Founder Feature: Sahithya Wintrich of Chutni Punch

In this episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy chats with Sahithya Wintrich, the founder of Chutni Punch. Inspired by traditional South Indian chutni powders, Sahithya has turned her family's recipes into a unique line of seasonings that can be used in many types of dishes, not just Indian food.

Sahithya shares her journey into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, discussing the challenges she faced with product development, branding, and the importance of listening to customer feedback. She talks about her experiences promoting Chutni Punch at trade shows, building relationships with retailers, and balancing her business with her personal life.

Together, Grace and Sahithya explore the importance of building a community and creating new products that help people enjoy tasty, healthy meals. Grace praises Chutni Punch for its success and its contribution to the startup CPG world.

Don’t miss this inspiring episode! Tune in to learn from Sahithya’s journey and discover how you can make your own mark in the CPG industry. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and share it with other entrepreneurs!

Listen in as they share about:

• Introduction to Chutni Punch
• Inspiration for the Brand
• Development Process & Branding Journey
• Product Usage & Product Versatility
• Consumer Engagement Strategies
• Trade Show Experience
• Building Retail Relationships
• Challenges of Being a Female Founder
• Branding and Community Building
• Future Plans for Chutni Punch
• 
  

Episode Links:

Website: https://chutnipunch.com/collections/frontpage
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahithya-wintrich/ 

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

• Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
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• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [e-mail]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

Creators & Guests

Host

Grace Kennedy

What is The Startup CPG Podcast?

The top CPG podcast in the world, highlighting stories from founders, buyer spotlights, highly practical industry insights - all to give you a better chance at success.

Sahithya Wintrich
You eat with your eyes and I think you buy with your eyes, right? I mean, I've done that. You've done that. Pretty much everybody listening to this podcast has done that. You're walking down the grocery aisle and you go, oh my God, this packaging is amazing. That draws your curiosity. And then you. It's a conversation starter. So I knew that from my own behavior. And so I wanted to create a brand that was eye catching and pops and, you know, has you curious about the product. And I also wanted it to like, convey the playfulness of the product because the whole brand is to invite people to play with flavor.

00:45
Grace Kennedy
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Grace and I'm back with another founder feature. Today I'm talking to Sahitya Wintrick, the founder of Chutney Punch, a line of delicious seasoning blends inspired by Sahitya's South Indian heritage. Chutney Punch is on a mission to undo the perception that using spices is complicated and overwhelming. Their blends offer an invitation to be creative and playful while flavoring our food in a way that also nourishes our health and well being. I love Chutney Panch's spice blends and I also loved chatting with Sahitya for this episode. I hope you enjoy listening and as always, let me know what you think.

01:29
Daniel Scharff
Hey, everybody. As you know, the Startup CPG podcast recently became a top 0.5% world podcast thanks to your reviews. I wanted to shout some of them out here. Booskies Cookies says she listens to us while driving. She likes to hear from seasoned experts who have been there, done that. Emily Pesh says it's a gold mine for nuggets for her marketing newsletter, Kafka. CPG says they always recommend the podcast as the best entry point into the industry to learn the ins and the outs and the whys and the hows. Thanks a lot. If you can rate us, go to ratethispodcast.com startupcpg thank you.

02:03
Grace Kennedy
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. Today I'm so excited to be joined by Sahitya Wintrich, the founder of Chutney Punch. So welcome to the show. I'd love for you to introduce yourself and Chutney Punch to our listeners.

02:18
Sahithya Wintrich
Nice to see you again, Grace. Thank you for having me from Fancy Food. It's been a little bit of time, but happy to see you. Hi everyone. My name is Sahitya Wintrick and I am the founder of a seasoning line called Chutney Panch. It's based on southern Indian puris or chutney powders. And they're shelf stable condiments that you can sprinkle on flavor on anything.

02:44
Grace Kennedy
Yes. And they are delicious. My personal favorite is the. I think it's called super sesame.

02:51
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, yeah.

