Dessert dive: India’s Epigamia bets on rising local demand for individuality to launch new single-serve RTE range
Epigamia’s keystone products are its Greek yoghurts, which it has established a solid presence for itself in across major cities in India over the past eight years.
And the idea to make its maiden foray into desserts came from consumer feedback on how its products were primarily being used in Indian households.
“Our research and surveys showed that within our large consumer base, the use occasions tended to surround breakfast, post-workout, as a morning or evening snack – and also very strongly as a dessert,” Epigamia Co-Founder and CEO Rahul Jain told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“Because of this, we realised that within the dessert category we were already quite well-established due to the brand already being there, so the next logical step was to extend properly into this sector with our own products.
“This is what led to the creation of our RTE puddings in cups, our rice puddings as well as our luxury milkshakes – all of which aim to cater to different consumer groups wanting different types of desserts at the dinner table.”
The RTE puddings which come in chocolate, caramel and hazelnut chocolate are made with at least 80% milk and cater to those wanting a lower-calorie dessert as each cup is less than 100 calories; whereas the rice puddings (traditionally known in India as kheer) are for those wanting a more traditional dessert.
“Kheer is a product most of us grew up with, and with much more mobility in the country and consumers tending to work away from their families, it would also be a way for them to experience that nostalgia at the dinner table,” he said.
“The there are our luxury milkshakes which target those looking for a truly rich and premium experience, where we use truly superior ingredients to make these.
“Even the flavours are unique such as Belgian chocolate, Cookies and Cream and Vanilla Coffee – this is because we are actually using the best of those ingredients such as imported chocolate from Belgium, in order to create those luxurious flavour profiles.”
The need for this wide range of options is due to an increasing demand for different types of desserts by different consumer demographics at the same dining table.
“This is especially when there are occasions such as birthdays or celebrations and there are several generations at the same table – everyone has their own individual preference for dessert [as opposed to all sharing one large one],” he added.
“It is why we see that single-serve is really going to be the big trend in this category, allowing everyone to pick not only their own flavour and type of dessert, buy also whether this is a traditional or modern one.”
Epigamia’s products are widely available in India’s top five metro cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
No export plans yet
With the significant success it has found locally, the brand has no plans to go abroad as of yet, looking to capture as much of the local Indian market as possible first.
“In addition to our strongholds in the metro cities, we are also seeing good growth from the next layer of Tier 2 cities, which include cities such as Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kochi, Mysore and more,” Jain added.
“India is such a large market and as of now we have barely scratched the surface especially as in some areas we have been creating categories that did not exist previously – and with each expansion there is a lot of investment and effort that goes into it so we need to explore the local market thoroughly first in the near term.
“Exports are not out of the cards for us in the future, but there is still a lot of headroom to grow here first.”
