+91 9167857580 ankita@q3healthcare.com

And What if we add Little Nutritive Value to it???????

MINIS PROJECT (Case Study)

Q3 Healthcare assisted as a consultant in a start-up for Nutritional Snacks for kids. We worked with the founder since Dec-2018 till their first commercial launch converting their idea into a viable business.

CONCEPT:

One day a mother approached us with an idea of developing 2 to 3 innovative products for kids. The idea came to her when she was on the lookout for tasty and healthy eating options for her 5 year old kid. She realized that like her many parents around her struggled for healthy ready-to-eat snacks for their children. Her idea was to develop snacks that had the right balance of flavour, fun & nutrition. She also wanted the product to be a quick one that would work in the interest of working moms or mom of two.

As the launch market was India, she wanted to use local ingredients to build the snacks. She wanted to use more of Indian inspired ingredients.

Given that she had travelled quite a bit, she wanted to work on products like nutritive breadsticks, cookies that can disintegrate into a porridge or healthy mini cookies.
She wanted products that were tasty, healthy, nutritive & filling for a kid after he/she has a long tiring day at school & is feeling sluggish, inactive & hungry as hell.

Q3 HEALTHCARES ROLE:

  • Ideation
  • Project Planning w.r.t. timing & costing
  • Vendor Sourcing
  • Hiring a Nutritionist
  • Hiring a baker
  • Making a Prototype- Trial & Error
  • Contract Manufacturing
  • R & D Product Development
  • Interaction with Testing Laboratories
  • Batch manufacturing
  • Packaging
  • Labelling- Label content
  • Documentation/ Data Management
  • Branding
  • Commercial Launch

This is how it all started…

Brain storming & Ideation

After the founder approached us, we analysed the kids food market in India for existing products & possible opportunities. The research was focused around working out an effective strategic plan to what to make, how to make, how to sell, how to pack, etc. Keeping in mind the above factors & market research we built up the project plan. The project plan was built keeping in mind the products we needed to work on, the time required for whole process, the pricing strategy, the costing of products, our fees, etc. to give a fair idea to the founder to take this forward.

Project Execution

Based on the project plan a road map was built for two products namely the disintegrating cookies & mini cookies. Through various meetings, we agreed on the road map, timelines & overall approach to build the business. Each area was discussed & we were made in charge of certain key areas like product development, vendor sourcing, contract manufacturing, branding, etc.

Vendor Sourcing & Hiring a nutritionist

After finalizing the project plan we started our interview process for a nutritionist. Given that building a nutritive product was key, we thoroughly vetted few nutritionist & hired a nutritionist that worked as a personal nutritionist for women.

Our other aim was to make healthy but tastier cookies from local ingredients. We researched on various flours, acquired samples, spoke to vendors & checked their nutritive value. As per our research, germinated grains were found to be rich in minerals, calcium, vitamins & proteins. As these germinated “Mighty Millets” would add value to our products we hunted for manufacturers of these millets. We did the research on companies manufacturing facilities before ordering and procured COA to ensure best quality of Raw Material. On through testing & due diligence, we sourced these millets from Hyderabad.

We Seek Excellence, by Constant Trial & Error

As very rightly stated in above quote, Trial & Error helped us find an ideal recipe for our cookies. Our nutritionist started baking in her home using different grains. She experimented with Jawar, Bajra, Wheat, Besan etc. Given nutrition was key, she tried replacing sugar with healthier sweeteners like jaggery. Even the regular oil/butter was replaced by cow ghee. Various combinations were tested & tasted to finalise the most delicious yet healthy cookie.

Given that we wanted to make cookies for all, we worked only to develop a vegetarian version of the product. We worked with natural substitutes of eggs to ensure that the cookies are pure veg.

Baker on the Way!!

After a lot of trial batches by the nutritionist we hired a baker who could fine tweak the recipe for commercial batch. We were able to hire a baker who was also a new mother to help fine tune our recipes. As it is rightly said, “Never ask a baker what went into a pie”, we finalized the recipe and came up with the sweet, crunchy, crumbly, buttery mini cookies which were perfect as a snack. We did a soft launch of our cookie bites with some kids & they were an instant hit.

Contract Manufacturing

We personally visited the site of the contract manufacturing vendor before the founder was introduced to them. Once both parties agreed on mutual terms, we started trials of different batches; trained their staff with adequate knowledge & proficiency to achieve a high quality Product.

R & D development sourcing

Product development is a mixture and essential combination of many factors. In the world of baking, especially cookies, launching a new entry to a crowded market requires a precise mixture of many components. We sourced the site for R & D development of our product. Personally visited the site & checked its efficacy.

Batch Manufacturing

Post the trials, we started to commercial manufacture the cookies. Different combination of cookies were manufactured & packed under the guidance of our team.

Testing Laboratories Interaction

For any commercial launch, testing reports of the products are critical. We worked with testing laboratories to identify the reports that we needed to meet certain regulatory requirements. We worked with them to compile the product reports.

Data Management/ Documentation

After finalization of recipe we prepared a Master file for Batch manufacturing process.
Preparation of BOM, Protocol before R&D Trial, Compilation of lab test data, Personal Hygiene Presentation, Master Batch Records/ Packing Records. We also maintained a through record of all the documents around ingredients sourced, testing reports, etc.

Our minis project was complete and we launched 2 flavours of small cookie bites:
Oats Banana Chocolate Chip Minis
Ragi Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Minis

The modern-day parent is always on the go, be it for work or leisure and at the same time are also looking out for quick, yet-nutritious snacking options. As per the saying “Healthy snacks grows healthy kids”, our cookie bites help to satisfy hunger between meals and boost energy. They also round out the diet, ensuring that children are getting all of the nutrients they need to fuel their growth and development. Learning to eat and enjoy healthy snacks encourages kids to develop healthy eating habits.

CONCLUSION:

We can proudly state that we were successful in achieving the founders goal of nutritious & tasty snack for kids while adhering to Q3’s most important factor – Quality.
Raw materials quality, equipment efficiency, sanitation & hygiene, not to mention the staff knowledge & Proficiency all have a part to play in achieving quality.
In terms of processes, handling during mixing, proving, baking, cooling & storage after production all have a significant impact on overall product quality.
We took an idea & formulated it in to a product, supporting it from scratch to soft launch to commercial launch.