Mira Jhala is the founder of Frogo Foods. Frogo sources a variety of frozen food products. It includes rotis, paratha, non-vegetarian snacks, momos, pizza, wraps, and much more.
Frogo Foods
Frogo is an e-commerce platform entirely built for frozen foods.
Mira says, “I was in the food industry. I was building a product company. I used to decide on the product, the packaging, name, and logo and when I started looking at the distribution is when I realized that in the frozen food category, distribution was really pitiful. Building awareness for a brand within the frozen ecosystem was very hard. Hence, I realized it is a much larger problem to solve and seeds of Frogo were given.
USPs of Frogo
Frogo delivers a diverse selection of frozen food products. They have 300 varieties of ice creams under 25 brands. They also have the largest selection of frozen vegetables, foods, momos, kababs, rotis, parathas, ready to eat meals.
Mira adds, “The idea is to give the consumers the convenience to sit at home and order frozen food, stock it up in their freezer, and cook as and when they require it. It saves their time in this busy life.”
They have built the entire cold chain with 30-step quality checks in place to ensure the product delivered is top-grade quality. The temperature is maintained at -18 degrees for the entire supply chain from manufacturing to the doorstep. Frogo ensures that frozen food items are delivered in the best state.
The truth about frozen foods
There is a wide misconception that frozen food is unhealthy. Freezing is the cleanest form of preservation. Frozen food products are equally nutritious as fresh food provided; they are stored at the right temperature. Freezing is nature’s pause button. Quality fruits and veggies are frozen at their peak ripeness, locking in key vitamins and minerals and preserving taste. Frozen food is the new fresh.
Consumers are opening up and they are educating themselves on the benefits of freezing. COVID has accelerated its adoption, people have tried alot many frozen foods kebabs, and parathas because they didn’t have access to their normal day food shops. Thus, COVID has accelerated the growth and adoption of the frozen food category.
Consumption of frozen food
Mira informs, “Frozen foods are generally thought of deep fried but Frogo has a big selection of products that can be air fried or can be baked in the oven or even just dry roast on the Tawa. Now one can order India’s favourite snack samosas on Frogo which come as frozen and reheat in the oven or airfryer, and you are ready to eat them guilt-free.”
Challenges of frozen food industry
The first is the perception of consumers that frozen food is unhealthy. But it is slowly changing.
The government has made a lot of advancements to improve the cold chain infrastructure. However, in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, still a lot needs to be done as the backbone of the frozen food industry is built on this infrastructure.
Expansion plans of Frogo
Mira expresses, “The addressable market is the entire country. Started in Gurgaon, currently serving in South Delhi also. We want to have a very strong presence within the Delhi NCR and want to penetrate deeply before going wide. After acquiring enough market share in the NCR, we will go to other metros.”
Frogo’s goal is to build an e-commerce frozen food channel that is focused on quality and customer experience.
Learnings for aspiring entrepreneurs
There will be challenges in every profession. Find your passion and follow it. Get into something you are passionate about. The purpose will keep you going.
(Edited by Renu Gupta)