Imagine using spoons and folks, and eating them too. To counter the health impact of using plastic cutlery or the hygiene factor of using steel ones, Hyderabad-based entrepreneur Narayana Peesapaty came up with Bakey’s -Edible Cutlery.
We often use steel or plastic cutlery to eat our food, without sparing a thought about its impact on our health. With steel cutlery, one has to wash it properly before eating and there’s often the risk of eating on contaminated plates if they aren’t rinsed properly. That apart, even the detergent used to wash the plates contains chemicals, which can cause health defects. Plastic cutlery can be equally hazardous and is also dangerous to the environment. To provide a much healthier alternative, Peesapaty, who hails from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, has come up with consumable cutlery.
He was brought up in Kolkata and previously worked at a power company. The plight of the farmers, despite the expansion of irrigated agriculture, inspired Peesapaty to find an alternative to this problem. “I noticed that all the open wells had gone dry. If irrigated farming is increasing, then farmers’ income should also increase. And yet, thousands of farmers were being forced out of the profession every single day. After research, I realised that this is because rich jowar (sorghum) belts were being replaced by rice fields,” explains Peesapaty.
After years of groundwater research, Peesapaty realised that replacing jowar with rice puts much more pressure on the land and requires much more water. “Farmers require 60 times more water for producing rice as opposed to jowar, which is why all the wells had dried out. I realised that the solution was to reduce rice and increase jowar. So I decided to create a market that essentially thrives on jowar,” Peesapaty recalls on Bakey’s inception.
Bakey’s was established in Hyderabad in 2010 and contains edible and consumable cutlery—spoons, forks, chopsticks, soup spoons and dessert spoons. Made out of flour, they contain no chemicals or preservatives and are completely healthy. “Even if you place the spoon in hot soup, there will be no change in its textures,” says Peesapaty , while showing a demonstration.
Highlighting the benefits of this alternative product, Naryana, who is also the managing director of the company, points out that depletion of groundwater can be arrested by creating markets for less irrigation crops such as jowar as the edible cutlery is made out of flour. The demand for power from the agriculture sector does not commensurate its contribution to the GDP of our nation and on the contrary, is creating pressure on other sectors, most notably on the manufacturing sector. Peesapaty feels that this is largely because of the food choices and that this initiative could help in triggering mix (even districts with scanty rainfall are registering increasing trends in water guzzling rice crop).
Recalling a shocking incident he encountered with cutlery, he says, “I went to have lunch at a restaurant and the waiter served me food with plastic spoons. To my utmost horror, I noticed that the spoon was not even rinsed properly and could easily contain traces of bacteria and other harmful elements. I felt compelled to introduce a healthier alternative.”
Plastic, a petroleum by-product, is more harmful to human body because of the presence of several toxins and carcinogens. Its application as food consumption utensil enhances the chances of these chemicals to get into the human system.
Because of the uniqueness of the product and its conformation to the triple bottom lines—social, environmental and business—our initiative was selected by the CII-USAID-World Resources Institute supported initiative called New Ventures as among the top ten sustainable businesses in the year 2006 --when he started working on this venture. Peesapaty admits that while the market is responding well to his product, he faced multiple challenges along the way. “There was lack of funds, so gathering money to fund the project wasn’t easy.
Also, a project of this scale required technology which wasn’t readily available for us. “The government, despite showing interest, never came forward to support the initiative. Also, it wasn’t easy to convince people and some of them found it too hard to bite,” states the 53-year-old.
Peesapaty is well-supported by his wife Pradnya in this venture and while he takes care of research and marketing, Pradnya handles manufacturing and packaging side of the business. “I treat every worker like my family and we all enjoy working towards this venture. It’s not just a business initiative but about improving people’s livelihoods and giving them nutrition,” Pradnya observes.
After a slow start, Bakey’s is slowing gaining recognition and has also received orders from countries like Estonia. The packaging is best before 36 months and comes in three categories—plain, sweet and spicy. “We are looking to further expand our business, get better equipment and perhaps open centres in other cities in India as well,” Peesapaty says, signing off.