02:52
Grace Kennedy
And were putting that on. I mean, we ran out sadly, but were putting that on our popcorn. I was putting it on top of my eggs. Avocado toast. Just anything that needed a little hit of, like, savory umami yumminess. It was so good. Everything. But would love to hear a little bit more about why you decided to start this line of seasoning blends and a little bit too about, you know, the history of this idea of a chutney podi and why you wanted to bring that to, you know, retail shelves and consumers here in America.

03:28
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, thanks for asking that. So I was born and raised in Bangalore, which is in southern India, and I grew up with a pantry staple that we call chutney powder or chutney podi. And this is made all across South India. Okay. It's kind of like a barbecue sauce or a spice blend. You know, a barbecue spice rub where every family has their own recipe and everybody makes it in huge quantities that last several months because it's shelf stable. So I grew up eating these chutney puris on my savory breakfast and fermented dumplings, like rice and lentil dumplings. And, you know, I moved to the United States 24 years ago, and I brought my love for savory breakfast with me. And I found that, you know, I was eating more than just Indian food. Right. Like, I mean, I eat avocado toast.

04:26
Sahithya Wintrich
I eat scrambled eggs. I eat taco, you know, like beans and toast. And I found that I was sprinkling my family recipes on my breakfast to, like, add a kick of flavor. And then one day over breakfast, my husband decided to just say, you know, there might be other people in the world who might enjoy a chutney powder. And that kind of sparked the idea of exploring this particular seasoning line and to bring that to the American audience.

05:00
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love that. And it sounds like we have similar approaches to our breakfast. Savory breakfast all the way. I'm not a sweet breakfast person. So once your husband sort of said, okay, maybe you should bring this to more people. Yeah.

05:14
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

05:15
Grace Kennedy
How did you then, you know, take the first steps to actually turning it into a fully fledged brand? And were you coming with any, you know, previous knowledge of this industry or, like, how to even start doing that?

05:29
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, yeah. So, you know, like I said, you know, chutney powders are these, you know, shelf stable spice blends. They're typically like legumes and a mixture of legume, toasted legumes, seeds, herbs, spices, tamarind. And, you know, I don't have a background in cpg. I actually have a background in tech and biomedical engineering. And the CPG industry is brand new to me. But I will say it's interesting to see the thread of experience and how that kind of helps you out, because I was actually a Agile software development is a way of developing software, and one of the philosophies is like a lean startup method, right? Where so you have an idea and then you know, work on it a little bit, you release it, you get feedback, and then you iterate on that idea. So I had experience with that.

06:22
Sahithya Wintrich
So when I wanted to bring this seasoning line forward, the first thing I did was call my aunts and my mom and say, hey, I'm happy you send me these giant bags of chutney powders, but can you share the recipe with me? Because I want to test something out. And so it was a lot of jotting down of different versions of the same recipe and then making that version, testing that out with my poor neighbors and friends. They ate several batches of this and then tweaking it. Because while the heritage blends work great with Indian food, I found that the flavors and textures didn't quite translate to my tacos, my pizza, my popcorn, and they didn't quite translate to, like, using it on pasta, for example.

07:11
Sahithya Wintrich
So I had to kind of put on my, you know, flavor, you know, flavors that I like, and also consult with my local chef friends, right? And to say, like, hey, would you like, increase the acid on this? Would you increase. What would you change about this to translate to multiple cuisines? And all of that testing is what I landed up with, like, three recipes, which are now Savory Chana, Super Sesame, and Spicy Peanut. And, you know, in the most lean fashion, I got on Canva, my initial logo was a punching, like a boxing glove, because we wanted our tagline to be punch it up, right? Punch up your food. Punch up the flavor.

07:56
Sahithya Wintrich
And we kind of wanted to play on the whole fact of, you know, my grandma, because this is, you know, a little bit of an ode to my grandma with a boxing glove, like, punch up your food. And. And then I thought, you know what? This is not going to get people interested. The logo So I worked with the local design firm to release the first iteration of branding, which is not what you see today, to get people's attention.

