Suite42 2023: We Manufacture Products Across Food Staples, Food Processing, FMCG and Nutraceuticals!

As a visionary leader at this dynamic venture capital-funded startup, Rahul and his team are pioneering a revolution in the way Enterprises and Brands harness the manufacturing capabilities of India. Suite42 is not your typical startup. It's a powerhouse of expertise and innovation, committed to bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and the manufacturing industry. With a mission to empower businesses across the spectrum, from budding Proof-of-Concept ventures to established Enterprises embarking on new divisions, Suite42 is the catalyst that propels these brands to new heights. Join Delivery Rank, as we delve deeper into the world of Suite42, where Rahul Ratan and his team are unlocking the potential of digital manufacturing supply chains, setting the stage for unparalleled growth and success in the competitive marketplace.

Can you provide an overview of Suite42's mission and how it is transforming the manufacturing landscape in India?

Our Mission is to transform India as a sustainable food processing/manufacturing hub serving the globe.

India is the 2nd largest and one of the oldest Agri producers of the world with strengths across food categories like Cereals, Spices, Fruits & Vegetables and many more. With all this background, India is still not considered as a leading exporter of food products and especially processed food products. 

India currently ranks 8th with a share of 2.33% in global agricultural exports and ranks 9th in the world of exporting finished processed foods. We accounted for 6.5% of total world processed exports in 2018.

Contrary to the misconception that India's own consumption is huge enough for it to have anything remaining to export; looking at the data we will understand why this is not true. Unfortunately, food wastage, lack of proper processing and preserving techniques for extending shelf life, quality control, supply predictability, traceability etc. are major factors owing to our current position in the F & B Industry.

However, deep diving we realize that India's food manufacturing capacity is underutilized by ~40%. So these become potential factors for growth - underutilized manufacturing capacities and the global food processing being the need of the hour to solve for food security.

Suite42 empowers manufacturers by bringing the global & right demand alongside upscaling them to export standards whilst ensuring predictability of supply. We not only help the manufacturers realize their capacity, but create a global presence as a credible partner as well.

What sets Suite42 apart from traditional manufacturing solutions, and how do you ensure best-in-class capabilities for your clients?

Traditional manufacturing generally lacks oversight on quality and efficiency of the process with no emphasis on traceability.

Suite42 with expertise in the F&B supply chain, understands these problems in the Indian traditional manufacturing, and is consistently prioritizing quality and traceability. 

Here is how we ensure the same:

1. In-house quality experts both onsite and off-site. Our quality team sets up processes to be followed by all the stakeholders involved in the manufacturing of a product. With the processes in place, our quality team is present at the manufacturing facility to ensure that the manufacturer adheres to those processes. 

2. With our tech capabilities and business operations team, we are able to track the flow of all the bills of materials for manufacturing and also the finished goods; thus keeping the client aware of where their product is at any given point of time. This not only enables visibility in the entire supply chain but also helps in undertaking quick transformation or de-risking the supply chain if and when required without any delays in the overall project timelines.

Suite42 is a VC-funded startup. How has this funding influenced the company's growth and innovation, and what are your plans for future expansion?

Suite42 took seed funding in 2022 backed by Orios Ventures and Omnivore capital; both with an immense experience in the agri-food sector. The decision behind going for seed funding was to scale as an entity while testing our product market fit to establish ourselves even stronger in the F&B Industry.

As expected, the seed funding helped us in two fronts:

1. We were able to scale up our capital given how working capital intensive food & beverage manufacturing is as an industry.

2. We had all-round access to multiple links & resources as we managed to leverage the learnings from our investors who had strong prior experience in the food & beverages industry.

With regards to our expansion plans, we look at it from three lenses:

1. Category expansion and backward integration into all our chosen categories. We plan to dive deeper into higher processed foods.

2. Geographic expansion - We plan to scale our exports in selected regions of GCC & SEA.

3. Tech building - We plan to streamline and strengthen our tech platform for all our internal and external stakeholders; as we see this as a major part of our business offering in the long run.

The aforementioned are our goals. However, the means to get there is what excites us on a daily basis and pushes us to go beyond.

Collaboration with key accounts is crucial. Could you share some strategies or best practices Suite42 employs to build and maintain strong relationships with its clients?

Having clearly put out what we stand for and what we want to achieve as part of our mission, we would now want to onboard all our clients and supply chain partners on to the same page for maximum value addition.

Here is why key accounts in the form of Enterprises or D2C brands would want to collaborate with Suite42:

1. At the core we offer convenience. Convenience in the form of being a one-stop solution for all the supply chain concerns which includes New Product Development (NPD), efficient supplier selection, ensuring manufacturing Quality Assessments (QA), logistics, and post delivery assistance.

2. We are a single point of contact for all the raw material procurement along with the last mile delivery of the same; given our supply expertise is across multiple categories and our extensive portfolio of suppliers and logistical partners.

3. We offer predictability of the future demand along with traceability of the product delivered by enabling product/process tracking throughout the supply chain.

4. Today, big enterprises are facing flack for misleading labeling and quality issues with regards to their branded products. We offer a secure environment for these enterprises where our in-house teams audits the overall supply chain at each level and ensures such issues do not occur, thus safeguarding our key accounts.

Similarly, here is why our suppliers and our key vendors would want to partner with us:

1. We assist in better ROI by bringing in demand, thereby increasing capacity utilization.

2. We ensure the overall quality of the manufacturing enhances in terms of regulatory compliances & certifications. And regular audits of the facilities to make sure they are at par in terms of infrastructure and technology. 

3. We carry out client risk assessments to safeguard the manufacturer’s interest in terms of credit especially for exports.

4. Intrinsically the dream of making India a food manufacturing hub is engraved in all of our suppliers. We act as a forefront, a medium for them to accomplish the same by placing them on a global map as credible manufacturing partners.

Looking ahead, what are some of the major milestones and goals that Suite42 aims to achieve in the next few years, and how will these benefit both the company and its clients?

At Suite42, we strive to achieve the following milestones in the coming years:

1. Complete control and empowerment of the supply chain starting from raw material procurement to processing, storage, logistics and after sales support.

2. Digitising the entire supply chain which solves for the major issue of predictability/certainty through tech.

3. Enabling access to credit to our suppliers, solving for faster capital rotation.

4. Sourcing from the globe, to India, for the globe.

5. Sourcing quality agri raw materials directly from the farmers; thus adding maximum value to our manufactures and thereby directly increasing the farmer’s revenue.

6. Building tech for our manufacturers including IOT, local Inventory management, order tracking etc.

Suite42’s vision is to not only help enterprises and D2C brands, but also the entire ecosystem of manufacturing and agri farming industry.

If you would like to find out more about Suite42, visit https://www.suite42.in/