The vision behind Everything Organik as a brand was to meet the need gap for affordable organic produce in the country.
Reminiscing about the beginning, Anoop Varma, Founder, Everything Organik says, “Everything Organik was not founded in a day, it was a journey. It all began at my casual Sunday visits to one or two organic markets in my neighbourhood in Gurgaon. A brief tête-à-tête with a few farmers, trying to sell their organic produce, got me inquisitive and engaging, leading me to visit their farms soon after. Their issues and day to day work intrigued me to find ways to help them get the best solution to grow more effectively, reduce wastage, maximise the output by consolidating land parcels and also introduce barter system amongst farmers for produce waste and manure etc.”
He recalls many people included his family dissuading him from putting his hands into something as complex as farming which was nowhere even closely related to his career. “But being a quick learner and self-motivator, I took the plunge and began my journey 6 years ago leaving a highly paid job; from Business class tickets to bus rides; meandering in small villages, I was introduced to the green world of these farmers who were my teachers and companions in my initial years. This beautiful learning graph enlightened me and Everything Organik was born in 2014,” says Anoop.
His visits to farmers who grew organic produce also showed the lack of knowledge in terms of certifications, processes and viable markets. Everything Organik addresses these concerns of farmers by aiding them in gaining these certifications (which is done by government-aided agency APEDA, Indecent, India Org), helping them access new markets as well as helping them across logistical processes like soil, water and product testing.
Over a period of time, the brand has also expanded to offer more and more organic produce varieties to consumers to meet rising demand. It now offers grains, pulses and sugar; an assortment of ground flours ranging from amaranth, gluten-free, ragi, white and red quinoa and multigrain among others. It also offers premium A2 milk, a variety of oils, ghee, butter and home-made pickles. There is also a range of ready – to – eat and ready to cook meat, poultry and seafood section. They also have in their range of bakery products like breads, buns and cakes. The brand also brings excellent filter coffee in medium and dark blends from the coffee estates of Coorg.
Nutrient intact
How does the company source its products and how is quality and traceability maintained? Anoop explains that the quality of produce comes from the nuances of the growing techniques and sourcing, as much as it does from organic processes. He says, “The aim is to offer ‘products with a longer shelf life’ as well as to keep the majority of nutrients intact. Traditional processes are used in extraction of produce as well to ensure this. The honey, for instance, is taken from forest grown bees, without destroying their hives. The tulsi honey is cultivated by allowing hundreds of wild tulsi shrubs to grow near the hives for the most natural taste.”
Everything Organik’s cold pressed oils are extracted using a pinewood cone head on the machine to prevent and steel residue and keeping the smell, taste and purity intact. Similarly, the flours are ground by hand, for best results.
Anoop adds, “I have personally helped the farmers right from the certification process to soil, water, product testing etc. We also randomly visit various farms before we start taking produce from them and also get test reports done, we follow this process every 3-4 months as a part of the surprise check. Also, during the renewal of certification, the farmers are never told from which region the team would come and which farms would they visit and verify which includes checking of soil, seeds are being used and where are the seeds being bought from and all that is duly back checked by the team and us as well.”
Anoop personally looks into the quality control, plus the brand has a lot of retired professors from the department of agriculture of various universities helping to educate the farmers with new techniques of growing and also guiding to get the farmers to consolidate land and grow one crop in order to increase the yield.
Everything Organik was born with the ideology of ensuring that every household can consume organic produce emphasising on its mission statement, “Facilitating Organic Lifestyles”, which underlines the brand’s core philosophy and competence.
A passion for Organic
Anoop elucidates, “What started with supporting a handful of farmers on a part time basis, soon became a strong passion towards promoting the organic movement. We tried to create an awareness of potential health hazards, chemical body burden and natural wellness. With the consumers becoming more mindful of everything they consume in their day to day lives, we affirmed that buying organic food was not just a luxury, but a convenience!”
The key USP of Everything Organik or the product line of it, is that it is affordable and since the produce comes directly from thousands of farmers spread across India, the brand has managed to keep its costs low and infact have kept the same price for more than 18 months even during the lockdown period.
Anoop rightly says, “If I was to sum up the USPs, they would be:
- Affordable
- Fresh
- Non-GMO
- Direct from farmers
The supply chain has improved a lot specially with the farmers as the brand has introduced a system of 10-12 farmers pooling and getting the desired produce to the collection point every delivery day and then rotating the use of their vehicles and sharing the delivery cost so that it is less of a burden on an individual farmer.
“We do have a future plan to introduce efficient and cost effective delivery solution not just for us but for a couple of small businesses put together,” informs Anoop.
As for exports, Everything Organik is not exporting as yet but are in talks with a lot of interested parties who are in the business of export to countries like UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Thailand.
Outlining his future roadmap he shares, “The plans that I have for Everything Organik is to expand the brand to as many cities as possible in the next 2 years and have weekend organic markets in key areas in order to enhance the awareness that organic is the way of life and specially after the current pandemic having hit the entire globe how essential it is to eat right. We intend to rope in as many farmers from the organic stream as possible at the local city level in order to support them and get them a fair price, provide them more possibilities for expansion for supplies to other states thus enhancing their income source.”
