Kids often stay distant from the healthiest of foods. “Fruits and vegetables? No, please!” But who could have imagined that a young group of grad students will take their food too seriously to turn this very habit into their food for thought? SaralHai, an economical model in the healthiest form possible, is here to simplify (make “saral”, to say) the way one buys fruits and vegetables.

“We have an interlinked model where we launch SaralHai Cash Card Booklets that we sell to the customers at a certain discount (30 per cent, which is huge) and then these customers can go to cafés to buy any dish of their choice by paying through our cash cards. Then the cafés redeem these cash cards with us in exchange of daily consumables like fruits and veggies”, says SaralHai Founder Varuna Bhambhani.

To “saral” it down, SaralHai as a product is a win-win situation for cafés/restaurants, customers and SaralHai itself. It is kind of a barter system.

Excerpts from an exclusive interaction with Varuna Bhambhani of SaralHai:

Background of Promoters

I have a Co-Founder – Archit Jain – who is already a college dropout. I am still in my third year of engineering. This start-up was a result of a normal chit-chat session we guys were having.

We have another core team member who is a very important promoter – Devashish Aildasani, who again is a third year engineering student. We are from Indore.

The initial period- the challenges & the ecstasy of quick wins!

It has been a roller coaster ride. Initially it is very difficult to sell any product. In our case, touch and feel was one problem which has been consistent in this sector. Overcoming that was a tough task. We had to personally go door-to-door and explain them how we would work. I went to 300 doors to explain how they could place an order and how were we authentic in our services.

Each day was a pitching day but slowly people started accepting us as a product and service, both.

Strategic Alliances & Partnerships

We have 50 tie-ups across cafés and restaurants from Indore. We will up our game by the end of next month by bringing in 150 more. We will also try to bring bigger brands like McDonalds and Subway as our café tie-ups.

The future, as you see, 3 years from now in terms of scope & scale of your business enterprise

The value that we offer to customers and cafés is a value they will be needing everyday. So even when we make it a multicity project, I am sure this venture is gonna be a huge hit in the market, both in terms of profitability and visibility.

We offer a stable discount to the customers, which is valid for a year or so. Who doesn’t want a 30 per cent on food and beverages? This is a huge market.

Key moments of reckoning in business life

We were one of the 12 finalists of India’s first Start-up Reality Show – Haywards 5000, Hauslon ki Udaan – and that was an experience which SaralHai would cherish for a lifetime. The show was telecasted on ABP News as well.

The feelings on getting the first big order / contract for your company

It was during the month of June-July during Ramdan where we got orders from 2 big Masjids of Indore. That was huge reckoning moment for us.

We used to buy fruits and veggies within a day of the quantity which we usually buy in 8 days. Our days used to start at 3 am and end at midnight.

So, for that one complete month, our revenue went over the tops, and so did the profits.