Wakao Foods-A sustainable company based in Goa.

Famous for its native ‘Jackfruit meat’, Wakao Foods is a sustainable company based in Goa that has introduced plant based, ethically sourced, ‘Ready to Cook’ and ‘Ready to Eat’ products in India. Inspired by rising trends of veganism across the world and in India as well, Wakao has brought in a new and disruptive approach with a sustainable focus.

Launched in 2020, just before the pandemic hit Indian shores, Wakao has shown a 25% month on month growth since its inception. Wakao’s jackfruit meat is ethically sourced and hand-picked from farms, hygienically manufactured and brought to the customer’s dining table. Their products include:

• Wakao BBQ Jack | 100% Natural Mock Meat

• Wakao Butter Jack | 100% Plant Based | Gluten Free

• Wakao Jackfruit Burger Patty | 100% Plant-Based | Gluten Free

• Wakao Raw Jack | Plant-Based & Gluten Free

• Wakao Teriyaki Jack | 100% Natural & Vegan Meat

On the professional front

At the helm of affairs of Wakao Foods is Mr. Sairaj Dhond, a criminal lawyer by qualification and an entrepreneur by passion. Hailing from a lineage of business experts, Sairaj had a natural inclination towards entrepreneurship from a very young age.

After a year long stint as a lawyer, Sairaj joined his family’s business in 2014. He started a venture under the banner of Dhond Group Green Infra LLP which specialised in lighting and solar solutions. He later on successfully ventured into real estate.

However, his businesses nearly came to a standstill during the pandemic. This is when he thought of trying out something new. After a series of brainstorming sessions, he decided to enter the F&B space with his debut food project “WAKAO FOODS”.

He has been awarded the Young Entrepreneurs Award at BW Disrupt YEA 2021. He also participated in the first season of Shark Tank India where he succeeded in receiving a funding of Rs. 75 lakhs in return for a 21% equity share in his company.

Inception

The idea of starting Wakao Foods came in Sairaj’s mind after he read an article which said ‘Jackfruit is the superfood of the world.’ According to Sairaj, jackfruit is one of the most ignored fruits in India. Almost 75% of the jackfruits in India go to waste and that is around 1.4 million tonnes grown in a year.

Says Sairaj, “I thought not only is it a great business opportunity but also my duty as an Indian, having eaten jackfruit all my life, to promote and bring this fruit to the public and make it world famous.” He feels jackfruit is the future for meat alternatives and for people who want to adopt a healthier lifestyle without compromising on taste and texture.

“It was nothing less than an invention for us as no one else was doing this. But, we were confident enough because the movement was catching up. People were moving towards mock meats or plantbased meats globally and we speculated that India will soon follow the trend. And as luck would have had it, it happened and we are doing very well”, he says.

“Jackfruit is the most easily available fruit in India. It is locally available and locally sourced” he says. “It’s just that no one ever paid attention to it, or bothered experimenting with it and ignored the potential it has.” All Wakao products are made without using any preservatives. They have a shelf life of 1 year and require no refrigeration.

Goals

Sairaj’s idea was to reach out to consumers and educate them first about what Wakao ‘Jack Meat’ was all about; its nutritional values, benefits, and the new varieties that can be explored with jackfruit. From their pricing strategy to combos, selecting the target market to being very specific on the communication front on how to run ads, all checkpoints were pre-decided by the Wakao team. They were very sure about which category of customers they wanted to target, and what the brand positioning was to look like. The idea was to position Wakao Foods as a premium category brand and tap the newly converted vegan consumer audience, along with changing perceptions of the vegetarian and non-vegetarian audience, and introduce them to the health benefits of jackfruit.

Company Values

The values of Wakao Foods include supporting indigenous agri-practices, fair prices for farmers, prioritizing top quality natural produce, and bringing it at the best available value to their customers. Wakao ensures the highest standards of safety and eco-friendly practices in all aspects of their business. Going forward, Wakao intends to keep sourcing alternative foods that are good for both people as well as the planet. Every time you buy something from Wakao Foods, 1% of the sales proceeds go to local farmers around India who are working to feed the country.

