“The biggest challenge that we face right now is the pricing of the product”
Sairaj Dhond, the Founder and CEO of Wakao Foods spoke with AgroSpectrum about the current status and opportunities in the plant-based meat industry in India. Edited excerpts;
Wakao Foods is a sustainable company based in Goa that offers plant-based ethically sourced ‘Ready to Cook’ and ‘Ready to Eat’ products to the market. Its first offering is native jackfruit meat. The company is inspired by the rising trend of veganism in India and around the world and focuses on sustainability. Despite launching just before the pandemic hit India in 2020, Wakao has achieved a 25 per cent month-on-month growth since its inception. The jackfruit meat offered by Wakao is hand-picked from farms and manufactured hygienically, with a commitment to ethical sourcing. Additionally, the company donates 1 per cent of every sale to local farmers throughout India who are working to feed our country. The company prioritises indigenous agri-practices, fair prices for farmers, and top-quality natural produce. Sairaj Dhond, the Founder and CEO of Wakao Foods spoke with AgroSpectrum about the current status and opportunities in the plant-based meat industry in India. Edited excerpts;
How is Wakao Foods contributing to the plant-based meat industry in India?
Wakao Foods is contributing in a very big way because we are the first company that started jackfruit meat. Jackfruit is naturally available in abundance in India and no one identified it or tapped into its potential. So, Wakao Foods has brought forward a traditional fruit that is grown a lot in India and has a natural texture, zero preservatives and humongous potential across the globe.
How would you envisage the future of the plant-based meat industry?
The future is very bright, it is an upcoming industry category which will take some time to really flourish into a mass category but we are not just at the tip of popularisation. So much is going to happen in this industry. It will be explored in a big way.
Wakao Foods has received Rs 75 lakh for 21 per cent equity from SUGAR Cosmetics, MamaEarth, and Emcure Pharmaceuticals in the latest round of funding. What are your expansion plans and strategies in the international market in 2023?
We did receive the funding on the show – Shark Tank India but after coming out unfortunately I did not take that funding because there were negotiations where I thought we needed to get a better valuation and on mutual terms, we decided not to go ahead with that round of funding. We still remain very good friends and I have great respect for the sharks and what that show gave me.
We are working very hard to explore the international market because we believe that there is huge potential for global expansion and a worldwide footprint, for a product like ours. The real market lies in the international arena, because it’s a mature market. That’s where people have been consuming mock meat for the last 10-15 years and they understand what plant-based mock meat is. We are going very strong, so we are looking for and identifying the distributors and importers in different countries. We already have our presence in five countries and are looking to expand to at least 10 more countries over the next 6 to 8 months.
Where does the company procure jackfruit for meat production? How will it help in boosting the agriculture sector in India?
Jackfruit is grown in over 16 states in India. About 1.4 million-ton jackfruit is grown every year. We identified and mapped the various regions where jackfruit is grown and we procured it from across India, but predominantly from south India – mostly from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa and also from the Maharashtrian belt. It helps the agricultural sector in a huge way because jackfruit is typically considered useless by most people. Almost 75 per cent of it is wasted every year. That itself shows you the kind of impact we can have on the agriculture sector. We can make use of every single jackfruit in India and if my estimates go well, then, we would require even more than what is available right now.
What are the challenges faced by the plant-based meat industry and what inputs are required for its growth?
The biggest challenge that we face right now is the pricing of the product. Unless we become a mass product and scale up, we won’t be able to rationalise the pricing. Therefore, we have to work on our prices, and it will only change with an increase in the scale of our products and production. Secondly, we need to educate the masses about veganism and our products. There is very little awareness about the type of products we have, or about plant-based meat. So, we need to spend a lot of time and money on educating our consumers on what exactly we are doing and that is taking up a lot of our time, energy and resources.
To read more click on: E-Magazine – Agro Spectrum India
Sairaj Dhond, the Founder and CEO of