08:22
Grace Kennedy
How many times have you iterated your branding? Because I was just. As you were mentioning your branding, I was thinking about it, and I do love your branding. It feels so vibrant and it's very eye catching. And even your website as well, it all feels very cohesive. Like you really get the sense of chutney punch as a brand with your colors and just the vibe. So I'm curious how long it took you to get to this sort of version of the branding.

08:46
Sahithya Wintrich
We're a little unusual in that, people, the advice is not to invest in a rebrand within the first year of launch, but that's what we ended up doing. And the reasoning for that is you eat with your eyes, and I think you buy with your eyes. Right? I mean, I've done that. You've done that. Pretty much everybody listening to this podcast has done that. You're walking down the grocery aisle and you go, oh, my God, this packaging is amazing. That draws your curiosity. And then it's a conversation starter. So I knew that from my own behavior. And so I wanted to create a brand that was eye catching and it pops and, you know, has you curious about the product.

09:25
Sahithya Wintrich
And I also wanted it to, like, convey the playfulness of the product because the whole brand is to invite people to play with flavor. So when you think of spices, it's overwhelming. You know, it's something I grew up with. It's kind of a learned knowledge, I guess. Like, you see your mom, your grandma cooking with these things and, you know, it's funny. Like, you know, when I ask a recipe, usually it's like, oh, it's so easy. You can make it in 10 minutes. And my mom's telling me 15 ingredients takes 45 minutes to make. And I'm like, mom, this is nuts. Not easy. Not the definition of easy. Right? So I kind of wanted to create something where people could. This is your first foray into spices, if you will.

10:07
Sahithya Wintrich
It's already pre toasted and pre cooked, so all you need to do is literally sprinkle this on.

10:13
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, yeah. And they are so delicious. And I love that idea of pre toasting them as well, because so often you are told in a recipe, like, well, bloom the spices or make sure you toast them first so the full flavor comes out. And sometimes you're just like, I don't actually want to do that. Right. I just want to sprinkle something on and Move on with my life. But so thinking a little bit beyond the branding and more the development of the spice buns itself.

10:38
Grace Kennedy
So you launched with three, but how long did it take you and what was the process like of going from, say, these, like, homemade spice buns that you get the recipe from your aunts and your mom and have them tested by your, you know, friends, family, neighbors, and then taking it to what it is now, which is, you know, a beautiful jar of a spice bun. How long did it take you to get it out of the kitchen and into this more, you know, retail friendly format packaging?

11:04
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, yeah. No, that's a great question. So it took me about nine months to nail down the flavors from the start of the recipe to actually having something that's packageable ready to be packaged. Because I had to reproduce the recipe, right? Because right away it was like, oh, you can't measure in spoons and cups. You have to change it to grams. Because it's a repeatable process. And this is kind of where, like, my, you know, stem cell research and geeky stuff I did back in the day came in handy, right, because it's all about writing down the measurement, precise measurements. Researching a scale, right? Because that took some time and buying a scale that was precise enough because some of my ingredients are very light. So it has to be, you know, multiple decimal places of measurement.

11:53
Sahithya Wintrich
So, you know, doing that, it took about like nine months. And then during those nine months, I knew I needed a label that would work if I went to a farmer's market and sold. And that's exactly what I did. I approached this design studio and said, listen, I can't inv. I don't have a lot of money right now. What can you create that people could take me seriously? Because I was producing out of a commercial kitchen, right at the get go, I got the inspection right from the beginning. I was not producing this out of my house, and I knew I needed the labels to match the product. So that's about a year. I would say, like nine months to a year. And then, you know, that's when I started selling at farmers market.

12:37
Sahithya Wintrich
Because the first step was, well, okay, great, we have a product, we have a jar, because, you know, we selected the packaging. And then it was like, well, people will people pay money for this thing that I created. So that was the next step. So that took about another six months. And within the first three months of me selling at the farmers market, I knew I needed to, like, up my packaging one more. One more iteration. So that Began the rebrand soon after I released the first version of the brand. Yeah.