Sales and The Indian Market

In India, the preservative-free, ready to cook food market holds a lot of potential, partly owing to the pandemic that changed a lot of beliefs, not only in the physical and surrounding environment, but also in people’s mindsets. People moved to an alternative source of meat, a more natural source of protein. Therefore, Wakao Foods, like all other faux-meat companies around the world, grabbed this opportunity to present their ideas and their products in a more open environment for consumers who are ready to change, listen, learn, adapt and embrace the conscious eating method. “We have sold our products to more than 10,000 direct consumers over the last 10 months and it is only growing”, says Sairaj. “Our products are currently available Pan-India through various D2C online channels and market places. We are also on Amazon and have already sold products in 24 states in India through the channel. We also sell a lot through our website and other market places”, he adds.

Wakao Foods has an offline presence in Goa and has distributors in cities like Chennai, Bombay and Pune. They are looking at appointing at least another 7-10 distributors over the next three months across different cities in the country. They have already exported their products to Dubai, Norway and the Netherlands and will soon be exporting to the USA, Canada, and Mexico. They are also in the process of closing a deal with another 10 countries for export.

On the Expansion Front

As of now, expanding via D2C (direct to consumer) channels is the primary focus for Wakao Foods. “Meat and plant based alternatives are just the tip of the iceberg in India and will explode very soon”, says Sairaj. “On the D2C front, we are looking at pushing strongly with our online presence and having a wider reach to a wider audience and getting more people to try our products. The sky's the limit!” says Sairaj. “We have huge opportunities in the global market because people are already aware of the product and therefore, we are putting more efforts on exports.” The company wants to build a very robust istribution network across India. They aim to have distributors in most of the major cities across the country so that they can reach out to more and more people, retail outlets and modern trade outlets. “Also, the HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering) segment is really very big. They need a product like Wakao and our aim is to reach each one of them. Currently, we are supplying to a lot of chains of hotels, and restaurants, but we want to centralize it and have more teams across the country. We are also thinking on the lines of QSR service (Quick Restaurant Service), which we probably may launch sometime later, but it is something that is there in our expansion plans.” he adds.

Challenges Faced

The main challenge which Sairaj and his team at Wakao Foods faced when they just started off was educating people on the concept of mock-meat, because a majority of people did not understand what mock meat was all about and what all could be made out of a jackfruit. “People in India need to be educated on the versatility of the fruit and the extent of its usage”.

The other major challenge that Sairaj currently faces is bringing down the cost. As of now, jack meat does not have a mass appeal. It is more of a metro or a Tier-1/Tier-2 city kind of product. “For it to become a mass product, we need to have a better scale and once that happens, we will be able to reach out to more people” says Sairaj.

Shark Tank India Opportunity

Being a person who grew up watching Shark Tank, to be featured on the globally acclaimed television show and qualify for funding has been a great achievement for Sairaj and his team. It has helped his company to gain national prominence and has helped them to reach out to a much larger audience. “This further solidifies our belief and efforts to introduce innovative, disruptive F&B product categories that will change how consumers perceive plant based meat. We are looking forward to aggressively expanding our footprint in the next few months and acquiring a bigger clientele in the industry”, he says.

Being Goan

The Goan market has always been very special for Wakao Foods. It was their test market where they launched their products and started their journey. The restaurants and hotels based in Goa were the first to try out their products. “The valuable feedback which restaurants and hotels gave us after trying out our products helped us to grow and build our brand”, says Sairaj. “It helped us in identifying areas that needed improvement and helped us to get Wakao Foods to the level where it is today.“

Wakao Foods is gradually becoming synonymous with jackfruit and is spreading across the country as Goa’s own brand. Sairaj says that the two key mantras for entrepreneurs to succeed are passion and perseverance. “Never give up and keep rising after every failure till you achieve your goal. Never chase success. Aim for excellence instead. If you achieve excellence, success will come chasing you”.