Getting healthy has never been easier, and iTiffin shows you why

Following a diet plan and maintaining a nutritious diet in 24X7 work scenario can become difficult at times and in order to calm down our hunger pangs, we order ready-to-eat junk stuff and regret later.

If you keep ditching your diet plan, Bengaluru-based nutrition consultancy, Qua Nutrition, is at your rescue as it is delivering nutritious food at your door-step through iTiffin, a start-up offering healthy, calorie-defined food.

Founders Tapan Das and Ryan Fernando said they got the idea of starting iTiffin when they offered help to Karnataka’s ace cricketer Robin Uthappa, who was struggling with a healthy diet.

Uthappa approached Qua Nutrition and it helped the cricketer improve his health. Das and Fernando then realised that rendering advice served a very limited purpose and founded iTiffin. Uthappa helped start the business by putting in close to Rs 1.5 crore.

iTiffin started operations in October 2013 and caters to nutritional requirements of all age brackets, from specialised meals for children to food for the elderly.

"We blend advanced nutrition, food science and food service to offer everything from wellness-inducing to calorie-defined meals, as per the diner's preference," Das, Co-founder and CEO, told Economic Times.


The iTiffin team of about 100 consists of food and nutrition scientists and expert chefs who can dish out up to 20,000 meals a day. Its average preparation is 2,000 meals a day.

The start-up follows a subscription-based business model and food can be ordered via its website or over the phone-80% of its orders come via the website.
iTiffin offers weekly and monthly lunch and dinner subscription plans, priced at Rs 500-800 and Rs 1,800-3,000 respectively.

One cannot order a single meal. "Healthy food is not a one-off thing, you need to make it a part of your lifestyle," Fernando, Co-founder and Director, told ET.
Currently, the service is limited to Bengaluru, however, the founders aim to have a pan-India presence, who are building a team and a team is expected to become
operational in Delhi soon.

The start-up also offers Munchboxes- healthy snacks for those between-the-meals cravings-which can be ordered by anybody from any part of the country.
The financial daily reported that within one year of its operations, iTiffin served over one lakh meals. It recorded a revenue close to Rs 3 crore in 2014 and is looking to double its employee strength to 200 in the next six months.

"We listen to our customers and understand their need and design our offerings accordingly. It helps the business," Fernando told ET.
On the suggestion of one of its customers, it recently started a special variety of flour, i-Atta, said to be better-suited to diabetics than ordinary flour.
But, one of the challenges for iTiffin can be retaining customers.

It has an average customer retention period of 60 days, and more than 5,000 loyal customers, but expanding the customer base and the retention period is a daunting
task.

(Image: Indiatimes)