 king of breakfast as he's brought technology, design and innovation as the ingredients in building a packaged food company. Before I invite him on the stage, let me also inform you that we are all Facebook live. So you do not have to worry about taking videos on the phone. It's all accessible on Facebook. But keep your insights coming using hashtag eLiveIndia. I repeat, hashtag eLiveIndia. With that energy, let's welcome on stage our next keynote speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, the CEO and co-founder of ID Fresh Food, Mr. Mustafa PC. Good morning. In the name of God, peace be unto you. Thank you for inviting me here. It's such a great honor to be here among all these great leaders and superstars. I am PC Mustafa. We make world's best food, idlies. We make crispy dosas, real, real yummy parathas, if you haven't tried it, and the most famous vada. Vada with a proper whole and many more. I come from very remote village in a beautiful place called Vineyard in Kerala. That's my village. If you have not been there, that's a must visit place. My village was so remote that we had no electricity in my village. We had no roads in my village. I had to walk miles to my school. Government's midday meal scheme was the biggest motivation factor for me to attend the school. My dad was a Cooley. As my dad was finding it difficult to meet both ends of the family, I ended up doing a Cooley job at the age of 10 with him. Three-time meal was a distant dream during my childhood days. Breakfast was a luxury. I was very poor in my studies. I was a school dropout. I later went back to school and became a school top in less than one year. I then worked with few MNCs in India. I then did my engineering and computer science by chance. I handed over my first-man salary to my dad and he literally cried seeing that money because he had never seen that kind of money in his lifetime. It was actually more than his lifetime savings. I then worked with few MNCs in India, Middle East and Europe. I decided to come back to India with an objective of creating employment for smart kids from my village. That's where I did tie up with my cousins, who were running a small time Kirana store in a place called Pishantar in Bangalore. We burns on different ideas. And that's how the famous ID or Idli Dosa product came to the market. All what we had was one grinder, one mixer, one sealing machine, one weighing scale and a second hand TVS kuti. Our job was to go to market every day by rice dal, come back, clean it, wash, soak, grind, mix it, pack it, ferment it and then load it on the second hand TVS kuti and go to the market ourselves and sell it to ourselves. It was a back breaking work. Our shirt would be soaked in the sweat. But then it's one of the most enjoyable things that I did in my life. Looking back, these are the stories that you don't hear from the success stories. You don't get to hear these stories from magazines. These are the words best business are built. You have to go through the struggle. So when we started, Idli Dosa product in Pishantar in Bangalore with 20 stores, it took us nine months to sell 100 packets. Today we sell Idli Dosa batter to make more than a million idlis every single day. Today we are a thousand crore brand. This journey has not been very easy. For any business, you need to look at three important checklist. One of course is the profitability, sustainability and scalability. Today I'm going to talk about scalability, but let me just quickly touch up on the profitability. It's extremely important to make business profit from day one. First month, we made a profit of 400 rupees. We still make profit. If you don't make profit today, it's extremely difficult to make profit tomorrow. So profit is the first thing that we need to focus on the business. Next one on sustainability. Whenever my grandfather could afford to eat Idli, if he could afford to eat a breakfast, he would eat Idli. I had Idli this morning and I want my grandson to eat Idli in future. I think Idli is the most sustainable business in the world. Coming to the main subject is scalability. Did know that we Bangaloreans take in Idli dosa batter to make more than two crore Idli every single day. That's a multi-billion dollar business opportunity. The only thing is it's not a fancy business. People don't take it as serious. This is where we started. Now, to scale a Idli business, it's not going to be easy. So we looked at three aspects for the scalability. Manufacturing, which is the back end, distribution, which is the supply chain, and innovation. So I'm going to talk about these three subjects quickly with each of them with a story. So let me tell you about the manufacturing that we did. As you all know, you have seen these grinders on the left side. Yeah, those are the traditional wet grinders available across. This grinder grinds 1.5 kg of dal per