13:11
Grace Kennedy
And when did you, like, officially launch chutney Punch?

13:15
Sahithya Wintrich
So May of 2022.

13:18
Grace Kennedy
Okay. So still, you guys are still pretty young. Very young, yes. But, you know, doing a lot nonetheless. So when you did start going to the farmers markets, it sound like you got, you know, pretty immediate feedback. And what was some of that feedback like and how obviously, it helped you in the idea of, you know, redesigning your packaging, but how else did it help you to kind of iterate chutney punch as it stands today?

13:40
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah. So what I found, and this is still true today, most people are curious about it, but they're a little bit skeptical if they will like it because they're like, oh, I don't know if I like spices. I'm not a spicy person. And once they taste it, the conversion is easier. So that was my first. Learning is a sampling is the way to go. This is a new condiment. It's a new category. Honing in on my pitch was the other part of it. Right. Like, how do I explain this product for a South Asian? I don't need to explain this product. People are somewhat familiar with it, but those were not my customers at the farmers markets. Right. So I had to explain that this is a sprinkle on flavor.

14:22
Sahithya Wintrich
And then, you know, kind of connecting with people, kind of getting the understanding what people eat, what their behaviors are. Because again, we're asking for a behavior change. If you are a person who loves salt and pepper every single day, what I'm requesting you to do is abandon that behavior and adopt a new one, which is sprinkle on this new kind of seasoning, a new kind of condiment that you've never heard of on your avocado toast. So connecting with that person and understanding their pain points, which, you know, some of them would say, I eat avocado toast every day, but I'm kind of bored of it tasting the same way. And this is a way for us to add to people's flavor, our toolbox, like you will. So I knew that kind of was an awareness I got right from the beginning.

15:11
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, definitely. And I think that so many founders have talked to me on this show and just in general, about how useful doing things like farmers markets can be when you're first starting out to get some of that information about just how to pitch and what the problem actually is that you're solving. And so it sounds like it was super useful for chutney Punch. And now that you Guys, you know, are about, you know, a little more than two years in business. What are some of the other strategies you're taking to get those touch points with consumers, you know, beyond the farmers markets? I know you guys are in some retail, and obviously you're at fancy foods this summer, which is a lot of touch points with a lot of different people.

15:46
Grace Kennedy
But, yeah, how are you know, approaching getting this product in front of consumers?

15:51
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, that's actually one of the challenging things we have because, like I mentioned, when people try it, they like it. I'll say 98% of the time, I have conversion. And, you know, I mean, your favorite flavor, super sesame, is the best seller. Right. No matter what your taste background is and experience you have with spices, a lot of people love that flavor because it's the middle of the road flavor. You know, the heat comes right in the middle. So other than doing these events and building a community, one of the pain points for me is like, how do I get people to experience the taste of my flavors and understand how easy it is to use digitally? Because what we're trying to do is build a direct to consumer business first, because it looks good on the shelf, but, you know, it.

16:43
Sahithya Wintrich
You don't know what it tastes like when you look at the jar. So that's been a little bit of a challenge for us that we're working on. And, you know, we're trying to create content. We're trying to do collaborations with local restaurants and chefs. We're trying to plug ourselves into events. Anytime there's a sampling event, we're trying to, like, get in front of people where this is just available at the table for people to try. We're trying to think outside the box, like, look at ways that you could use this because it is versatile. So who's to say this is not great on a cheese board? It is like, you know, so put it on a cheese board with a little bit of olive oil. You know, put it on, you know, sprinkle it on your bone broth. So this is an example.

17:24
Sahithya Wintrich
I didn't know the gym I work out at. The. One of the owners tells me, because I gave this to him as a gift, he's like, oh, yeah, I love your stuff on bone broth. And I'm like, whoa, bone broth. He's like, yeah, let me show you how I do it. And then he took me to his office. He warmed up a cup of bone broth, and here he is sprinkling my blends on bone broth, which I didn't think of a way to use it. Right, Totally. So it's thinking about these fun, exciting, and versatile ways that you can use these blends that basically add flavor. A different kind of flavor is what we're working on right now.

