This Cloud-kitchen brand is selling nostalgia through regional beverages

Missus Sippi as a brand is all about nostalgia, the nostalgia that keeps one connected to their roots. The basic idea behind this brand is to make these regional drinks available for everyone living in different parts of this country, to the people who have forgotten about these drinks from their childhood and the younger generation who is looking out for such soda alternatives. “Missus Sippi as a brand was purely made out of a personal necessity. I have always looked out for soda alternatives which don’t taste like cough syrup and would fit into my (almost) healthy lifestyle. Everything on Missus Sippi’ menu is made out of fresh ingredients, and without any storing preservatives,” shared Kunal Malhotra, Co-Founder, Missus Sippi. Excerpts from the interview:

The idea 

We always wanted to create a connection between the younger generation and the nostalgia we are trying to build. What better than a woman character to do that for us! When I was young, I remember an NRI lady, who was a family friend, she used to always serve us these interesting regional drinks, whenever we used to visit her place. Those beverages tasted delicious, but there was something how she always had a cool story about each drink that made me want to try out every drink she served.

Also Read: ‘Missus Sippi’ starts operation as Mumbai’s first regional beverage kitchen

We see that the love for homegrown, local and natural is coming back as compared to 5 years before where people were keener on trying international products and brands. Why there is a sudden change?

I feel that’s because we are a more aware generation, we aren’t just accepting anything or everything that’s been pitched to us. Every information, be it the process, the image of that company, the side effects, or the benefits, they are so easily available for everyone of us at the click of a button. I feel that’s why the world has circled around and given an affirmation of sort to these homegrown natural drinks/brands. 

Focusing on regionalism

I have been working in the entertainment industry since 2011, and have travelled to almost all the states in the country. People generally like trying out new food whenever they are travelling to a new place, but I have always made a habit of trying out these regionally popular beverages that I have only heard about through my friends and family. Even before this plan was discussed, I already had my list of best regional beverages I wanted everyone to get easy access to.

In the last 4 years, we as a team have extensively travelled pan India which gave us the opportunity to try local flavours in food as well as beverages. Some of the beverages we had were not available anywhere that’s when this idea struck us and we started researching about these flavours, it’s health benefits, shelf life. Gajar ki kanji is a very typical winter beverage but getting red winter carrots throughout the year wasn’t possible so we had to research and try making the beverage by using orange English carrot to attain the exact taste and flavour..

Cloud-kitchen as a segment is growing this year. What according to you are the top reasons players are entering this segment?

The biggest reason would be the considerable drop in the infrastructure and operational investment required to run a cloud kitchen as compared to a normal restaurant with a front end. This gives you the comfort of investing the money saved in important things like marketing and product packaging. 

We have seen how home delivery order numbers have been increasing since the last 5 years, and that’s just the start.   

Who are you targeting as your customer?

We are targeting people who are looking out for a delicious soda alternative. And of course, because of the nostalgia factor we bring along, we are being discovered by people who are living in Mumbai but away from their hometowns. 

What is the shelf life of your products?

Our beverages can be consumed even the next day, but we promote people to consume it within the first 4-6 hours. 

How many numbers of bottles you are selling now?

We are selling 50 bottles per day on average from our first cloud kitchen in Mumbai. First three months have been really great, and we are really happy with the growth rate. 

How many varieties are there? What is the price point?

We have regional, detoxifying, and several juices in our menu. We have almost 15 + regional and detoxifying beverages and 4 prominent juices. The price point ranges from INR 60 - INR 200.

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Riding on expansion

Yes, we definitely plan to expand in future! The kind of response we are getting from Mumbai is really encouraging. In such a short span of time, we are looking beyond the early adopters already. If we keep growing like these, there is a definite possibility of expanding to certain Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities like New Delhi, Bangalore, Pune etc.