hour. To get best Idli, you need best batter. To get best batter, you need to do the stone grinding using wet grinding technology, which our grandmother used to make at home. Now, most of the food processing machineries are innovated in Germany. Unfortunately, Germans don't eat Idli dosa. So I had nothing to copy from. For me to scale up this business, it was extremely important for me to focus on the back end. Today, we grind around 25,000 kg of rice and dal per hour. You can now imagine the size of the factory required. You can now imagine the complication that comes with the quality consistency. Because if I use the traditional grinders, which is 1.5 kg, I would need probably half of MG Road area to make the factory for the two days better. And moreover, it is not easy to maintain hygiene. When you are around, employees would follow your manufacturing process. Whereas when you are not around, they will end up doing this. You can't help it. And that's the fact. It was extremely important for me to focus on the back end. So we looked at what kind of technology is available across. There was nothing available for the Idli dosa. But then we were not experts in making grinders. We ended up going to Germany and identified mustard paste making machinery, which is quite popular in the US market. We worked with them, developed Idli dosa better making machinery. We are using very good technology. Today, the grinder that you see on the right side, which is from my factory, grinds 5,000 kg of Idli dosa better in an hour. Untouchable hand. With a press of a button, I will clean it. That is extremely important for a manufacturing business. Focus on the back end. Because we think technology is all about mobile apps and internet. It is not. It is not just internet and mobile apps. Technology is also about the back end. That's my first story. Focus on the back end. Focus on the manufacturing. Focus on the machineries when you are in the manufacturing business. My next biggest challenge is about distribution. As you all know, for a fresh food business, wastage is the key. That's the biggest challenge. We want to sell fresh with 0% wastage. Now, as you all know, 40% of the food that is produced in India is wasted across. There was no way for me to make this business profitable and scalable at this kind of wastage. That's where we used technology again. This time we used the real IT. First thing that we did was to ensure that every store is geotagged. So today, we supply our products to around 30,000 outlets every single day. We do more than 3 lakh transactions every single day. We do to get this stores right and the transaction right. So what we did was geotag every store to ensure that my salesman reaches every store on time, every time. We used traveling salesman path algorithm to ensure that routes are optimized. This worked. Then worked on the service issue, which is my salesman has to reach the store, go to the store and replenish the stock on a daily basis. Unless you use technology, it is extremely difficult for you to monitor service quality and to ensure that my salesman actually has visited the store and replenishes the stock. This is where we did geofencing. We ensured that he can do a transaction only when he's within the store using geofencing. And then we linked his rewards based on the number of transactions he did us. That worked. And coming to the last point, which is the most important point in technology that we use was data. ID runs on IT. We captured last eight years of data. Before that, let me just tell you, when we started ID in 2005, we were sending 100 packets to the market. Nandy used to come back and sold. I was running a wastage of 90%. There was no way for me to be sustainable in that business. Over a period of time, in three, four years, we started sending 2,000 packets to the market. 500 used to come back and sold. 25% wastage in 2008. Again, there was no way for me to make this business scalable and profitable with this kind of wastage. That's where we used technology. We started capturing store-wise, item-wise, sales and wastage data. We now use this data to predict the right demand for the right store in the right day. Doing 3,000,000 transactions every day and getting all those 3,000,000 transactions right is extremely important. Today, in a mature city, a mature product, we run at a lesser than 2% wastage. That is the power of technology. Use technology wisely. Don't overdo it. Use technology to sell idly. My last point is about the importance of innovation in scaling into the business, which is the most popular Vada. As you all know, Vada goes best with idly. Vada is a great snack. Kids love Vada. A South Indian breakfast is incomplete without idly, dosa, Vada, chutney, and an ID filter coffee. So, in a period of 10 years, we managed to reach a million households every single day with fresh idly batter. What