venture – Lo! Foods.
Lo! Foods is one of India’s leading brands of Low Carb and Keto Friendly range of healthy foods. The idea is to have a Low Carb healthy version of everything that Indians eat. Think ITC, Britannia, Haldiram – But Low carb and healthier. We already cover most types of food – from Atta to Cookies to Namkeens and Desserts. We started this around 18 months back, and officially launched ourselves around a year back.
What prompted you to get into this space?
I wanted to impact health at scale. Having co-founded LeanScience in my previous stint (a successful boutique Diet and Fat Loss Consulting firm), I understood the science behind the body, nutrition and health. It was evident to me that India is the Diabetes, Cardiac Risk capital of the world because of lifestyle and food habits. Cutting down the amount of Carbs India eats, can lead to a long term health impact for millions of people. My past stints as the CMO of Ola and background in Analytics helped me bring out the right set of products that Indians could consume.
What are the different products offered by Lo! Foods. How can one buy these products?
We offer 15 + Products across Snacks, Namkeens, Biscuits, Atta and Desserts to cover all meal occasions. We are present across all the Top ECommerce and Health platforms in India. Apart from this, many 5-Star hotels and award-winning restaurants carry a Low Carb healthy menu, powered by our products. In Bangalore, we have a range of Cloud kitchens that serves customers Fresh Food (all Low Carb and super healthy) through platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.
What kind of study and research goes into developing these products?
We were very clear from the beginning that we would build a product line that ACTUALLY delivered the health benefits and nutrition promised, rather than make generic claims of health. We spent 6 months of R&D, with our in-house team of Nutritionists, Food Technologists and Consultants before launching. Every product is tested and the reports are published online for everyone to see. In addition, we have done tests on ourselves using a wide array of instruments; including Blood, Breath, Urine tests; and the results are again published online to prove that the product works.
What is the USP of Lo! Foods?
Indian Foods, now Low on Carbs. The same taste and texture of the foods we enjoy traditionally, but far healthier with an average of 60% – 80% lower carbs on EACH product. Most of our products are made from a combination of Seed mixes, Whole grain flours; making them super healthy.
What is the future of health products/ services in India?
If there is one market that one can bet on, to grow continuously for years and decades; it is Health and Wellness. This spans health services, but I believe it impacts Food even more. With ageing population with higher disposable income, almost everyone understands the importance of eating well and is willing to spend on Healthier options. The younger population is already far more cognisant of staying healthy and eating right, even if for different reasons.
What according to you are the pros and cons of entrepreneurship? What have been some key learnings from your entrepreneurial journey?
There are reams written on this. Width of learning and a fast track to understanding who you are as a person remain the biggest learnings for me. I don’t see “cons” in entrepreneurship. Rather it is difficulties and challenges, but that is what makes you learn and grow.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
There barely is spare time in the early days of Entrepreneurship. And if you do, there is even lesser spare mental bandwidth; since one is constantly thinking about work. Having said that, my workouts are my daily methods to disengage and take a break. I have begun to read again of late, and attempting my hand at learning a musical instrument.
Any fond memories from your days at IIMB.
IIMB brings innumerable memories. L-Square, the campus and of course the batchmates are the images that always come up when one goes back to the 2 years.
Your favourite quote.
Its never change that undoes us, its resistance to change.
Please visit https://lofoods.fit/ for more details..
