With perseverance and hard work, many things that appear impossible become feasible. Many people have business dreams. However, occasionally it cannot be done because of financial and other limitations.
These 3 college friends had a dream and made it possible by starting their company Bakingo and Flower Aura with Rs.2 lakh investment, and today it clocks Rs.135 crores in revenue. This is the success tale of the newly founded online bakery company Bakingo. Three college mates, Himanshu Chawla, Shrey Sehgal, and Suman Patra, invested Rs 2 lakh to launch it.
Remembering The Old Days
The trio started their journey in a dorm room while attending the Netaji Subhas University of Technology in Dwarka, Delhi. All three completed various B.Tech courses. Suman was the first to complete his degree in 2006 and was one year older than the other two.
In 2007, Himanshu and Shrey completed their B.Tech. The trio did jobs in various organizations but joined forces to introduce Flower Aura in 2010.
They used to spend hours together in their dormitory together, where they realized that they have complementary skills to work together. They all actively participated in organizing the college fests which gave them the confidence and the courage to manage and start their business in 2010.
Beginning Of A Successful Story
Their first venture, Flower Aura, a brand under FA GIFTS Pvt Ltd. had a humble beginning in February 2010, from a basement in Gurugram. At the beginning of their venture, there were very few e-commerce portals. In their initial days, they had just one employee who worked as a customer service representative and also managed operations and delivery.
They were inundated with orders on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, in the first year of their firm, little more than a few weeks following its opening. Himanshu and Shrey had to help out in delivering order door to door because their delivery person was unable to handle the orders. They both delivered more than 50% orders across Delhi NCR.
Their business did well in the first year with a turnover of a whopping Rs.10 lakh. Today, Flower Aura has a turnover of more than Rs. 60 crores with 150 people working on it.
Taking a Step Forward From Bakingo
In 2016 Himanshu Chawla, Shrey Sehgal, and Suman Patra decided to take their business to another level and launched Bakingo with the idea of delivering premium quality cakes anywhere in India online. They registered their new venture under a new company called Bake Wish Pvt Ltd.
The bakery business in India has typically been a more regional experience, almost like a boutique, that may serve the best product but fails to expand out with outlets in different areas.
They did extensive research before starting Bakingo, to get the same taste across its 50 cloud kitchens in various cities. Its USP is that it offers 500 types of cakes at a given time against 8-10 cake varieties offered by traditional bakers.
Bakingo decided to close the gap by offering clients the same brand of freshly baked goods with the same taste in various locations throughout the nation. For the establishment of Bakingo, they did substantial research and development to deliver the same flavor across all of their 50 cloud kitchens with more than 500 varieties of cakes.
Today, Bakingo delivers in 35 different cities, including popular cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurugram, and Jaipur. Bakingo delivers cakes through online food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato.
Just like cakes, there is another interesting story of a man ruling a coffee chain – please check about Laxman Narasimhan, An Engineer From Pune Ruling World’s Largest Coffee Chains
Bakingo targets the young generation which prefers to celebrate every occasion, whether its birthdays or getting a new job, they celebrate every occasion with a mandatory cake-cutting ceremony.
If we talk about prices, Bakingo cakes start from around Rs.800 for half a kg, with their cupcakes starting from Rs.75-80. Bakingo also offers a variety of cheesecakes starting from Rs.150.
India is a country where people like Indian desserts and the taste which has passed on through older generations. Whereas, Bakingo offers western-style desserts targetting the younger generation which loves to experiment and try western-style food more than Indian-style desserts.
Today, Bakingo has a workforce of more than 500 people, with a turnover of 75 crores. 30% of sales take place from their website and the remaining 70% are from apps like Swiggy and Zomato.
If You Want To Read More About Bakingo, You Can Check Out Their Website: Bakingo, LinkedIn
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