Soch Foods which launched Granola Brand 'Munchilicious' has expanded across Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru through key retailers like Godrej Nature’s Basket, Spencer’s Retail, and More stores. The food product provider is planning aggressive expansion across India through modern retail outlets. In an exclusive chat with Retail4Growth, Rohit Mohan Pugalia, Partner & CEO at Soch Foods LLP shares his retail vision. Edited excerpts.

As a new brand, what are the challenges you face in gaining visibility at retail and how do you work around them?

The major challenge faced by us is the lack of understanding of what a granola cereal is and how is it different from muesli. Retailers perceive it as another breakfast cereal, hence show resistance in accepting the brand. With a variety of cereals available in the market, it is essential for us, as an upcoming player to create a differentiation and showcase our unique proposition in order to break the clutter and get shelf space in retail stores. So we have an in-house team that has been trained to provide comprehensive knowledge on ‘Munchilicious’ Granola and the product category to retailers as well as consumers through product demonstration and taste sampling. They understand the consumer preference and recommend the right variants that suit their needs.

What are your retail plans and how you are planning to expand?

Munchilicious aims at building strong relationships with existing distributors, retailers and customer as well as identify and build new partnerships. We have expanded to Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai in a short span of six months from the date of placing Munchilicious Granola in the first retail store in Mumbai. We are targeting five more metro and Tier 1 cities in the second phase and are working diligently towards achieving the same.

What are the stores you have signed up and at which locations?

We have currently tied up with Godrej Nature’s Basket, Spencer’s Retail, and More Store to name a few. Munchilicious is available in stores across Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai.

Read the full interview in the June 2019 issue of POP Magazine.