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Eatopia: Revolutionising Healthy Snacking Habits in India
Abraham Thomas - Chairman - McGill Foods
“If food is fuel, healthy food is an elixir.”
Indians love snacking and need no reason to dig into a bag of munchies. This has led to snack giants and fast-food eateries to innovate and meet the demands of the snacking consumer.
However, the focus has now shifted to healthy snacks as weight gain and other health issues are on the rise. The need also arises as consumers are now more health-conscious than ever.
From a Malaysian-based B2B company Macworld, Mcgill Foods branched out as its FMCG arm. Eatopia is Mcgill’s brainchild launched in 2021, with a range of clean and healthy food products and an added purpose- a purpose of revolutionising our snacking habits! Eatopia currently has its HQ in Mumbai.
Its manufacturing units are located in Maharashtra and Kerala. They are a D2C brand that insists on having an omnichannel presence. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of McGill Foods, Jacob George, comes with over 13 years of job experience in the food industry.
Mr. Jacob has completed an MBA and is a food engineer by degree. His career stint has been in FMCGs like Marico Ltd, ITC Ltd, and Synthite Industries.
Jacob George recounts healthy and delicious snacks made by his mother that were relished so ardently. However, when he walked the aisles of supermarkets, he had zero luck in finding a product that was healthy and tasty at the same time. This incident was a thought-starter and an opportunity.
A series of consumer insights revealed that mothers, fathers, well-wishers, and consumers who preferred a healthy lifestyle were ANGRY. They were angry because they just couldn’t find a single chemical-free, additive-free, refined sugar-free, artificial colour-free product for their kids and themselves.
A Healthy option was far-fetched! Even the most devoured jam came generously packed with sugar and very little fruit.
The questions then arose: why are we feeding our kids unhealthy snacks? Why isn’t there any brand that is truthful and transparent of what it offers? Why are we not able to provide our kids with nutrition and taste?
These uncomfortable questions led to the birth of Eatopia because we wanted to address the angry demands of consumers and offer them with products that were honest, natural, nutritious, and without any evil.
Mr. Jacob George dived right into it and left his corporate life behind in 2021 and moved to founding a start-up firm as the CEO & Director of McGill Foods.
The idea was to produce healthy, delicious, and super nutritious packaged foods made from natural ingredients such as honey, berries, nuts, seeds, millets and whole grains.
By studying the Indian market and its loopholes, Eatopia aims to create a healthy food lifestyle packed with delicious superfoods with no fillers, added artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, refined sugars, or artificial sweeteners.
Left Jacob George, CEO & Director - Right Sachin Eapen, Co-Director, McGill foods
Left Jacob George, CEO & Director - Right Sachin Eapen, Co-Director, McGill foods
Eatopia is all about combining nutrient-dense superfoods working on the spectrum of health, taste, and trust. It is not a run-off-the-mill snack brand and promises a balanced nutrition in every product.
There were two specific aspects that Mr. George has been prone to follow that also helped the company overcome challenges. Whenever an issue occurred, Mr. Jacob George sought to share and discuss the matter with mentors, colleagues, and other entrepreneurs.
A transparent environment at work helped him understand and learn from the mistakes of others and himself. Instead of being defined by the failures, he chooses to be accountable for the team. This method culminated in the growth and success of Eatopia.
Eatopia products are developed for an intimate snacking experience that contains indulgent flavours, irresistible taste, and balanced nutrition. Take a product like Jam, which is quite popular and delicious, but contains 50% refined sugar.
At Eatopia, they created jam by replacing the sugar content with pure honey. Eatopia’s honey jam became the #1 selling products.
Another great example is Eatopia’s Nut Pops, formulated using nature’s superfoods like nuts, seeds, honey, herbs, and spices. Nutritionally it contains protein, fibre and micronutrients and helps feel fuller for a long time.
Roasted Jowar Puffs & Oat Puffs, combine health, taste, and affordability into one offering. The products contain 80% jowar and oats respectively, and compared to other fried snacks, it has 70% less fat content. They are also made using indigenous crops like millets & oats to revolutionalize the Indian healthy food scene.
The market is currently flooded with snack bars, but Eatopia took the innovative route to develop Fruit Minis. These are bite-sized wholesome snacks made with 100% natural ingredients like fruit pulp with the highest content in the category, nuts, oats, pure wildflower honey, and seeds to take you to a place of healthy snacking paradise.
The journey of Eatopia has been revolutionising and has earned them a few recognitions in the process. They have been honoured with the “Top Most Food Brands Award in 2022” from The Asia Food Congress & Awards. Secondly, they were recognized as the top 10 packaged food startups in 2022 by Industry Outlook.
One of Eatopia’s very first products, honey, was launched on Amazon amid the pandemic. The response to it was overwhelming.
Currently, Eatopia has its products available on a Pan-India basis on online platforms such as Amazon, www.eatopiaworld.com, Minis by Swiggy, Big Basket, and Flipkart.
Apart from the online dominance, they also have a strong offline presence, especially in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Cochin, Bangalore, etc. Eatopia has also marked its international presence in the GCC countries.
They also have a presence in Malaysia. Starting as a solo marketplace, Eatopia is becoming the next big D2C brand.
The packaged food industry’s future will get even more competitive in the upcoming times. By offering transparency at its forefront, Eatopia hopes to have a loyal and growing customer base satisfied with its 100% natural products.
As mentioned before, Eatopia started its journey with simple and pure honey. However, there was no categorization for a kid-specific version.
The process for manufacturing kid’s honey considered cultivating honey from little bees, which are proven to have dense nutritional value. It has been established that Eatopia is the first brand to launch wholesome snacks full of superfood ingredients and 0% refined sugar.
Even after Eatopia’s best efforts, there has been a lack of awareness plaguing the brand’s target audience around the concept of superfoods and healthy snacks.
Hence, they have been meticulously working on building awareness about the importance of superfoods in their day-to-day lives, the nutritional value of refined sugar-free food, and challenging the myth of healthy food not being tasty enough and vice versa.
In this process, they have taken to digital media channels, on-ground events, influencer marketing, etc. So far, this has helped them reach the right audience. Eatopia wishes to become an everyday commodity with at least 1 pack of Eatopia products in every home.
Eatopia’s sole goal has been to change the way not just Indians view snacking options but also to influence the global market. Working towards this goal with perseverance has garnered Eatopia the success they have always been so confident about.
As Mr. George states, “sometimes taking that leap of faith is a success in itself”, Eatopia has walked on the same path under the guiding light of Mr. Jacob George.
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