Pitch Slam 12 - Semi-finals : Niramaya Foods

Speaker 1 [00:13] Up next, we have Mehek Khera, who is the founder and CEO of Niramaya Foods. Come on up. I hope I pronounced your name correctly. OK, great. Please keep an eye on your timer. I'm sorry, and either mic here.

Speaker 2 [00:31] Hi everyone, standing here today, I'm filled with gratitude to introduce all of you to Narramaya Foods. If you would know me, you would know that my life has always been about standing against the odds, and so entrepreneurship was not different. In the meanwhile, if you're wondering how to have a wide variety of plants which are perfectly cooked, evenly seasoned, and inspired by the streets and homes of India, then look no further because your pantry staple and Good Samaritan is right here. I'm so pleased. To introduce you to the first line of products of Niramaya Foods, which we call dips for dinner, because when salads and smoothies are not a winner, why won't you have a dip for dinner? See, we wanted to place ultimate nourishing convenience at the hands of the consumer, and plant-based eating was not a trend for me. I grew up eating plant-based foods that my mom made for me 3 times a day. And so when I was doing my MBA here, I was lucky enough to get a job at a big box retailer, and I learned a lot, but at the same time, I was very stressed and I felt sick. And the only way I recovered was by taking care of myself like my mom took care of me, and by eating plant-based meals. So I'm sharing them with you. As a bootstrapped solopreneur, I knew that if I would make it in the food industry, it would only be. If 3 things were true. One, I had good unit economics. Second, I had a scalable manufacturing partner. And third, I had a solid product that could weather all storms. And I'm happy to introduce you to these products because we've achieved all these 3 things in the last 18 months, and we are ready to launch. We are pre-launched right now, but we are ready to scale, and I hope that I can continue to tell the tale of Niramea Foods tomorrow. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [02:15] Nicely done. Dips for dinner. What do you think of that concept, Matt?

Speaker 3 [02:20] Um, I'm really intrigued. I actually, uh, I cracked open the super green soag, and I thought the depth of flavor was really good. It had like a stew-like quality where, uh, I wouldn't mind just grabbing a spoon and going at it. Um, I thought her, your story, wherever you are, was dynamite and your enthusiasm really comes across. Uh, dips for dinner, I think you're kind of blazing a new category, but sometimes that's the bigger risk is the bigger reward. So there's something, something cool here.

Speaker 1 [02:57] Karen, the call out of 15 g of protein per jar, uh, typically don't see a callout like that on a, on a dip. Um, you know, what do you think of that as a way to attract new consumers or to attract consumers, period? Oh,

Speaker 4 [03:08] I hadn't noticed that it was a jar. Um, that is really unusual. It makes me think that the protein per serving, well, I don't know how many servings there are in a jar. So it's, I mean, it's. I think it's confusing.

Speaker 1 [03:24] And earlier you'd mentioned again, uh, more people interested in in going into that ethnic aisle and shopping that aisle for products, um, with, uh, a more nuanced flavor. Um, do you see Neremiah fitting into that aisle pretty easily? Oh yeah, definitely fantastic, uh, and Jason, you know, again, I think it's a question of use case, right? Um, you know, do you see more consumers using this product, you know, keeping it in their kitchens, keeping it in their refrigerators?

Speaker 5 [03:50] Yeah, I mean, I like the, the dips for dinner is clever. I think that it's, um, even if you don't know exactly what that means, it, it causes you to stop and think about it. So I think that was clever. I think the taste, taste profiles looked great. I, I'll kind of, uh, uh, answer something in regard to the pitch is that, you know. You only have 2 minutes. It's not a lot of time, and there's certain things that can really attract the attention of folks. And if you, if you drop the good unit economics bomb, right, that's really like my ears perk up. But if you're gonna do that, then you should make a mention about what your price point is in your gross margin because that's really the trifecta. If you really do have good unit economics, then, then follow through with that because it's a chance within 2 minutes to say something really meaningful. So that perked me up, but then I didn't hear anything behind it, so.

Speaker 1 [04:37] Adrian, you get the last word. Uh, you know, these are products that I didn't get to taste, but I would love to crack them open. What do you think of the taste?

Speaker 6 [04:44] Um, we actually didn't sample them either, but I did love the concept too. Um, I think dips for dinner and introducing these flavors and just a low stakes format, um, that you can then use for a sauce or whatever. I know she said there's some versatile use occasions. I think that was just a great concept and

Speaker 1 [05:02] idea. You would reach for this on shelf if you saw it on the shelf. Definitely fantastic.