24-YO From Pune Read 50 Books Instead Of Going For An MBA, Then Started A Frozen Protein Bites Brand Giving 50 Grams Of Protein Per Pack

Almost 73% of Indian diets fall short of the recommended protein intake levels. This vast nutritional gap is worrying, but it has now started being addressed in the country.

Numerous protein-rich whey protein powder, snack, and functional food brands have emerged. And they’re doing what is needed to bridge this widespread nutritional shortfall.

But for Suchitra Kodlekere, a 24-year-old entrepreneur in Pune, protein should come from real food, not just supplements.

With her new food venture, she aims to make it easier to fit protein into everyday food, not just extreme diets. 

“The idea is to stop the narrative that healthy food needs to be a punishment. It can be tasty, easy-to-cook, and easily find a place in your regular food plate during the day. We are offering up to 50 grams of protein per pack of our protein bites,” Suchitra Kodlekere, founder of ADC Foods (The Anti Diet Club), tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in June 2025, ADC Foods is a Pune-based healthy food venture that offers better-for-you frozen protein bites that require no oil to cook. It was started by Suchitra Kodlekere, who is currently 24 years old.

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THE BACKGROUND: FIFTY BOOKS INSTEAD OF AN MBA

Hailing from Pune, Suchitra Kodlekere has been experimenting with entrepreneurship since she was 19 years old.

Along with a co-founder, she started by selling custom posters in her locality, and eventually scaled to make and ship customized Polaroids across India. This bloomed into a custom gifting business, which catered to approximately one lakh customers.

“I had generated enough profit to be able to pay my own college fees for my undergraduate degree in Economics at MIT World Peace University. Ultimately, there were some alignment issues with my co-founder, so I took an exit from the company,” Suchitra shares with Startup Pedia.

In 2023, Suchitra was sitting on a beach in her village in Gokarna and saw plastic bottles washing back ashore. Deeply concerned with the sight, she decided to convert plastic bottles into athleisure wear. This was the foundation of Rebearth. 

Next, she partnered with a Tamil Nadu manufacturer who was already making recycled fabric. She also applied for the Startup India scheme, but soon realized that the ecosystem of sustainable clothing was very capital-intensive. In 2024, she stopped pursuing the venture.

As soon as she graduated, Suchitra Kodlekere’s academic counsellors asked her to pursue an MBA, keeping in mind how well she had scored during college.

But instead of going to a B-school, she decided to do something unconventional.

“I made a pact with myself: I would read 50 books instead of spending lakhs on a formal MBA degree. And I am so grateful that I made that decision. I started documenting the journey of reading books, gathering insights, and unlearning and learning every single day. I posted reels on Instagram, and it picked up. People were intrigued with my idea and followed my account in thousands,” Suchitra beams.

On the side, she joined a diamond jewellery brand and took up a part-time role as a creative content creator and consultant. 

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HOW THE ANTI DIET CLUB INDIA STARTED: JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

In March 2025, a friend who works in the cold-pressed juice industry offered Suchitra a space at Solaris, a sports and fitness club.

He convinced her to start something in the food category, recognizing her potential as an entrepreneur.

“The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I decided to apply my learnings to build a proper brand. Around the same time, I had taken up fitness very seriously. A lot of my time would go into meal prepping, monitoring my protein intake, and being conscious about whatever I would put into my body,” young entrepreneur Suchitra Kodlekere tells Startup Pedia.

Now willing to enter the food industry, the small business founder knew the healthy eating space was what she wanted to bank on.

“Anyone who is a fitness enthusiast today gets a headache thinking about how to meet their daily protein goals. They wake up every morning with the idea that this is a problem that needs to be solved. I wanted to take that stress off people’s plates,” she says.

In March 2025, Suchitra pooled Rs 75,000 from her savings and started ADC Foods (The Anti Diet Club) - a food venture that aims to make protein easy and tasty.

The bootstrapped amount went into buying a freezer, basic tech, and setting up the office space.

