Cocomunzzz: Revolutionizing Coconut as a Lifestyle Product in India, ET HospitalityWorld
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For Venkata Vikas Vepuri, a civil engineer turned entrepreneur in agro industries and founder of Vepuri Agro Cocomunzzz , an innovative cafe he opened in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh , was not a mere extension of his business, but a demonstration of a strong desire to see that the agro processing business he began six years ago didn't encounter the same challenges that many of his predecessors faced before fading into oblivion.Vepuri Agro developed a very loyal customer base in the hospitality industry for its conventional products of frozen chutneys, grated coconut, powders, oils, etc. over the last six years. But as an entrepreneur Vepuri felt that it was not enough to make the business sustain and thrive in the long run. The outcome was Cocomunzzz, a unique cafe, which celebrates coconut in all its hues and tries to elevate the stature of coconut as a lifestyle product.'We are a farmer-centric company working directly with coconut growers in the state and creating value-added lifestyle products to consumers so that we can provide better value to our farmers to sustain the farming. We have procured over 90 lac coconuts since we started our company in 2019 and we are today the largest coconut-centric agro processing company in the state,' Vepuri said. His company Vepuri Agro has over 20 coconut based SKUs in the market today.The products on the Cocomunzzz cafe menu have become the talk of the town. Started as a desserts only cafe, within a short time it upgraded itself into a full-fledged restaurant offering interesting and exciting food offerings—pizza to pasta; sandwiches and hot and cold brews to shakes; an entire range of gelatos, ice-creams and more.But the unique aspect is that all these food items have at least 15 to 20 percent coconut in it. Vepuri and his team have replaced many unhealthy inputs that go into these dishes with healthy coconut ingredients at Cocomunzzz.'We have replaced conventional dairy milk with coconut milk, water with coconut water, creams with coconut creams, coconut honey, coconut sugar,etc for sweeteners. We are not using any preservatives or flavouring agents in our food,' he said.Having received a good reception in Vijayawada, Vepuri is now looking at expanding the cafe brand to Hyderabad soon, where he plans to open in the next four months, he said. After that, he is considering expansion into northern India.He feels that the novelty factor will be stronger for the Cocomunzzz brand offerings in the non-traditional markets than the traditional markets of coconut in south India.'Our strategy is to go and open a few company-owned and operated stores in key north Indian cities in the next couple of years. Once the SOPs are in place and perfected, we will do the valuation of the brand,' he said.After proper brand valuation, Vepuri indicated that he might look for funding through equity dilution and further growth opportunities through franchise stores and other business models.
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