Sanket S, Co-founder of Scandalous Foods, speaks to BW Retail World about revenue growth, expansion ambitions, seasonal innovation, and why his preservative-free Indian desserts are redefining post-meal indulgence for restaurants across India
The brand has been making waves in the FMB industry with its unique offerings. So, can you just walk through the company’s journey so far and highlight some of the key milestones of the brand?
We started Scandalous Foods in August 2022, after 14+ years in the food industry—including building and exiting Urban Spice and running a cloud kitchen with Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi. Post-pandemic, I noticed India’s food service sector booming like never before, and I realised organised players would need reliable back-end food processing—just like the West. I chose to specialise in Indian desserts, spotting a huge gap: mithais weren’t designed for the restaurant industry—no shelf life, no convenient packaging. That’s how Scandalous Foods was born: to bring mithais like Rasmalai, Shahi Tukda, Moong Dal Halwa, and Gulab Jamun to restaurants in a ready-to-serve, preservative-free, 6-month shelf-life format.
We started in a 1,400 sq ft kitchen and now operate from a 6,300 sq ft unit in Nashik, expanding to 11,000 sq ft this August. Our daily capacity will soon reach 4 tonnes. We supply to over 2,200 touchpoints across 8 cities, partnering with Zepto Café, Rebel Foods, Swiggy, Wow Momo, and more. We’ve grown 7x in monthly and 4.5x in yearly revenues. After a successful pre-seed round with marquee angels, we’re now raising another USD 1M to scale further. It’s been an exciting journey—and we’re just getting started.
Can you walk us through your revenue from last year and share how you plan to sustain this strong growth momentum in the coming years?
In FY23, we had a partial year, starting in August 2022, and closed with Rs 30 lakhs in revenue. FY24 saw us grow to Rs 1.12 crore, and in FY25, we hit Rs 5 crore—marking a 4.5x year-on-year growth. But I truly believe we’re just getting started. While we’re present at 2,200+ touchpoints today, India has over 90 lakh restaurants—70 lakh of which are small, independent outlets with under 5 units.
Our vision is to become India’s biggest mithaiwalas in the unplanned dessert purchase category. Our five-year goal is to reach one lakh of these small restaurants, with each sourcing just Rs 4,000 per month worth of mithai from us. That alone could build a Rs 400 crore annual business.
In FMCG, distribution is king. We’ve spent the last two years getting the product and backend supply chain right. Now, our focus is laser-sharp on building a robust distribution network to reach these outlets efficiently and sustainably. We’re on track to triple our revenue to Rs 15 crore in FY26, and while it’s early in the year, all indicators are pointing in the right direction. The journey ahead is tough, but we’re ambitious and ready.
Are there any new products that you’re planning to offer so that the growth continues ?
We’ve been very clear from the start—we don’t want to be a mithai shop making 60 varieties. In fact, we began with 12–15 SKUs but quickly scaled down to four core products after studying consumer behaviour. We found that 32 per cent of mithai consumption in India is milk-based, and post-meal preferences—especially after rich foods like biryani or butter chicken—tend to lean towards chilled, milk-based desserts. So, we focused on those few high-impact products rather than spreading ourselves thin.
Instead of following the 80-20 rule, we’ve focused on the 20 per cent of mithais that bring in 90 per cent of the demand. That said, we do add seasonal limited editions—like Gajar Halwa in winter, Mango Rasmalai in summer (which was a huge hit), Modak during Ganesh Chaturthi, Shahi Tukda during Eid, and Mawa Gujiya for Holi.
Currently, we’re working on launching a new range of flavoured rasmalais, including Sitaphal, Strawberry, and Blueberry. These have been developed and are in the pre-launch stage. Our aim is to stay sharp, focused, and innovative while offering a few best-in-class, high-demand Indian desserts.
How do you address concerns around preservatives and health risks, especially while extending the shelf life of Indian desserts without compromising on safety or quality?
At Scandalous Foods, all our mithais are 100 per cent preservative-free—and that’s possible because we use blast freezing technology. Let me explain: bacterial activity is highest between 5°C and 65°C. So, when food sits in that range—like lunch carried from home at 9 a.m. and eaten at 2 p.m.—it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. But below –5°C, bacterial growth virtually stops.
We take our desserts from 100°C to –32°C within four hours of production using blast freezing and then store them at –18°C. In our case, temperature is the preservative. Think of it like fossils preserved in Antarctica—frozen and intact for centuries.
I truly believe our industry needs to do more to educate people that frozen or processed food, when done right, is not unhealthy. The stigma comes from a lack of awareness. With the right technology and standards, frozen food can actually be safer and fresher than what sits at room temperature for hours. We’re proud to lead that conversation.
What trends do you see shaping the industry in the next few years, and how do you plan to position your brand to introduce changing trends and capitalize it?
If you look at where India stands today—with a per capita income around USD 2,700—we’re entering a key growth phase. Historically, countries crossing the USD 2,000 mark shift from fulfilling basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter to splurging on them. We’re now seeing that trend here. Our families have provided us with the basics, and now consumers want to upgrade—whether it’s spending more on dining, fashion, or housing.
In the apparel space, platforms like Myntra and Snitch are thriving. Similarly, in food, there’s an explosion of cloud kitchens and new-age restaurants. But when you compare India’s restaurant density to that of the US—even accounting only for India’s middle-income population—we’re still way behind. This indicates massive headroom for growth in food services.
As India journeys from USD 2,000 to USD 6,000 per capita income over the next 5–7 years, I believe we’ll witness an exponential rise in food-related businesses—restaurants, cafés, cloud kitchens, and delivery services. For those of us operating in the ecosystem, the opportunity is enormous.
With the right support, food processing could become to India in the 2020s what IT was in the ’80s and ’90s—a true engine of economic growth and job creation.