“To be honest, I still keep investing in the business. Product development in the food category is kind of expensive. You have to place an order for, say, 200 kilograms of an item, but when customers buy, they will obviously buy in small quantities,” small business founder Suchitra Kodlekere explains.

During the conversation, the young entrepreneur revealed the initial journey of The Anti Diet Club:

• In the beginning, Suchitra decided to develop a frozen chicken steak made from 150 grams of chicken breast. It had 50 grams of protein and was extremely delicious as well as easy to make.

“While it was a nice idea, the issue that we realized was that steaks are very temperature-controlled as dishes. Anything under or over the recommended temperature messes with the taste. Now, people don’t enter their kitchen with a thermometer in their hand,” she says.

The Anti Diet Club was started with the idea of making cooking easy and healthy. So the team switched from steaks to frozen protein bites and outsourced the manufacturing.

• As a young female entrepreneur, Suchitra Kodlekere also faced subtle sexism in the industry. 

“I think many people didn’t take me seriously simply because of my age and my gender. Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about that. It's part and parcel of a woman’s life when she is trying to make something in the business world. You only have to remain persistent and let your results do the talking,” she opens up.

• Another challenge was hiring team members who aligned with the young entrepreneur’s philosophy of “feeding people is a pure and pious responsibility.” Eventually, she brought in a team of three people: an operating manager, a tech developer, and a design lead.

• While large-scale food brands find it easy to procure freezer boxes to store and transport frozen food items, Suchitra’s small business struggled there.

“At this point, our product is more suited for quick commerce,” she notes.

• While Suchitra Kodlekere did get options to raise funds, she decided to build and strengthen The Anti Diet Club’s foundation first and then consider bringing in external investors.

ADC FOODS: PROTEIN INTAKE MADE EASY AND TASTY

Currently, ADC Foods operates as a healthy food venture that offers frozen protein bites in the form of chicken and paneer.

These can be made in a pan or in the air fryer, under 10 minutes, using absolutely zero oil. The protein bites are also preservative-free, sugar-free, and offer between 25 and 50 grams of protein per pack.

From options like barbecue and tandoori to Jamaican jerk and Peri Peri, these flavour-infused protein bites have roughly 300 to 375 calories per pack. Each pack comes with 10-12 bites. The brand also runs subscription offers where a customer can buy in bulk quantities for the entire month. 

The prices of the healthy protein bites brand start at Rs 199 and go up to Rs 210.

Around 85% of The Anti Diet Club’s sales come from the frozen chicken protein bites. The remaining 15% comes from the paneer bites and protein brownies. 

“We recommend that people use these bites in rice bowls and wraps. Although they are just as great to have separately as well. The Jamaican Jerk Chicken Protein Bite pack is our bestseller at the moment,” the small business founder smiles.

GROWTH AND MOMENTUM

While ADC Foods was launched in June 2025, the brand met with a slow momentum because of the month of Shravan (a period when most Indians avoid non-vegetarian food consumption).

“In July and August, Ganpati and Navratri took place. Again, non-veg consumption goes down during these periods. In September, it was Diwali. Honestly, it was in November that we started picking up and seeing 200-300 customers per month,” small business founder Suchitra Kodlekere tells Startup Pedia.

Currently, Suchitra and her team want to focus on and crack the Pune market. Hence, The Anti Diet Club’s products are available for pickup at the Solaris Sports World, Pune, or can be ordered via Instagram.

“The direct orders that we get via Instagram are delivered via Porter in Pune,” Suchitra mentions.

Since its inception, ADC Foods has served 2,000+ customers and clocked a revenue of approximately Rs 4 lakh.

In the near future, the healthy protein bites brand wants to enter the Hyderabad and Bengaluru markets and also partner with newly-opened gyms and fitness centers in Tier II and Tier III cities.

“A majority of Indians are deficient in protein, and it shows up as weakness, brittle hair, low motivation, brain fog, and loss of muscle mass. With our brand, we are aiming for awareness that doesn’t look rigid. Our protein bites are yummy and can become a part of your regular meals just as easily as other food items. I want to scale this to become a larger D2C brand,” Suchitra Kodlekere concludes.