18:02
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. And you actually gave me idea as you were talking. I was like, yeah, sprinkled in olive oil and then dipping bread in that. That sounds amazing. I want to sprinkle chutney punch on olive oil and then dip my bread in. That sounds really good. But I have also used it, I will say in, like, soup as just a, like, you know, final flavor topper as well. Not in bone broth, but just in soup, so. Or on top of soup. So I can vouch for that as well. And yeah, I think it's a really common problem with, like, newer products that, you know, people here in the States maybe have less awareness of. And we can all be very staunch in our ways and want to just get what we know and don't want to, you know, think too outside of what we know.

18:43
Grace Kennedy
So I think that makes sense. And I think probably what a lot of brands experiencing and just having to get people to try it. So I was also thinking about having people try it. When you were at fancy foods, like, what was some of the reactions you had at these trade shows? And I know you've done a couple this year as well. So what has the sort of trade show experience been like for you and for chutney punch?

19:06
Sahithya Wintrich
I'm bad. I go guerrilla mode at trade shows. I'm like, hey, do you want to try some chutney punch? You know, try to pull people on the side. But no, it's been great. You know, some comments that I've gotten. First, it's packaging, right? Everybody comments on my packaging, like, oh, this is beautiful packaging. Which is. Which is a good validation for me. But then, because we believe that, you know, food should taste good, right? Food should be pleasurable. I believe in that. Getting people to try it. The comments that I get are, this is magical. This is good. This is tasty. And then the, you know, gates open, you know, your. Their brain starts to work about ways that they can use it. And that is great validation for me.

19:47
Sahithya Wintrich
And that's part of why I attend trade shows and also, you know, meeting people, getting to know the industry. Like I mentioned, I'm new to the industry. I did not come from. I have zero experience in any CPG realm. So getting to know the who's who of the CPG world, how are people and learning from other brands, other founders? How are they approaching their business, their products? What's working for them and not working for them is what I attend trade shows for. To build that community.

20:16
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely.

20:17
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

20:18
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. That's half the fun of trade shows, honestly, is just connecting with other, like, CPG founders and, you know, coming to the start of CPG parties, you know.

20:25
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

20:26
Grace Kennedy
To do that, plug more coming to our section.

20:30
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, the CPG parties are great. You'll find me dancing on the dance floor, for sure.

20:35
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. But, yeah, I know you mentioned that you guys are more focused at the moment on your DTC presence, but have you been. I know you're in some, you know, local retail presence in your area, but what has your approach been to retail, given that you're. You're more focused on first building, you know, this DTC presence?

20:55
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, great question. So we're only working with people who, you know, are more of a specialty store, if you will, anywhere that they can. They have the staff or a team on, you know, on their staff that can actually sample our products because, again, we notice when we sample, we sell out. So, you know, having those relationships where the team members can actually speak to the flavors has been hugely beneficial. I'll give you an example of a gourmet market in Columbus, Ohio. Right. So they, you know, I just went and pitched my product, the manager tried it, and I offered to drive down there and do a demo, and of course, we sold out. But what I did do is actually make friends with the team members. Right.

21:46
Sahithya Wintrich
Invited them to try my products, because they're going to be the ones to speak to my product when I'm not there, which is so important for a product like mine.

21:56
Grace Kennedy
Mm, yeah, absolutely. And for any product, I feel, honestly, any new brand, even if you're making the most, like, common product in the world, I feel like I still, at least personally as a consumer, I still want to try things mostly before I buy them or at least have someone else tell me, this is really good. You should buy that. And that could be a store owner, it could be a friend, it could be someone online that I trust. So I think that makes a lot of sense as a strategy. And it's awesome that you guys sell out whenever you sample. Definitely a testament to how delicious these spice blends are. So you've mentioned a few things, but I wanted to ask, and I always ask this, but what's been one of the most challenging moments in your business thus far?

