Farmley is a healthy snacking brand founded in July 2017 by Akash Sharma and Abhishek Agarwal. The brand specialises in dry fruits and nuts and the brand mission is to deliver quality products to customers. The brand eliminates middlemen, ensures maximum value to trusted suppliers, and maintains stringent quality checks. Farmley has established deep bank end linkages with 5000+ farmers and producers, and they also prioritize social impact through 5 farm gate processing centers and empowering women with over 60 Pc representation in their workforce at processing centers.
In a recent pre-Series B funding round, Farmley secured $6.7 million with BC Jindal Group taking the lead. The brand will deploy the new round funding for product innovation, expand the offline presence and intensify brand building.
In conversation with Medianews4u.com, Akash Sharma, Founder, Farmley spoke about the brand journey, offline expansion plans, and more.
Speaking about the brand journey, Sharma said, “When we started as a brand, we started with basic dry fruits and nuts. Then, over a period our brand positioning broadened, currently we are a wholesome snacking brand with dry fruits and nuts as one among the categories in which snacking options are provided. We have a dessert range where we have products like date bites and munchies categories as well. We have also launched a healthy version of Pasta which is made of Makhanas.”
“We launched Farmley as a consumer brand only in early 2021, before that around 3-4 years of our journey we were into B2B business,” Sharma added.
The idea was to improve the existing supply chain of dry fruits and nuts, so that better quality products can be provided to the end consumers.
“We used to take the route like other brands where we procure dry fruits and nuts from local markets in Delhi, Mumbai etc. The problem we were facing with those products was inconsistency in quality. Hence, it was very important for us to work on the supply chain part as it was a necessity before building a consumer brand. We never wanted to compromise in quality,” said the Founder.
The brand has set up five manufacturing units which are still operational today and according to Sharma, they are the backbone of the consumer brand.
“We have one factory in Purnia, Bihar, the Malhans procurements happen there and another factory in Mangalore which is for Cashew nuts. Another factory in Sangli, Maharashtra for raisins and in Indore for all the imported nuts and dry fruits. We have a factory in Gurgaon for all the value added products. This way we have been able to locate our factories at the position where the raw materials grow or in case of import materials, the places are very close to the major ports of Mumbai and Gujarat.,” he added.
“Over these three years, we have diversified ourselves from pure nuts and dry fruits brand to a wholesome snacking brand. Now, we are present across multiple retail and institutional channels, airlines like Air India Express, SpiceJet and soon to be in Aakasa Air,” Sharma said.
The brand has expanded its diverse wholesome healthy snacking range with snack sticks that are made from Makhanas – Munchies.
Speaking about the initial response from the consumers, Sharma said, “What we realised during our brand journey is that when it comes to snacking ‘taste is the foremost USP any product can carry. Our products are made with an objective taste and cannot be compromised even if the products are of a healthier version. The second factor is that since we are able to procure quality products, how do we now make a healthy version of it? For example: if you compare our munchies with regular Kurkure which are fried, Our munchies are roasted in olive oil and around 35-40 pc of the ingredients is pure Makhana powder, which is high in Protein. It is priced well and gives the consumers a feeling of eating a product in a healthy way.”
“When it comes to the TG of the brand, we are not focused on the age group rather on the overall positioning of the consumer. What we feel is that anyone who is looking for mindful snacking is our TG,” he said.
Marketing Initiatives
Farmley has onboarded Rahul Dravid as the brand ambassador in 2023.
“Trust plays an important role in establishing the brand and the products. We were able to establish that by signing Dravid as the face of the brand,” said Sharma.
He further added, “During the brand journey we realised that we need to be focused on the regions in which we want to grow these products. Currently, our focus is in the NCR region and some part of the Southern region majorly Chennai and Bangalore. In these places we have been able to utilise local faces and influencers. We have associated with Mandira Bedi to speak about our Date bites. Being present in Air India Express also has given the brand presence and credibility.”
“When it comes to marketing and branding, we look at our sales channels as branding channels as well,” Sharma underlines.
“When it comes to media vehicles, Farmley is majorly a digital first brand. We have been focusing on Google, Meta ads etc. We were a partner sponsor for India- Afghanistan cricket series. We started advertising in certain news channels, the main objective behind the same is to expand extensively to offline channels. We have observed that the kirana shop owners have spare time between 11 am to 1 pm, during which they consume news content. Hence, we are present there,” said the Founder.
The brand has a presence across 10,000 retail outlets.
“The idea is to take it to 50,000 retail outlets in the next 6 months,” underlines Sharma.
Farmley have categories like essentials which includes Raisins, Cashews, almonds etc, Healthy Snacking which includes Flavored cashews, makhnas and exotic range of berries. Among these, essentials contribute to the maximum revenue of 50-60 pc, followed by 30-40 pc healthy snacking, and remaining 5-10 pc is contributed by the exotic range.
Snacking range is the fastest growing category for the brand.
“We believe that it will surpass the essentials in terms of revenue as well soon. The most popular product is the flavored Makhnas followed by munchies followed by Date bites” Sharma added.
Farmley products are available in their own D2C website, e-commerce, and quick commerce platforms.
Online contributes around 70 pc of the brand revenue, remaining 30 Pc is from offline and institutional outlets. The basket size of the brand on their own platform is Rs 400.
“The current repeat rate of consumers is 40 pc on our website. This will increase as snacking ranges gain popularity,” Sharma said.
The brand has an international presence in Australia, the USA, and the UAE.
“We are currently focused on deepening our roots in these markets,” Sharma concluded.
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