Reincarnating Raipur
SHARKTANK INDIA RAIPUR ENTREPRENEURS
It was a proud moment for Chhattisgarh when two entrepreneurs from Raipur Chhattisgarh made an appearance on Shark Tank India, and two entrepreneurs Ashish and Akash, the brothers and co-founders of Zoff, a spice brand, presented their pitch to the Sharks in an extraordinary humorous way.
The brothers began by highlighting the huge potential of the 80,000-crore spice market in India, where 70% of it remains unorganized. They also pointed out a disturbing fact, that a survey by Zee News revealed that brick powder, chemicals, chaff, and even cow dung were added to spices consumed by Indian consumers.
To tackle this issue, the brothers founded Zoff in 2018 with a mission to produce high-quality spices for consumers. The company uses state-of-the-art grinding technology and innovative packaging, such as zip-lock packs, to ensure that its spices remain fresh and nutritious. The brothers also have Bollywood star, Shilpa Shetty, as their brand ambassador. In addition to selling its spices offline, Zoff is also available for purchase on e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, where it has gained recognition for its sales.
Inspired by the success of MDH, a spice brand, Ashish and Akash revealed that last month, Zoff generated 4.5 crores in online sales and 2.5 crores in offline sales. The brothers emphasized that their company uses a unique cool grinding technology that helps preserve the nutrients in the spices, which are often lost during the grinding process used by other spice companies. Zoff has a 40,000 sq ft plant on a 3-acre property, employing 200 people and making a profit of 70-80 lakh per month. Despite the company being in debt of 20 crores and having invested 27 crores from their father, Zoff is making a profit of 5-6 crore per year and has plans for further expansion.
In the question-answer round, the brothers were asked about the CEO of the company and stated that no decision has been made yet, but if the time comes, Abhishek would be the one to take all decisions for the company. Although Anupam Mittal was the first shark, Anupam and Nimitha decided to walk away from the deal. Eventually, the brothers closed the deal with BOAT founder Aman Gupta for 1 crore in exchange for 1.25% equity in Zoff.