next? Scale up. Of course, the Vada. But then, Vada is one of the most difficult snacks to make at home. Even if you give a Vada batter, you can't make Vada at home. Vada batter is as sticky as super glue. You can't get the size right for the Vada. You can't get the shape right for the Vada. And what we learned is, we Indians don't eat a Vada without a hole in the middle. The hole is the most important part for the Vada. A Vada without a hole is not a Vada. It's a bond up. It was extremely important for us to focus on this. We took three years to build a hole for the Vada. We failed 100 times, but we didn't give it up. Today, a homemaker can make Vada at home by just using an ID Vada batter and touch by hand. Let me just show you how it works. This is no ordinary snack. A South Indian specialty. It's a favorite in homes across India, but its circular cylindrical shape and donut-like hole make it fairly difficult to prepare at homes. It needs the expert hands of grandmas and aunts or even restaurant cooks. Not anymore. ID decided to turn its attention on this age-old problem and transform the complex art of Vada making into a science for everyone. And the key ingredient, common sense. A path-breaking little big invention. The spout that shapes batter into Vadas with the hole. And that's it. Squeeze, shape, cut, fry. Handmade, but with no mess, no stress. Just delicious crispy Vadas. ID, maker of India's favorite batters and fresh food presents Vada batter in a pack that shapes batter into Vadas. Now, everybody can Vada. It took just five seconds for you to clap, but it took me three years to build it. And that's a fact. It is extremely, extremely important to be stay focused and be patient in business. And for you to get innovation into the business, my request to all of you is go ahead and reward your employees for failures. We all celebrate success, but we don't celebrate failures. Unless you start celebrating failures, you will not get product like Vada. Go ahead and reward your employees for failures. Then you will get products like Vada. Now, it's such a coincidence that young boy from a remote village of Vayanad in Kerala, whose dream was to eat three-time meal and a healthy breakfast, is part of a team driving Italy business, world's best food, Italy, into more than a million homes every single day. It is not by chance. It is by choice. Scaling up is by choice. For scaling up, focus on three aspects. One, the backend, not just mobile apps, focus on the missionaries. Second, focus on the supply chain, technology used wisely. And third, focus on innovation. This video went viral across the world last year. Today, I'm getting inquiry from different part of the world to make the same thing for donuts. We decided not to do it, by the way. Techies call it 3D printing of Vada. World called it innovation, but we used our common sense. We used common sense to build this business. We used common sense to identify that Vada goes best with Italy. We used common sense to identify that the biggest problem of making Vada is the whole. And then we used common sense idea to put a whole for the Vada. Now, since the message to all of you is look at common sense, because common sense is the most important grade for innovation, which is reducing dangerously these days. We end up communicating things unnecessarily. Coming to the last part of my session, innovation is not just about packaging. Innovation is not just about technology. Innovation is important in your marketing campaigns as well. Today, we built a 1000 crore business just by spending 20 crores in the last 10 years, because we were still smart. Even today, we are still smart. So, let me just play one video for you, where we used common sense to identify that this works. Good luck, son. Eat your food, okay? Okay, mom. I'll talk later. Bye-bye. Sorry, guys. Hi, mom. Hi, son. Work done? Yeah, mom. I'm going out right now. Son, eat something. Yes, I will eat something. Okay, bye. Hi, mom. Have you had breakfast, Adi? I'm running very late. I know. I won't be coming home this weekend. Bye. Hello, Adi. Hi, mom. Why are you calling so late? Mom, I'm very stressed at work. I can't talk right now. Anything urgent? He's sure that you can do anything. I called you so many times. Why didn't you pick up? I've been sick, bitter. Mom, you've been sick and you didn't even tell me. I didn't want to disturb you. Mom, I'm very stressed at work. I can't talk right now. Anything urgent? You ate your food. For this great opportunity, keep eating idli every day. God bless you all, Jay Hint. Thank you so much. All right, one second. Thank you very much, Mr. Mustafa. You know, you've made some great points today, but we love to know a little more about you in terms of how you really put together this business. So, we're going to just ask him some very, very quick questions, which he's also going to answer