Brooklyn Delhi's journey from local NYC startup to national brand in Whole Foods offers key lessons for CPG founders. Chitra Agrawal emphasizes starting local to understand product-market fit, leveraging unique marketing channels like restaurants and meal kits for customer education and sampling, and navigating the complexities of private label discussions with large retailers to protect brand integrity.
Key takeaways
Begin with local market validation to deeply understand customer perception and product-market fit before scaling nationally. Brooklyn Delhi's initial focus on NYC restaurants and small grocers provided crucial early feedback.
Utilize unconventional marketing and sampling channels like local restaurants and meal kit services (e.g., Blue Apron) to introduce unique products to a broader audience and build brand awareness.
Be prepared to publicly address perceived intellectual property infringements or 'copycatting' by larger retailers to protect your brand's reputation and product authenticity, as Chitra Agrawal did with Trader Joe's.
Strategic product line expansion, even with a premium product, is vital for sustained growth. Plan to introduce new SKUs that align with your brand identity and market demand.
Evaluate private label partnerships carefully. While offering scale, they can compromise your premium positioning or lead to direct competition if not structured advantageously.
Grocery and CPG are certainly hot areas for startups, but it hasn't always been that way. Brooklyn Delhi, a company that makes Indian-inspired sauces and condiments, has been in the business since 2014. This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, founder Chitra Agrawal talked about growing the business -- and the current DTC landscape.
Brooklyn Delhi began as a predominately local company. Agrawal got laid off from her marketing job but had already been building a following as a food blogger. It seemed only natural to try her hand as an entrepreneur. In its early years, Brooklyn Delhi made its achaar products, an Indian pickled condiment, and mostly sold it locally in New York City.
The brand started getting on shelves in small grocers, as well as became featured in trendy Brooklyn restaurants. "We always pictured our product on store shelves one day," said Agrawal. "But to get there, I think we first knew that we needed to start at this very local market level to kind of understand what was it that people thought about the product."
It took some time, but the strategy worked. Today, Brooklyn Delhi is available nationwide in stores like Whole Foods, as well as available on its direct-to-consumer site and with meal kit services like Blue Apron. And it's expanded its products beyond its hero achaar product to simmer sauces.
There have been some road bumps. For example, Agrawal said Trader Joe's was in talks with Brooklyn Delhi for a potential private label partnership, and then she noticed that the retailer ended up making its own achaar product that looked suspiciously similar to hers. Agrawal decided to go public about what she viewed as blatant product copycatting.
"I wanted to say something because I wanted people to know that we did not pack the watered-down version of Trader Joe's," she said. "Because so many people had come to us and they were just like, 'this doesn't taste right, is this your product?'"
Even so, the company has moved on and moved up. The focus now
Frequently asked about this episode
What does this episode say about brand building?
Begin with local market validation to deeply understand customer perception and product-market fit before scaling nationally. Brooklyn Delhi's initial focus on NYC restaurants and small grocers provided crucial early feedback.
What does this episode say about cpg strategy?
Utilize unconventional marketing and sampling channels like local restaurants and meal kit services (e.g., Blue Apron) to introduce unique products to a broader audience and build brand awareness.
What does this episode say about product development?
Be prepared to publicly address perceived intellectual property infringements or 'copycatting' by larger retailers to protect your brand's reputation and product authenticity, as Chitra Agrawal did with Trader Joe's.
What does this episode say about retail expansion?
Strategic product line expansion, even with a premium product, is vital for sustained growth. Plan to introduce new SKUs that align with your brand identity and market demand.
What does this episode say about brand building?
Evaluate private label partnerships carefully. While offering scale, they can compromise your premium positioning or lead to direct competition if not structured advantageously.
