Namita Tripathi speaks about her venture, Sweet Nation and products offered by them.
Sweet Nation is a one-stop shop for fine Indian vegetarian cuisine. This includes sweet meats, desserts, ‘namkeens’, ‘farsaans’, savouries, snacks, ice-creams, ‘kulfis’, ‘chaat’ and more. They also sell their ‘farsaans’ and cookies in various retail chains across the state.
Namita Tripathi, founder of Sweet Nation, elaborates on the unique aspect of their product line. “The kind of food products that we have, especially in Goa is vended out by small establishments where quality and hygiene are an issue. Secondly, there has been very little innovation in this space. Lastly, we also have a state-of-the-art production facility and kitchen designed according to global food safety standards.” There are 4 main pillars of Sweet Nation and its products. These are Supreme Quality, Indigenous and Indian, Hygiene and Cleanliness and Natural Ingredients.
Namita goes to speak about how she started the venture. “In a sense, it was a bet. Our family and friends have always appreciated great food. My husband, Deepak has always had the dream of having his own store selling the best food in Goa. The State had been missing world-class Indian food stores serving sweets, savouries and snacks. One night, he had pitched this idea to his friends who initially laughed it off. This then turned into a friendly bet. We did our ground-work and research starting in 2018, and managed to launch this venture in 2020, during the pandemic.”
Namita further adds that Goa as a State has people from many different backgrounds and is generally a receptive market. “People who live here are no strangers to the quality of food available here, and always appreciate a good, honest meal. We saw a space in the market and targeted it. A large portion of the population is also familiar with the innovative chains opening all around the country, and we wanted be a part of that movement, giving Indian food its rightful place at the top.” Namita states that the pandemic has hit everybody hard. People tell her that the location of Sweet Nation is off the beaten path but that doesn’t deter her. Namita says that the quality speaks for itself and the best strategy for any establishment are customers who are satisfied with the quality of the food and service.
When asked what promotional strategies they have planned for Sweet Nation, Namita says, “We do have a growing social media presence on Facebook and Instagram and have made some brief efforts on traditional outlets such as newspapers and radio. We’re eager to see how the global situation pans out and play it by ear.”
Regarding her short-term business goals keeping in mind the tough situation prevailing today, Namita says that the first and foremost intention is to keep their employees happy, fulfilled and able to sustain themselves. “This is quite an underrated endeavour in most businesses today; however, it pays off in the long run. They will in turn keep our customers happy, and the heart of Sweet Nation beating. Secondly, we would like to continually satisfy our repeat customers.” They haven’t been able to place their entire menu forward due to various supply chain issues, however, they intend to offer the full menu this month, which should help them sustain better.
Namita also speaks on her plans for growth and expanding their brand presence in Goa. “Growth is a fleeting goal in a receding market. Packaged food, medicine, diagnostics, and other such industries have seen a surge in demand due to the pandemic. We followed the path and launched our packaged products in the retail chain, where we have seen some success in the last two months, we have read the market, and modified our product mix, pricing and policies effective from October. This should help us drive sales further than before. Not to mention, we have a fantastic sales team to enable this move. As far as our signature store is concerned, there is only one Taj Mahal. As mentioned earlier, we are working on expanding our offerings based on the pandemic situation, and how best we can avoid problems to public health. We have opened our dine-in facility from mid-September onwards while abiding by all the public health and safety norms. We have also gone live on Swiggy and Zomato. Our final frontier in this sense is starting our live counters. Given the nature of the operations, we are working on measures to reduce the risk of cross contamination to our staff and customers, while providing the unmatched experience of live cooking”