equally quickly. Okay, I'll try. So, you know, how did you raise the seed fund, initial seed fund? So far, I think all what we had was 25,000 rupees. We made business profitable from day one. Yeah. And idli business was not a fancy business. Right. There was nobody willing to invest on the idli business. I think we used three F approach, which is friends, families, and fools to invest in idli initially. But you also raised from some very serious funds. You raised from helium adventures and you raised from Prem Genevase. So that we started that happened at the stage when they started using my product and they start noticing us in the market. Then they came to us. So we did our first round funding from helium and second round from Prem Genevast. And you also entered the UAE market. Why did you think of UAE as a great market for id fresh foods? UAE is like a developed India. That's right. Yeah, it's you know, half of UAE is India. Yes. And particularly South India. It's a great business. Today, it's just four years for us in the market. Today, UAE contributes 25% of my business and 100% of the profits. Sure. Sorry. And finally, you know, I mean today, there are lots of startups out here and out there also who are building a lot consumer brands and consumer brands are unlike tech businesses. Yeah. So how do you build a consumer brand without spending too much? I think to build a consumer brand, you need to look at three important aspects. It's like a triangle. Right. Just imagine this triangle. Number one is the product. Your product must be a hero. Let me just take my Vada as an example. Vada is very soft. It's crispy outside. Soft inside. Yummy in taste. You feel like having it again. So the mouth feel after after taste mouth feel is extremely important for any product. So your product must be a hero, not Shahrukh Khan. Yeah. If you don't get your product, right, don't even attempt to build a brand. Yeah. Right. That's the first thing. Second part of the triangle is more like what do you say? The memorable consumer experience. Again, let me take Vada as an example. We didn't sell Vada. We sold Vada batter. Consumers ended up making the Vada using my Vada batter. And the moment that Vada batter cup was coming out from the Vada pack in the round shape, that was like a warm moment for them. For many of them, this was their first Vada in their life. Kids started making Vada. And I'm sure this is something which they will remember their lifetime. Many of them started taking selfie and videos and posting on different social media platforms. That really helped. So it is extremely important for us to give that memorable user experience for consumers because you can't build a brand just by using money. You need to give them that memorable experience that they will remember for the lifetime. We all see many advertisements by people spending huge money. But how many of them they remember? Right. Right. But then when you see, when you experience a Vada pack of this sort, you will remember that for your lifetime. I think that was important. So first thing, product, memorable experience. And last but probably the most important thing is the well crafted storytelling. That's true. That is extremely important. It is zero cost investments, zero cost. And in fact, we build this brand using these three aspects. I went to Harvard and shared the story of what I'm making. Right. And that went viral. So we use opportunity to share the story behind Vada. So well crafted storytelling. People would love to know more about your brand and about the kind of work that you've done. Can we pass on the mic to the gentleman? We have like five minutes left. Right. We'll just have two, three minutes. Maybe two quick questions. Thanks, Mr. Fine. It was very inspiring to get to know about your story. It's a very quick question. So food package business or food package industry is very competitive and crowded market, especially in India. Right. And definitely as you mentioned, it's a multi-billion dollar industry. So my question is, how did you protect your business from competitors, you know, from the likes of you need? It all depends on who your competition is. So if you look at Idli Dosa business in back, we Bangalore took in more than two and a batter for two crore Idli every day, which is the size of hundred Asian elephants. We ID. Okay. How many of you use ID? Thank you. Keep eating it every day. By the way, many of them think that ID is a monopoly. That's wrong. ID has a very minute miniscule market share. My market share is just four percentage because 95% of the people make batter at home. My competition is not the local batter available here. My competition is the greatest at home. The day I'm able to throw those greatest out, that's when I become successful. And I think that's the way we look at it. Don't look at your direct competition. Look at your grinders.