The quest for the perfect snack

Healthy dry fruits snacks brand ProV Foods is steadily gaining popularity as a smart choice for a healthy lifestyle. By this year ProV Foods is targeting revenue of 500 crore run rate and aims to achieve 20x growth by the year 2026. The Mumbai-headquartered brands is clocking in at 4x growth in the last 18 months. Backed by a professional leadership with over 100 years of cumulative experience in the end-to-end commodities value chain, ProV offers more than 100 products that include the highest quality almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, and pistachios, sourced directly from the finest orchards across India and abroad processed and packed in their own 35,000 sqft, FSSC 22000 compliant processing plant. In an interview with Bizz Buzz, Shalin Khanna, Co-Founder and CMO, ProV Foods, says, "Our idea of disrupting the market is to introduce healthy snacks focused on the nuts, seeds and dry fruits category with a focus on Indianized flavours available at your corner grocery store"

In a crowded snack industry that sells based on taste, do you feel there is space for a mini snack-pack?

The Indian snack industry is swamped with various traditional snacks that cater more to the fried 'namkeen' category or the internationally flavoured 'crisps' or 'wafers' category, with only a handful of healthy snacking and innovative brands trying to bring in something new. So yes it is crowded, but there is a large gap in the healthy and innovative snacking category which has seen a large consumer surge since the Covid pandemic and focus on health. We at ProV see a large space in this healthy snacking category, especially one that serves the large economic/budget diaspora from the ultra economical to the ultra premium. We have designed our snack packs to cover this very diverse budget and taste category introducing packs of flavoured and natural nuts, seeds, and dry fruits from the ProV mini to ProV regal ultra premium category

What is your target audience for your snack pack at Rs 30 in a price-sensitive market where snack packs are available for Rs10?

We see our target audience for the mini category as the impulse buyers looking for a quick snack pack that is a healthy alternative to the wafers category available at the local kirana store or the POS at various modern trade outlets, and as extension to that for those home makers looking for a tiny on-the-go snack for their children or spouses lunch box. It is a perfect handful of nutrition at Rs 30 to compete with the wafer and crips category at near about the same price point. We further intend to introduce products in the range of Rs 15 with a focus on other nuts in the category to even compete with the lower price point Bhujiya category.

Would you be offering a disruptive route to market?

We are a physical retail brand first – that is we pride ourselves on our presence in a large scale distributor network and MT presence while using the e-commerce channel as a product education, visibility and recall approach. Our idea of disrupting the market is to introduce healthy snacks focused on the nuts, seeds and dry fruits category with a focus on Indianized flavours available at your corner grocery store. Being present across the value chain right from procuring goods from growers across the globe to processing and packing goods in house to distributing the ProV brands via our distributor channels – we are able to ensure quality goods at competitive prices in a robustly growing healthy snacking category.

How many packs do you recommend a customer should eat a day?

The age old saying of "Muthi bhar badam" is the perfect analogy/metaphor for portion sizes of dry fruits and nuts. Nuts generally are highly nutritious but also equally calorie dense - it is very easy to be carried away by consuming a bowl full or upwards for 150 grams of these snacks in a sitting – a no-no especially for those watching their calories. We recommend consuming about 18 to 36 grams of nuts and dryfruits per day which is also our reasoning behind positioning our Minis at weightage of 18 grams. Two packs of ProV minis a day should give you the needed nutritional benefits of nuts

Which packs do you recommend for children?

Before we recommend this we would advise the guardians to check children's form of nut or seed allergy – although this is more seen in western worlds there have been cases of nut allergies in the Indian population as well. That said we think the ProV Mini – Nut and Seed mix is perfect for children with a mix of roasted salted almonds, cashews, raisins and seeds – this provides a perfect mix of savoury and sweet, crunchy and chewy, protein, healthy facts and dietary fibre – one for the tiffin box we say

How eco-friendly are your operations?

During our processing of nuts we produce wastage in the forms of shells and skins which we have tied up with our sister to convert into bio-fuel briquettes. These briquettes are widely used in industrial boilers in place of coal and other fossil fuels and tend to be relatively better for the environment as a whole – and hence we try to use even our waste to generate fuel for the betterment of our environment.

With words like sustainability doing the rounds in business, how sustainable is the business?

As compared to animal-based proteins Nuts have a much lower carbon footprint. As per "Our World Data'' Nuts and other plant-based protein sources, such as tofu and beans, have a far lower GHG emission count compared to animal-based food products. On average, nuts emit just 0.26kg CO2eq per 100 grams of protein. Meanwhile, beef emits a whopping 49.89kg CO2eq and lamb and mutton emit 20 kg CO2eq per 100 grams of protein. While poultry and eggs emit a much lower carbon footprint than other animal-based proteins, at 5.7kg and 4.21kg CO2eq respectively, they still have a much higher GHG emission count than nuts. Therefore the nuts and seeds business at large is definitely more sustainable for the environment.

The demand for dry fruits and nuts is expected to continue to grow, driven by factors such as rising incomes, growing health consciousness, and a desire for high-quality, nutritious food. Furthermore, the Indian government has also taken steps to promote the industry, such as offering incentives and subsidies to farmers and producers, and investing in research and development to improve the quality of the products. Overall, the organised dry fruits and nuts business in India is highly sustainable, with a strong demand, efficient supply chain, and supportive environment. This, combined with the industry's commitment to sustainable practices, ensures that it will continue to grow and thrive in the years to come.

What are the pack sizes and how big in terms of volumes do you reckon the health snack market?

The different packs and sizes by ProV are: ProV Select, ProV Premium, ProV Flavours, ProV Regal, ProV Fusion, and ProV Minis. The health snack market in India has been growing rapidly in recent years, driven by factors such as rising incomes, growing health consciousness, and a desire for convenient, nutritious food. According to a report by Market Research Future, the health snack market in India is expected to reach a volume of Rs 18,452 crore (approximately $2.5 billion) by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5 per cent from 2018 to 2023. With increasing investment and support from both the private sector and the government, the health snack market in India is well positioned to continue to grow and thrive in the years to come.

What are your growth projections for the next three years?

ProV is one of the fastest-growing healthy dry fruits snacks brands clocking in at 4x growth in the last 18 months backed by a professional leadership with over 100 years of cumulative experience in the end-to-end commodities value chain. In the past three years, ProV is steadily gaining popularity as a smart choice for a healthy lifestyle. By this year ProV is targeting a revenue of 500 crore run rate and aims to achieve 20x growth by the year 2026. ProV Foods, headquartered in Mumbai, offers more than 100 products that include the highest quality almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, and pistachios, sourced directly from the finest orchards across India and abroad processed and packed in their own 35,000 sqft, FSSC 22000 compliant processing plant. We have strong support and direct relationships with over 45 direct growers and packers across the globe including California, Chile, and Afghanistan, and also in India.

What seasonal promotions have you lined up this year?

Our most relevant festive season is Diwali and the festive season - for the same we have expertly curated ProV celebration gift boxes from the Rs 300 all the way up to Rs 4999 - furthermore we are closely working with our brand ambassador master chef Sanjeev Kapoor to introduce curated snacks in both the sweet and savoury category with our prime produce being the main ingredients.