Successful entrepreneurship is all about having a blockbuster product as well as amazing entrepreneurship skills.
What happens if there is a lack of any one of these two requirements?
Well, Spice Story is the perfect example of having a stellar product but weak entrepreneurial skills.
Let us check out whether The Spice Story managed to entice the sharks, (who staunchly believe in betting on entrepreneurs) to invest in their brand or not.
Spice Story Chutneys & Spice Story Sauces
The hero of Spice Story is their Sauces and Chutneys. They have successfully managed to bring about the taste of India’s streets in the form of modern sauce.
With their delicious sauces and attractive packaging, they have tried to engage all your senses. Starting with Visual and olfactory and when the flavors burst in the mouth, you will not be able to wait to eat the next bite.
They provide the widest range ever presented by any brand of spicy, zesty, fun-filled Chutneys & Sauces that bring every meal and snack time alive with fresh, exciting taste and flavor.
Their Chutneys are made from recipes culled from traditional kitchens across the country, all with brand-new twists.
- Super Star Bombay Sandwich Chutney
- Dilliwali Spicy Mint Chutney
- Gujarati Tamarind Date Twister
- Kolkata Mango Mustard Adventure
- Agra Ki Saunth
- Banarasi Spicy Mango Chutney
- Indori Lemon Chutney
- Chilli Tomato Ketchup
- Liquid Gold: A Winter Delicacy
- Mumbai Shezwan Mayhem
- The Original Kolhapuri Jhatka
VISION
Be enablers of great food stories with friends and family Offer Authentic Taste, Good Value, and Convenience enabling consumers to whip up exciting dishes in their homes.
MISSION
Create tasty memories in every Indian Household
THEIR PRODUCTS ARE:
- Absolutely Local
- Authentic Flavors
- Quality Product
- Passionately Handcrafted
- Follow global Safety Standards
- Crafted in Small Batches
You can also check out a list of their RECIPES, which you can to make your taste buds dance with joy.
Spice Story Founder
Saumyadeep Mukherjee, Vibhor Rastogi (Chef), and Gayatri Gogate are the main founders of the Spice story. What brought all of them together is their passion for food.
Saumyadeep had done sales and distribution for 21 years in FMCG and Financial Services. He had worked in 5 countries and 19 cities across India.
Gayatri and Saumyadeep had worked together in a company, and Saumyadeep had the idea to start this business and convinced Gayatrin to be a partner. Similarly, Vibhor (Chef who crafted these yummy sauces and chutneys) also came along.
Saumyadeep is the CEO and has (38% equity), Gayatri has (12% equity) and Vibhor has (4%equity). The remaining (21% equity) is with the other 2 founding members.
Saumyadeep, Gayatri, and Vibhor have a ROFR on their shares i.e., Right to first refusal. It is basically a right in a contract that gives shareholders the opportunity of matching the price at which 3rd party has agreed to buy shares from existing investors or founders.
Spice Story Revenue
- (2019-2020)- ₹1.5 crores
- (2020-2021)- ₹2.5 crores
- (2021-2022)- ₹4.1 crores
- Projected sales for this year- ₹9 crores
They are CM1 positive. CM1 is the sum of COGS and distribution cost.
They are facing losses in marketing.
They are CM2 negative. CM2 basically involves the logistics cost of delivering the products to customers. This means that they are losing more money for every product they sell.
EBITA (Earning before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss- 12%.
Social Media Accounts
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Website | Youtube
Spice Story Shark Tank India
The sharks could not stop raving about their products, but they were pretty disappointed with the losses that the business was incurring.
When Samyadeep (founder) told them about the dismal performance of the company. The judges failed to understand why such an amazing product was facing losses.
Gayatri answered that their main mode of reaching the customers was retail stores and because of two years of lockdown they occurred losses, in order to recover from that they started selling on Market places like
They are available across 1700 stores in 5 cities.
Funding Asked from the Sharks
₹70 lakhs for 2% equity at ₹35 crores valuation.
Deal or No Deal?
When Aman tasted their products, he expected that their business must be booming. When he came to know about the losses he lost interest in the deal. Also, according to him, the company has execution issues.
Anupam failed to understand that their key partner the chef (who crafts such amazing chutneys and sauces) and their hero is their product has only 4% equity. Also, the fact that a good 21% of their equity is with other partners who are not even full-time founders did go down well with him.
Vineeta Singh loved the product, packaging, and pricing but she pulled out because they were making losses with each product they were selling, and she finds such situations scary.
Peyush Bansal was interested but the valuation at which they raised money in the last round, was not acceptable to him. He wanted them to go for a Down Round (A scenario where the value of a business at a time of investment is below the value of the same business during a previous period or financing round).
Bust backed out when he came to know that they have only 4 months of capital left to run their business.
Namita Thapar decided to take a bet on the product and gave an offer of ₹70 lakhs for 5% equity.
The founders accepted the offer and secured the deal.
Concluding Remarks
When sharks invest in pitches like this, it makes us believe that even if one thing is right in the pitcher’s business, sharks are there to help and support them.
This is not only the case with this brand but there are other brands too where despite the odds being heavily against them, the sharks have invested in their business because they saw something in them and believed in their vision.
All in all, there are two sides to everything. They might demotivate entrepreneurs with certain comments, or by not investing in a brand that is a direct competition to their friends. On the other hand, they also provide a helping hand to those who have got a few things wrong and try to bring them to the right path.
