BENGALURU: What will it be like to get biriyani at the price of bhelpuri, questioned Naveen Chander, co-founder of NuTy (combination of ‘nutritious’ and ‘tasty’), a brand of Tlita Ahara Private Limited, a food technology firm in the city which is developing nutritious food at an affordable cost.
The food techies started their venture in September, and have created 35 dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, with a shelf life of 40 days. NuTy was launched on Thursday.
While the ready-to-eat segment is not new to the food industry, NuTy co-founder Ray Nathan said that these foods are easy to prepare, but fall short on taste, and become a last-resort meal. Team members said a NuTy meal is priced below Rs 100, and can either be eaten at outlets or taken home.
“While the affluent have a choice of nutritious food, this high-tech food also caters to those who don’t have a choice and eat cheap, unhealthy products,” said Ray. Several youths in their 20s and 30s in metros succumb to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and a major cause for it is fatty food, he added.
To retain freshness, nutrition and taste in the food over a prolonged period of time, while also selling it at a lower price, the team has optimised supply chain and production process.
For instance, they work in close coordination with farmers and fishermen, and get the produce directly, reducing input cost by a huge margin. Chander said the farmers are paid more than what the government offers as minimum support price.
High-pressure processing technology, which uses pressure instead of heat to kill pathogens in the food, is used to process fish, meat or crops to ensure an increased shelf life. Investors have shown interest in the product, said Ray, as the team looks to scale up.