Financial Planner Quits ₹20 LPA Job to Start a Healthy Snacks Brand, now Clocks ₹80 Lakh Per Year

It was a typical humid morning in Mumbai, and the city's marathon culture was in full swing. Amongst the thousands of runners hitting the road was a woman, Dheep Vora, who unknowingly was about to run a race and into a new chapter of her life.

What started as a personal challenge of endurance soon became the spark that led her to found ‘Hachi With Love,’ a healthy snacks brand making waves in India’s startup ecosystem.

Today, Hachi offers a range of premium quality snacks, but the story behind it is one of courage, personal transformation, and an entrepreneurial leap into the unknown.

The Moment Of Inspiration:

By 2016, Dheep Vora had already built a comfortable life. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) for almost a decade, she held a coveted position at a top financial firm, drawing a salary that most would envy.

“I was drawing a handsome package, I had financial stability,” recalls Dheep Vora, the founder & CEO of Hachi, in an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia. 

Life was going good. But the decision to join a marathon run altered her perspective in ways she had never expected.

Coming from a non-sports background, running a marathon was far outside her comfort zone. But she signed up, trained, and ultimately completed a gruelling 21-kilometre race. 

“That marathon taught me that I could achieve more than I ever thought possible. It wasn’t just about running; it was about pushing past limitations and overcoming my fears,” Dheep shares.

Buoyed by her success, Dheep continued to push herself, joining long-distance training groups and challenging her limits even further. By 2018, she had become a regular face in Mumbai’s marathon circuits. 

One day, while running yet another race, a thought struck her. “I kept thinking - if I can do this, what else can I achieve? Maybe it’s time to leave my comfort zone in life too,” she reveals.

And so, she did. By the end of 2018, Dheep left the security of her cushy corporate job to embark on an entrepreneurial journey with no visible roadmap to success, just a newfound faith in herself.

A Leap Of Faith Towards Starting Hachi:

With no clear idea of what business to start, Dheep spent the next year researching and exploring opportunities. 

Food had always been an area of immense personal interest for Dheep, and after a deep dive into the market, she noticed a significant gap in the snacks industry - particularly in granola. Most granola products available in the market were filled with artificial flavours and preservatives.

“I saw that people wanted non-boring, honest & tastier options but didn’t have access to truly natural snacks,” Dheep tells Startup Pedia.

This observation led to the birth of Hachi With Love in October 2019 with an initial investment of just ₹50,000. But just as she started to gain traction, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic posed unique challenges for every business, but especially for new ventures like Hachi.

“The uncertainty was breathtaking, but I knew I couldn’t give up,” Dheep says with a firm voice.

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She pivoted the business strategy, testing the market by giving away free samples of her granola snacks with QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) orders. The response was overwhelming.

Customers loved the granola snacks so much that they overshadowed the original QSR offerings. By late 2021, Dheep shifted focus to producing these snacks entirely from an in-house manufacturing facility.

The Challenges Of Being A First-Gen Entrepreneur:

Transitioning from a secure corporate job to becoming a first-generation woman entrepreneur came with its share of difficulties.

“I had no experience running a business, and that was daunting,” Dheep admits during a candid conversation with Startup Pedia. From market research to branding, Dheep had to learn it all on the go.

One of the toughest challenges was maintaining quality. “I had to ensure that every product leaving our kitchen met the highest standards,” Dheep explains.

Convincing suppliers to maintain premium packaging and sourcing top-notch ingredients required constant vigilance.

Hiring, training, and retaining the employees was another obstacle. That’s why Dheep implemented a system based on standard operating procedures (SOPs) to streamline operations.

She also empowered her small team to contribute to internal process development, which enabled them to create an efficient, almost automated system that reduced errors and improved coordination.

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Hachi With Love’s Product Line:

Hachi’s snack range stands out not just for its quality but for the integrity behind every ingredient.

From granola mixes packed with dry fruits, seeds, and berries, to cakes made from hazelnut and almond flours, everything is made with natural ingredients and zero preservatives.

Notably, the production process is simple but highly meticulous.

For granola snacks, jaggery - a natural sweetener - is mixed with the primary ingredients, and virgin coconut oil is added to bind them. These snacks are then baked to perfection and packaged in premium glass bottles, retaining the goodness & freshness of the products.  

“Hachi products are all-natural. For example, our orange-flavoured granola uses real orange juice instead of artificial flavouring agents. Similarly, our cakes are made without refined sugar and butter - only jaggery, desi ghee, and naturally-flavoured base ingredients like ragi and almond flour are used,” Dheep proudly states.

Also Read: IIM Grad Quits Job To Sell Healthy Veggie Powders - Builds Rs 1 Cr Biz

Hachi began with three SKUs of granola and one SKU of cakes, but the product line has since grown to seven SKUs of granola snacks and five varieties of healthy cakes.

Growth, Partnerships, And Future Plans:

Fast forward to 2024, and Hachi With Love has served over 3,500 customers, with corporate partnerships and bulk orders forming a significant part of its business. 

The startup splits its revenue equally between D2C sales (coupled with B2C sales) and the B2B gifting vertical, where Hachi has partnerships with over 20 corporate clients.

In the B2C segment, Hachi’s products are available on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. The startup’s average order size (AOS) for granola snacks ranges from ₹300 to ₹2,000, while its cakes range from ₹700 to ₹3,500.

What makes Hachi truly special is its commitment to honest brand practices, seen in its use of glass packaging and organic marketing strategies.

“We’ve relied mostly on word-of-mouth and Instagram to grow our brand,” Dheep reveals, adding that the next step for the company is to expand its presence on quick-commerce platforms like Blinkit and Zepto.

Hachi With Love’s current revenue sits at around ₹80 lakhs annually, but the team has big goals. “We aim to grow our revenue 2.5 times to ₹2 crores this year,” Dheep shares. Plans are also in motion to enter international markets, all while keeping Hachi’s asset-light, profit-focused model intact.

The Road Ahead For Hachi And Dheep: 

Hachi is not just a startup - it’s a reflection of Dheep Vora’s journey, both personal and entrepreneurial. Her vision for the future is equally inspired by her experiences as a marathon runner and a financial planner.

“Running marathons taught me resilience and patience. I’m in this for the long haul, and my focus is on Hachi’s sustainable yet profitable growth,” Dheep says.

Even though Hachi has remained bootstrapped till now, the startup may now eye investment opportunities to fuel further expansion outside its traditional customers based out of tier-1 cities like Mumbai, with Dheep keen on working with investors who can bring more than just capital to the table.

For now, Hachi continues to gain momentum, just like Dheep did in those early marathons. From small beginnings, the brand has grown into one of Mumbai’s most promising good-for-you snacks startups, with plans to become a household name in India’s booming healthy snacking market which is estimated to reach $11.37 billion by 2032, according to a report by the market research firm ‘Imarc Group’.

After all, as Dheep puts it, “Every race starts with a single step, but it’s the journey that makes all the difference. That’s why at Hachi With Love, little things matter to us.”