22:40
Grace Kennedy
And this could be on a personal level and, like, how it is to run Be a solo founder. Or this could also just be on, you know, a more business side of things, like how do I find, you know, a distributor? So, yeah, I'm just curious.

22:54
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, you went challenging, Grace. You went deep on the personal front. You know, it's funny you asked that because I find myself as a female founder with kids that I can't ever quote, unquote, balance my entrepreneur, you know, my business with family. Some days my children get my time and some days my, you know, my business gets my time. And the most challenging thing is for me personally is fomo. Experiencing fomo, the fear of missing out because I can't say yes to everything. I've either missed a deadline or I've missed communication because my kid got sick or, you know, something else happened. And that's been challenging from a personal standpoint. From a business standpoint, I think is figuring out what the right strategy of growth for me is. I know there are some playbooks out there.

23:54
Sahithya Wintrich
Like, you know, we have the Fly by Jing playbook. We have, you know, other great CPG brands who have made it, if you will, who have gone through the growing pains of creating, bringing a line of products that are newer to the American market and have been successful. And I find that the Chutney Panch playbook would learn from that and mirror that somewhat. But still figuring out what is really our playbook, it's still something that I'm finding very challenging to figure out and nail down, to be honest.

24:33
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And unfortunately, it's like every playbook is different. Even if you followed probably every single step of another brand's path to success, it might not work for the unique aspects and unique challenges of your brand. And I think that's one of the hardest things of being in this industry is things are constantly changing. So there's not really a step by step process that will guarantee success. Sometimes it can feel a bit like of a crapshoot. And I imagine that can be really challenging on just a day to day level. Just not knowing.

25:10
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah. And then also like figuring out, you know, how much of my time. Because like you pointed out, I do. I'm doing everything. I create the content. I also manufacture in our commercial kitchen. I also do sales and marketing. I'm also the face of the brand. I'm the brand, you know, I'm also a brand, you know, so how much of my time should I be spending on content creation versus building the business versus sales? This is, these are things that I'm still trying to figure out. But the hope Is that what I'm hearing is five years is what it takes to figure out whether you have something or not. So we're in year two, so I guess we have three more years of learning and growing.

25:53
Grace Kennedy
Yes. I love that. That's great. That's a great advice or a great thing to hear is just like, give yourself some time, don't give up too soon because, you know, you never know what's going to happen. And there's so much time to put in this work and to put in the effort. So I love that. And so I'd love to know, what are you most proud of since founding this brand amidst all of the challenges that come?

26:18
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, you know, we believe that food should first of all be really tasty. Right. So the first priority was to create something super flavorful because yummy food is also pleasurable. I enjoy eating. I don't know about you, but then good food is more than just taste. Right. For us, it's like doing right by our customers, having integrity around ingredients and also people who help us with our manufacturing and the community and also the world around us. So it was really important, in addition to building something that was very flavorful, really honing in on who our sourcing partners are. From the get go, we wanted to build out a network of farms that were directly sourcing from and sourcing from people who follow the non GMO regenerative farming and have integrity around organic agriculture. So that's been something that I'm very proud of.

27:19
Sahithya Wintrich
And also along with that, packaging was at the forefront for us. So I know glass is a little controversial, but to me, the greener option because you can reuse it. But our labels, for example, have no plastic. It's an actual estate paper label with a UV coating. So my labels get scuffed on the shelf, but I'm okay with it because again, there's no plastic coating on it. Our bands, our ceiling bands for our jars are compostable. You can throw them in your home. Compost. And these were all important decisions that I had to make early on and during those nine to 12 months that we talked about earlier. Packaging was something that I was considering and I have to say, like, this has really helped us keep our values at the forefront.

28:08
Sahithya Wintrich
Whenever we're trying to make a decision in terms of cost cutting or what our cogs are, it's been really helpful knowing what we want to stand for.

