In Conversation with a 21-YO Choco-preneur
A peek into the entrepreneurial journey of a D2C brand, trying to build a community of chocolate lovers!
The D2C (Direct to consumer) space is buzzing with new players. Be it selling biscuits, cosmetics, or clothes, with the advent of the internet, there has never been a better time for people to dream, and create their own brands.
They are no longer threatened by the likes of HUL and ITC. In fact, they are not even competing with these giants. All they aspire to do is form a trust-first community of buyers who love their offerings.
Today, we bring to you our conversation with Anuva Kakkar, a 21-year-old, who set out to create a D2C brand in the middle of a pandemic. No one in her family had any experience in entrepreneurship. But the fire in her belly to do something unconventional led her on this path. This is how she started Tiggle, a vegan hot chocolate brand.
The Genesis of the Idea
In 2019, after graduating she started her corporate journey at Urban Clap. A 9-5 job was not her thing, and she was itching to do something else. So she started a side business related to postcards. But she knew that it was not scalable.
Until...
One fine day, she got to thinking about how the street vendors only sell tea and coffee. No other drink was popular on Indian streets.
Around the same time, she was craving hot chocolate on the streets and realised how nothing was available on spot.
And that’s when things clicked. What if you could get a cup of hot chocolate on the streets, just like you have tea and coffee?
She did not just dwell on the idea. Rather, she acted upon it. One fine day in January 2021, she made 25-30 cups of hot chocolate, filled it in a flask, and stood outside the metro stations at Gurgaon to test the market response. Imagine a 21-year-old girl doing that, amidst all the awkward gazes. But she managed to sell out all the cups within an hour for about Rs.40/cup!
To keep this little venture going, she partnered with a kiosk at the metro station to sell hot chocolate. Everyday at 5 AM in the morning, she would prepare 7-8 liters of hot chocolate and deliver it to the kiosk folks.
Building Tiggle
As she started thinking about scaling up her business, Covid lockdown happened. She headed to her hometown in Himachal. Soon enough she left her job and was thinking of growing her venture. After lots of ups and downs, she took a bold step to form Tiggle.
Her love for hot chocolate made her realise that chocolate powders often have preservatives. She wanted to make a chocolate powder mix without chemicals. So she tasted Cocoa samples from around 40 farms from Southern India.
After finalising her Cocoa supply, she finalised the branding, packaging, values of the brand. And by November 2020, Tiggle was ready to be launched as a D2C brand.
Tiggle has sold 60,000+ cups to date and is looking to add more flavours and listing the brand on e-commerce websites such as Amazon.
For Anuva, Tiggle isn’t just about a chocolate mix. It’s about forming a community of chocolate lovers, to get them in the habit of enjoying a good cup every day.
At the age of 21, Anuva dared to dream. She’s just getting started in her journey, and team ReadOn wishes her all the best!
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