Samiran Sengupta, Promita Sengupta and Rajan Sachdeva, started delivering home-cooked meals unique to a particular region with JustMyRoots in 2018. The brand now has distribution centres in 19 cities and delivers in 15,000 pin-codes across India.
JustMyRoots has developed cutting edge packaging solutions (a combination of imported materials and products within the country) which keep highly perishable food products fresh for 36 hours. Excerpts from an interview with Samiran Sengupta:
Could you take us through the journey of JustMyRoots from inception to execution.
JustMyRoots began as a concept to satiate individuals with food nostalgia, especially those who are particularly away from home. We wanted them to be in touch with their roots and their families. From putting together a perfect delivery system to deciding on a proper company name, there was a lot to consider. It was a journey with a lot of happy customers who had tears of joy after receiving their products/orders. We began with a variety of URLs, such as Justbengali.com, JustOriya. com, and so on.
However, managing each of these brands was becoming increasingly difficult, so a friend recommended JustMyRoots. com. This name was a perfect fit for the work we were undertaking. However, with the support of our consumers and their reviews, everything eventually proceeded smoothly. Based on their feedback, we improved our system and made it more user-friendly. We started with just a few verticals, but we grew, to fulfill customers’ demands, more verticals were added. Even while we were boot strapped , our CSR initiatives started and it was time to give back to the community.
Which cities/regions are you currently in?
JustMyRoots is currently del ivering across 19 cities including Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi, Jaipur, Amritsar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Mohali, Chandigarh, and Panchkula, among others.
How did you develop your logistics and supply chain? And are you planning to expand your scale of operations?
JMR worked with various logistics and Packaging partners. It took 18 months for them with a significant number of trials / testing/research to reach the right kind of packaging and Supply Chain. The Goal was clear having a Supply chain that would sustain fresh food for at least 24-36 hours. Currently, Just- MyRoots mostly caters to the Metropolitan market and will soon foray into Tier-1 and Tier- 2 cities .
What was the impact of Covid-19 on business and operations?
In most cities, we had already established a solid infrastructure. In any case, the staff has a strong sense of hygiene and cleanliness. Our logistics and product partners are amazing, and they make sure that the business operation does not stop even for a day. The lockdowns did create some issues for us, but since we are handling food, we generally manage the E-pass, ensuring the food delivery on time.
During this pandemic, the strategy is to be honest with your customers, being dynamic and providing them with a variety of excellent meal alternatives while they remain safe at home. We have started offering nostalgic meal services in each of the cities, and we’ll be adding more once the lockdowns are lifted. We have also begun contacting more Nostalgia- themed restaurants for the future.
What lies in the future of JustMyRoots?
We plan to reach at least 130 cities in India by 2022. We plan to start replicating our services to a few large countries like Singapore/US/Europe/ Australia/Philippines/China.