Snacks have become part and parcel of modern city life. And they are notoriously unhealthy. One startup is trying to give this guilty pleasure a healthy option.

With health consciousness on the rise in the young, chips and other snack items have come under increasing public scrutiny in recent times. Consumers nowadays look for healthier snack options that are free of preservatives and other major artificial substances. For a generation so obsessed with packaged foods, preservative-free chips and snack items made out of vegetables give a tastier experience as well as becoming a healthy option as refreshments. “People’s attitudes towards low-nutrition food items in the country are changing rapidly,” says Nisha Bhalami, CEO of N’s Fresh Snacks. Her company is probably the only snack maker that produces veggie and fruits contained chips and snacks in the domestic market. 

Bhalami, who began her startup in 2014 currently has been producing four products namely, Plain Murukku, Spinach Crunchies, Bombay Mixture and Spicy Mixture.  Her innovative approach led the company to produce chips and snacks from spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, curry leaves, sesame and rice.  Bhalami says, no preservatives and colourings are added to the products as opposed to other popular ones available in the market. N’s Fresh Snack, meanwhile, is also the distributor of the health drink MaltoRich and Crunchy Chocolate in Nepal.  

Raised in Kathmandu, Bhalami did her Masters in Human Resource Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship in Bangalore. After spending eight years in India, she returned to Nepal in 2009 with some long term plans in her mind. Before starting the N’s Fresh Snacks, she worked in various reputed firms including Morang Auto Works and Verisk IT (now Verscand Technologies). Presently, she is working as the Head of HR in a company along with running her business. "It was during my stay in South India that I got to consume chips made out of banana, bitter gourd and jackfruit which gave me an idea to start similar products here,” she says.

She grew up learning about the entrepreneurial spirit from her engineer father and her mother who had a business in plastic products. "I got to know about the elements of business from an early age which is also one of my inspirations for becoming an entrepreneur," she shares. Bhalami, who admits to being quite the workaholic, has to divide her time between her business as well as her work. "My job at the company where I work starts at 9:30 am and ends at 5:30 pm," Bhalamisays, adding, "The lunch break and non-office hours are devoted to my business." An enthusiast towards new things, she says that she has always looked for new ideas since her school days. "I wanted to open up a business even when I was pursuing my higher secondary level. Looking at a lot of businesses while I was in Banagalore, I eventually decided to initiate an innovative concept of healthy snacks in Nepal and began my company as Hot Chips and Fresh Snacks with an initial investment of Rsthree million,” she says. 

The Journey and Challenges
After deciding to start the company, Bhalami went to India and immediately published an advertisement in the Times of India seeking for a skilled cook who can prepare chips and snacks. However, she did not get the intended response to the advertisement. She then took another step to recruit the chips maker.  Her number of holidays which she had taken from her office was shortening. Despite that, she travelled all the way from Bangalore to Kerala in search of a cook.  "After travelling for 12 days, I found the cook. However, after a one week trial in Kathmandu, he left the job," she shares. 

The challenge was immediate but Bhalami did not lose heart. Without further ado she started searching for a trainer who could train Nepali cooks to prepare snacks.  The Nepali workers whom she hired later learnt the preparing method quickly. "However, what they learnt was just the basics and the innovation part was entirely on me. I constantly observed the product and also went for different expos. I was getting a lot of positive feedback especially from foreigners," Bhalami says.  "Suddenly my main cook left the factory after three months," she shares. "Though this was the toughest moment in my journey, I had to recharge myself and get back to my work," she says, adding, "As it is said that challenge is an opportunity to get more out of you, I came back to my factory and started preparing snacks myself." After a few months, her business began to get systematic.Gradually she brought a machine from Delhi and packaged the snacks at Bhairawaha.  This all took around eight months and then the company started market distribution. 

Expansion and Exports 
One ambition she had when starting her production was to set a business model after the chips came to the market. In the intervening time, she heard about a 100 day business accelerator programme and applied for it. “After getting selected, I learnt a lot of organised techniques for business. I got a proposal for product expansion which led me to take the distribution responsibility of MaltoRich because of the programme," she says. Bhalami strongly believes that there should be professional growth every two years. She applied the same theory to herself, and started working as a distributor company for the product. "The product has already gained a lot of attention within a short period and made its presence felt in various parts of the country including Itahari, Dharan, Biratnagar, Birtamode, Dang, Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Pokhara and Kathmandu.  On the other hand, N's Fresh Chips are available in major department stores in the valley including Saleways, Salesberry, Bluebird Mart and KK Mart,” she says. 

The company has 13 products in the pipeline and it is also set to start an outlet selling fresh chips. "Through the outlet we will provide fresh chips cooked on the same day. For the delivery options, we have been talking with food delivery website Foodmandu to reach all our health-conscious consumers. In this concept, we will produce fewer amounts so that they will not remain for the next day," she says. Very soon, N's fresh snack is also coming out with corn chips. 

It is not that Bhalami has not thought about exporting. Despite opportunities, presently she is just concentrating on building the quality of the products rather than on export.  "There are a lot of requirements and certifications to pass to send products to foreign countries. Though our products are healthy and hygienic, we are yet to make them the best products," she says. The company aims to expand its market from niche to mass. “With years of research, I have realised that the Nepali consumers prefer to have spicy foods," she shares.  Keeping this in mind, the company is also searching for natural preservatives and seasonings for its upcoming products. "I can easily get the artificial seasonings but what I want is to give a full healthy snack to consumers," she says.

One thing that the accelerator programme has also done is to give her a new broader vision and direction. Before joining the programme, her vision was limited to N's products. About a year after the programme, she is thinking bigger. Five years down the line, she expects to become an owner of a business house and plans to make multiple ranges of products including confectionaries.