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STThis man tried to protect Indians from foreign juice brands, but that decision eventually became the reason for his downfall.
Anuj noticed that most foreign brands were selling sugar syrups and artificial flavours in the name of fruit juice. The only other option available was roadside juice, which had no guarantee of hygiene or freshness.
To solve this problem, he invested ₹80 lakhs and launched Raw Pressery, India’s first fresh, preservative-free cold-pressed juice brand. The demand grew so rapidly that he even had to rely on Mumbai’s famous dabbawalas for home delivery.
Encouraged by this success, he decided to take his fresh juices to offline stores in PET bottles.
But this freshness soon turned into his biggest challenge. When the lockdown hit, sales came to a halt. With no preservatives, the juices had a very short shelf life, leading to massive stock wastage. As losses piled up, investors pulled back their support, and Anuj was ultimately forced to sell his company at just one-fourth of its peak valuation.
This was Episode 42 of Secret Business Stories. Follow for Episode 43.
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