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In 2018, I collaborated with a client to make and sell protein shakes. The shakes were straightforward. They contained a sweetener (honey), whey, flavour (coffee, malt, hazelnut cocoa) and milk powder. Sweta (the client) made the shakes from scratch. Making nut butter, steeping the chocolate or coffee and blending the ingredients.
They were very well received. Especially the hazelnut chocolate flavour. Clients loved the shakes. I bought one of those Blue Star Visicoolers and stocked them in the gym. We even got as far as stocking the drinks in one more gym and a popular grocery store near home.
Covid came and I didn't pursue the idea. To do so would have required time and attention to figuring out how to improve the shelf life without compromising the quality and use of fresh ingredients. And if it had to be fresh, it would have to be stored at a very low temperature consistently. This was actually a problem since shops would turn off fridges.
And it was early days of the protein craze. Actually scratch that. There was no protein craze yet. But there were still takers for the product. Lots of takers. And repeat takers.
Not because 35 percent of the calories were from protein. That was something we were particular about. Anything less than 35 percent of the calories being from protein, and you could ask clients to just have an egg or glass of skim milk.
The product was 'popular' to its limited audience simply because it tasted terrific. Credit to Sweta for this. She really did get the proportions right. And the shakes tasted just as indulgent as their protein-deficient counterparts did.
So people lapped it up and the protein was a bonus. I speculate this product may have done much better in the current circumstances.
The entire process of operating Mereshake for 1 year or so taught me a few very interesting things:
Taste always comes first. Not a universal rule. But it correlates with degree of knowledge, motivation and conviction in health and wellness outcomes. Your willingness to tolerate 'less' flavourful food for the sake of better macros or nourishment comes down to how much you buy into the cause.
Fresh food is stupidly hard to scale and store. It is temperature sensitive. And the food tastes different within 16-18 hours of being made. Getting it right is hard.
A simple lesson when you realise how much retail margins are for consumer facing businesses versus wholesale prices. This might not surprise many. But nuts, milk powder, whey, cocoa, coffee, dates, figs. Everything really. So much cheaper bought in larger quantities from the guys who bring it into the country or sell to restaurants and hotels. The quality is almost always better too.
Personal lesson: I don't multi-task. I envy those who can operate two-three businesses simultaneously. It is a skill to find people, empower them and work alongside them. I've managed that with my gym. But I can't find the bandwidth to build much else.