28:16
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. And I love that you mentioned, you know, sourcing from high quality ingredients for these spice blends because often you do Hear about spice blends or spices, and you hear these kind of scary stories about, like, spices containing, like, random other scary ingredients. I love that you're putting that at the forefront, that, you know, you're sourcing from ethical locations and also that your packaging is sustainable and as sustainable as we can be. You know, nobody's perfect and no packaging is perfect. Yeah.

28:44
Sahithya Wintrich
And there are no, like, hidden sugars. There are no gums or anything like that. Like, my innovation with my product was to, like, you know, take my family recipes, but then formulate it in such a way that it's shelf stable without needing to add things to improve shelf life.

29:01
Grace Kennedy
So. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So thinking about some of the, like, you know, intel or learning you've had over these last two years of like, entering into the CPG industry.

29:12
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

29:12
Grace Kennedy
What's something you would tell a founder who's maybe starting out now themselves? What's a piece of advice you either wish you'd known yourself or something you picked up along the way that you think every founder should hear before they start their business?

29:27
Sahithya Wintrich
Well, branding is one I kind of, you know, happened to get lucky and followed my gut. And I feel like that was a good decision. It was a risky decision. It's still a costly, very costly decision because it cost us a lot of money to do the photography and the rebrand. But I think it's worth it. You don't have to have such a, like a premium label, but still have something that is catchy and invest in the branding and also think about the mission of your business. Right. Again, this is something that I came to when we did the rebrand because we had to sit down and think about what do we want our brand to convey. And I thinking about that early on will help you with decisions and keep you grounded as things come at you, because things will. Right.

30:15
Sahithya Wintrich
And then the other thing I've learned is build and grow an authentic network. You know, when I go to trade shows, I'm more interested in learning about people than just who's who and what can they do for me. Right. Like actually get to know people, because people are fun, they're cool, and you might learn something from them that you weren't expecting. So try to, you know, be really curious about people and get to know them in an authentic way.

30:44
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. I love that. And there are so many great people in the community who want to connect and are eager to chat and talk. And so, you know, I always tell people, you know, don't be afraid of just sending a message or Just sending an email if you've got it. You know, people are almost always happy to chat and connect on about the business.

31:04
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, yeah, yeah. You have to be a little bit. You have to be bold and a little brazen about that in terms of reaching out to people. Right. Like, no, like you said, nobody is impossible to get a hold of if you'll approach it the right way.

31:19
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So thinking about the future of Chutney Punch.

31:24
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

31:25
Grace Kennedy
What's sort of on your, you know, to do list for Chutney Punch? What does the future look like for you guys? We're nearing the end of this year, which is crazy to think about. But as you look ahead to 20, 25 and beyond even, what do you see coming down the pipeline and what are your hopes and dreams for Chutney Punch? Yeah.

31:43
Sahithya Wintrich
So we want to grow our online business for the seasoning line that we have. And we also, I think for next year, one of the things I want to do is build a community around eating food that nourishes your well being. And it's interesting that now in our social media we've seen a lot of awareness in terms of what is food and what is not food. And I'm actually happy about that selfishly, because I think that's the kind of community I want to build. Because at the end of the day, food. You know, my grandma used to say, health is wealth, right? She would say, health is wealth every time. And she's right, 100%.

32:27
Sahithya Wintrich
You could be the wealthiest person, but if you're not healthy and well, then you can't enjoy those, you know, the money you have or whatever comforts of life that you have. So there's the community part. The other part is collaborations. Right. I mean, you mentioned one of your favorite things is to put this on popcorn. And I've started to think about, okay, so America loves to snack. This is another learning I've had. Right? Like, so drinks and snacks. People love to drink cool drinks and people love snacks. So I'm like, how can we think about food, like real food and snacking and how can we kind of help people navigate that actually is beneficial to their health and not detrimental?

33:15
Sahithya Wintrich
So I'm exploring a few possible collaborations where, you know, we could have some snacks or something that, you know, could be punched up, snacks, if you will. And I'm also exploring other ways I can share my heritage and flavors I grew up eating because Southern Indian food is a little bit different than your tikka masala. And your, you know, korma and stuff like that most people associate Indian food with. So what other products can I bring that celebrate my heritage and my flavors, but also help people eat well, but in an easy to use format?

