Indian Cricketer Hardik Pandya Becomes Investor and Brand Ambassador for Chef Crafted Instant Foods Brand Yu
- ByStartupStory | April 12, 2023
Hardik Pandya Joins Yu as Investor and Brand Ambassador for Chef Crafted Instant Foods, Entering into a Long-term Association to Promote the Brand in India and Abroad.
Yu, a company started by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur, makes packaged foods healthier by offering customers quick meals that are made with only natural ingredients and have ZERO preservatives at all! The company sells 14 SKUs that can be prepared in 5 minutes with just boiling water in the categories of pasta, cup noodles, hakka noodles, oats, and halwa. Ashish Kacholia and the Asian Paints Family led a Series A fundraise for the locally produced brand that was recently closed.
Yu is set to kick off its inaugural brand campaign during the upcoming IPL 2023 season, with popular Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya leading the charge. The campaign will center around showcasing Yu’s unique brand proposition, which revolves around offering packaged foods that are meticulously crafted by chefs and contain zero preservatives. The aim is to provide young and aspiring Indians with convenient meal options that do not compromise on health, quality, taste, or convenience. Yu takes pride in offering easy meals that are not only 100% natural but also retain their aroma, taste, and nutrition despite being packaged.
Hardik Pandya said, “What Bharat and Varun have done at Yu is truly exceptional! To make packaged foods without any chemicals or preservatives that still taste as good as fresh is remarkable. Yu is a highly purpose driven brand that is bringing a revolution in the packaged food space through its diversified product categories. I am extremely pleased to associate with Yu and spread awareness around its wholesome and nutritious easy meals that are healthy as well. Proud to be part of this 100% Homegrown Brand – MAKE In INDIA for the World!”
In a short period of 18 months, Yu has effectively tapped into a variety of distribution channels, including offline stores (4,000+ stores), online (all e-Com and Q-Com servicing pan India), 100+ institutional campuses, and exports (South Africa, US, Singapore). Yu is one of the newest brands that SpiceJet and Akasa Air have onboarded because of its distinctive product offering. Yu is on track to sell close to 2 million bowls in Q1-FY24 and has more than doubled its revenue in the last six months due to strong customer traction.
Sharing their excitement, Founders Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur jointly expressed, “We are excited to partner with Hardik in our endeavour to build a disruptive consumer brand in the instant food category. Hardik is a youth icon, and as the face of Yu, he will help drive awareness among consumers enabling a switch in consumption patterns from currently available products that contain chemicals and preservatives. Hardik Pandya’s passion for health and wellness aligns perfectly with our brand’s core values and mission. We are confident that Hardik’s association will allow Yu to significantly scale its business across all channels and target groups.”
Yu runs a 24,000 square foot integrated facility in Gurugram that has both US-FDA and UK FSSC 22000 certifications. Over 100 people now work for the company across departments like production, operations, sales, marketing, and finance. The company recently entered the Ready to Cook market with the release of Instant 5 mins Hakka Noodles, which include steamed noodles, vegetables, sauce, and chilli oil. This comes after successfully launching Ready to Eat pastas, noodles, oats, and halwa in vegetarian and non-vegetarian variants. Over the next 12 months, the brand hopes to introduce 8–10 more distinctive products to round out its current line of goods.
Yu boasts a notable list of investors, including renowned public market investor Ashish Kacholia, Manish Choksi from the Asian Paints Promoter Group, DPIIT’s Start Up India Seed Fund from the Government of India, and Capitar, a SEBI registered AIF, among others. The company has recently doubled its production capacity and is actively expanding its omnichannel distribution network across India.
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