Shripad Nadkarni, a former marketing head at Coca-Cola India, has teamed up with three other former executives of major consumer goods firms to set up food startup Fingerlix which will sell fresh, ready-to-cook foods such as curries, batter and mixes.
“The ready-to-cook sector is a white space we’re hoping to address; we are addressing convenience and freshness with the brand,” said Nadkarni, director at Maverix Platforms, promoter of Fingerlix.
Set up at an investment of $1.3 million, or about Rs 8.7 crore, Maverix has already brought on board brand consultant Santosh Desai as an investor along with a couple of others. Cofounders include Shree Bharambe, formerly with Johnson & Johnson, Abhijit Berde, a former Executive at hospitality firm Gate Gourmet, and Varun Khanna who was with Colgate earlier.
Nadkarni, who started marketing consulting firm MarketGate after quitting Coca-Cola in 2005, had sold the company to Publicis Groupe about four years ago.
Fingerlix’s cuisine, at present a mix of Indian and Italian food with a shelf life of five days, would be sold across modern and general trade and hyper local deliveries, he said. The brand is being retailed in Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail and Hypercity stores in Mumbai to begin with.
The overall packaged foods market in the country is estimated at $48 billion, while the ‘centre of plate’ which includes meat, bread, dairy, staples and fruit and vegetables, is pegged at $200 billion, according to industry estimates.
Source: The Economic Times
