In the next five years, we are slated to grow at 13% CAGR: Shaival Desai, PetPooja

Adgully is back with a new edition of its annual feature – TRENDING NOW – where we present the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of the pandemic period.

Over the last few weeks, Trending Now has been bringing insights from industry leaders on how their organisations are geared up to seize the opportunities in 2022, break through the Covid disruptions and find growth and remain resilient.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully at NRAI’s Cloud Kitchen Convention, Shaival Desai, VP - Growth, PetPooja, speaks about the challenges the food industry has faced during pandemic, their road to recovery and much more.

What are the trends and opportunities that you see in this industry in 2022?

We really believe that there is going to be a lot of space for all kinds of brands. The number of organised chains in India are still the ones that are international chains, we don’t have such large homegrown chains. I think that is a wide space that is just out there for the taking, just considering the sheer size of the population and the spending capacity. I also believe that there is a lot of chance for a lot of Indian restaurants to go outside and prove their mettle. Food is democratised and I think we have one of the richest cultural heritages in terms of food. We can showcase that to the word as well.

What are the challenges that you have faced in the past few years? How are you recovering?

As a digital platform, we provide the backend technology. We really empathise with the problems that are faced by our users, our merchants, and the restaurants, but as a platform, we have seen a lot of tailwinds because the pandemic actually forced people to adopt technology in a very big way. And it made it such that even people who were resistant to it, became habituated to it. I think that is a push that came from the restaurants. The pandemic really helped us because it pushed forward the digital adoption and that’s true for all start-up services. It really accelerated digital adoption.

Where do you see the industry in the next five years?

In the next five years, we are slated to grow at 13% CAGR. When we talk about the industry, we mostly talk about the organised space. The organised space is going to grow at a much larger pace. There are two reasons for this. One is that people are going the organised route from day one. Secondly, the conversion of people who are running smaller outlets today to more organised settings. And that shift is happening. So, I think the industry should double, if not more, in the next five years and that is what we are seeing.