33:57
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love that. So if any brands are listening that want to collaborate with Chutney Punch, they should reach out any popcorn brands, because I would buy that for sure. You guys should make that happen. Somebody make that happen. But that makes me think. There is a amazing South Indian restaurant in Philly that I've gone to, and that is an experience I've had where I'm like, oh, I actually don't know a lot of the things on this menu, and they're very different and so good. I love this restaurant. So if you ever come to Philly, you have to go to Amaz South Indian Cuisine or Amaz a M M A. Oh, wow. Shout out to that restaurant. It's delicious. If anybody else listening is in Philly.

34:33
Sahithya Wintrich
Oh, wow. Amazing.

34:34
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. But returning to Chutney Punch.

34:37
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

34:37
Grace Kennedy
How can the startup CPG community support Chutney Punch? And. Yeah. What can we do for you guys?

34:44
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, look, when. When it comes to food and eating well, right, there's like a huge trade off between your health, flavor, and time. Right. You can only get two out of three, really. You know, something that's tasty and fast is, you know, often not healthy. And if it's tasty and healthy, it takes a lot of time to prepare. You know, I know I prepare everything from scratch at home, and it takes a lot of time. So what we're trying to do is solve that equation by helping people add flavor quickly and easily to whatever food they're eating, and by using ingredients, like ingredients grown in nature so that what you're eating is actually beneficial for your health. And honestly, it's fun to play around with this.

35:32
Sahithya Wintrich
So I'd say, you know, if the startup CPG can try my flavor, share it with your friends and tell us how you punch it up, that would be great. And, you know, speaking of packaging, we have this, you know, beautiful tube that is very giftable. Right? So it's this lovely tube, if for those who are listening, you know, it's this paper tube that opens up vertically and it's got a little bit of a story inside about, you know, my. My background and how to use it. And all three flavors come in this gift tube.

36:05
Grace Kennedy
So, yeah, you know, it's such a cute tube. It looks like one of those little, like, God, what are they called? Like, you, like Twist them off. And it's like a. My God. Okay, well, I'm blanking on what that's called, so it's not really a very good point, but it looks like a beautiful gift. It's already, it looks like it's already wrapped and it's just the beautiful packaging of your three spice blends. And it really is beautiful and a really good idea for this gifting season that we're in now. I'm sure everybody that's listening is scrambling thinking about what they're going to buy for different people. And actually, Chutney Punch was on our certificate gift guide last year. It was. So, you know, we stand behind it in many forms, but yeah, that's awesome.

36:52
Grace Kennedy
And so where can people find your products if they want to buy them? Or also, just to learn more about.

36:56
Sahithya Wintrich
Chutney Punch, sure, you can visit our [e-mail] that's just C H u t N I P u n C h dot com. We're also available on Amazon. Yep, those are the. But our website is better.

37:13
Grace Kennedy
Website's always better.

37:14
Sahithya Wintrich
Website's always better. You know, and, you know, we're high. We're, we're more costly on Amazon than our website. And that's on purpose. So.

37:24
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Yeah, got it Heard. Well, this was so much fun to learn more about Chutney Punch. And like I said in the beginning, I'm a fan. Honestly, the whole sort of CPG team is a fan of Chutney Punch.

37:38
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah.

37:39
Grace Kennedy
And we, you know, you've been such an active member of our community for these last two years. So we love having you on the show and getting to learn more. And yeah, thanks for coming on and thanks for everyone for listening.

37:50
Sahithya Wintrich
Yeah, you too. Have a good holiday season. Bye.

37:54
Grace Kennedy
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy this episode, it would help us out so much if you left a five star review on ratethispodcast.com startupcpg. I am Grace Kennedy, the host of the Founder feature series. So feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature. And if you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartofcbg.com and finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack. You can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com.