The breakfast bread that India consumes is evolving — from the unhealthy white and brown loaves, there has been a shift to multigrain, atta and now millet bread. But a small chunk of India — and not just the upper crust, but also the health conscious — have embraced artisanal, handcrafted, hearty breads being served up by a host of D2C start-ups. Quick commerce has made it possible for consumers to get sourdough breads in a jiffy, but there is a variation pincode to pincode as these are often from small localised bakeries. However, The Baker’s Dozen, started by Aditi Handa and Sneh Jain over a decade ago, is the rare D2C brand that’s scaled big enough to serve sourdough loaves across 33 cities daily. How did they achieve this feat? Excerpts from an interview:
How have you managed to change the category? And why are big brands still not able to offer sourdough and other artisanal breads?
When we started in 2012, our aim was simple — to ensure that good bread should be available in India. The bread you and I grew up eating was just this square bread — kabhi white, kabhi brown. But that’s not what authentic bread is supposed to be. We wanted to make an honest product. Some local bakeries were doing it but they could only supply to their neighbourhoods. So we decided to make good bread and if it costs more, we will pass on the cost to the consumer, hoping they will pay the premium. As to why bigger brands are not able to do the same thing, that is where a reality check comes in. At the end of the day, we are still a poor nation, and most consumers will opt for the cheaper bread.
How big is the universe of consumers willing to pay a premium?
It’s extremely tiny. Even to say half a percent of India’s population is stretching it. However, The Baker’s Dozen has been really lucky that we have been able to do small-scale neighbourhood quality bread and achieve national scale-delivery. We did this because we made certain pivotal changes in our production and packaging.
What were the changes?
In 2019, we moved our manufacturing from Bombay to Ahmedabad, and adopted a special thermoforming packaging. This allowed us to extend the shelf life of our bread to about 7-10 days without adding any preservatives. We started making everything in Ahmedabad and sending it in an overnight truck, or a 36-hour truck to Bengaluru, Delhi and other cities. Then Covid hit. Fortunately, we were in a green zone, so we were able to produce a ridiculous amount of quantity. Because we were available everywhere, consumers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru started buying our bread as local bakeries were shut. When other bakeries eventually opened up, we still retained these consumers.
Did the sourdough craze during Covid also help you?
Yes, the marketing money that we might have had to put in to explain what sourdough is, to a big extent that was saved. Initially we put up dark stores, about 50-60 of them, pan India. Customers could order through Swiggy or Zomato – the restaurant delivery app. That was working very well. Then came quick-commerce. We got very easily listed on these platforms. Now whether you’re sitting in Delhi or Hyderabad or Bangalore, you could get the same loaf of artisanal bread.
What is the revenue mix, how much do breads contribute and how much do cakes?
Ballpark figures are — 40 per cent is bread, 40 per cent is cake, 10 per cent is cookies and 10 per cent is snacks like butter garlic toast.
And growth is coming from...
Our cakes are doing really well. We are in a sweet spot because the cakes customers find in the market are made with essences. However, we use actual cocoa powder, real bananas and freshly grated carrots in our cakes. Making these cakes easily available through quick-commerce platforms has helped. At night, if someone has a sweet craving, they can easily order our cakes online.
Is the consumer base expanding?
100% yes, because since we’re now able to supply to the market better, we get new consumers trying our breads. If a consumer is trying our product three or four times, they will convert to this product. We have teamed up with platforms to offer discounts to consumers trying the TBD product for the first time. Our conversions on these samplings are very high.
How many units are you producing?
Currently, the Ahmedabad factory produces 7 lakh units per month. As a company, we produce 15 lakh units per month by outsourcing manufacturing.