There is a global consumer movement towards more natural, less processed foods; rediscovering traditional recipes and respecting the inherited wisdom of local communities. Traditional foods is therefore witnessing a surge in demand. India too has seen the emergence of numerous brands and hundreds of products especially in the D2C channel attempting to ride this wave. Aasnaa is one such brand but with a difference. They focus on working with local communities to empower them to make a better living leveraging this trend for organic or minimally processed foods. “Brand Aasnaa believes there are three guiding principles for the Good Life; Traditional is tasty, Natural is better and Health is a habit.

"With close to 5000 retailers served by a robust network of distributors, the brand enjoys a healthy repeat business"

Add the dimension of creating livelihoods and that’s us - Aasnaa”, says Bhupesh Saini CEO.Aasnaa is not a typical FMCG firm; it is a coalition of scientists, farmers and smart marketers working towards the common goal of developing a robust ecosystem for the traditional food sector. It is backed by a cooperative (Unati) and is in a joint venture with a Government entity Punjab Agro. “Traditional producing communities have great recipes but mostly lack the knowledge of modern food science, access to funds and markets, and the knowledge of various Government schemes meant to benefit them. Aasnaa tries to stitch this together in a win-win partnership” he adds. Aasnaa’s efforts at reviving recipes and creating livelihoods has till date borne fruit in sectors ranging

from brewed vinegar to Amritsari murabba from amla candy to karela juice; and aloe juices to hoshiarpuri shakkar.

Every Aasnaa product is a story in itself. Take our range of brewed vinegars for instance. Amla, karela, jamun etc are collected by local villagers typically, landless labourer or slum dwellers from the forest and brought to our factory at Talwada. Here our team of food scientists and a state-of-the-art factory convert these ingredients into vinegar that make the goodness of these fruits available year round across the country”, says Bhupesh.

A Robust Infrastructure in Place
The individuals involved at the backend, delivering the raw material, are an essential stake holder in Aasnaa whether it is the villager who walks into the wilds to pick the fruits, berries, roots, and herbs that form the supply chain of raw materials, or the individual achaar maker in Amritsar who processes the ingredients using an age old recipe. Since no middlemen are involved, these communities are far better rewarded for their efforts than in a classical corporate arrangement.

Our goal is to nudge people to choose the Good Life across food and beverage occasions through the day, from break fast to the final meal or beverage consumed at night

Aasnaa operates on a philosophy of minimal processing. Modern food science is applied only to the extent required to create shelfstable recipes that are amenable to the shopping channels of today’s urban generation. It works with a range of wild harvested, organic and minimally processed ingredients and sells through leading online platforms apart from offline channels across five states. With close to 5000 retailers served by a robust network of distributors, the brand enjoys a healthy repeat business. Aasnaa has also taken the first tentative steps towards the global audience with operations in Australia and Dubai.

Our goal is to nudge people to choose the Good Life across food and beverage occasions through the day, from breakfast to the final meal or beverage consumed at night”, concludes Bhupesh.