Chuk, the flagship brand of Yash Pakka, which manufactures compostable and biodegradable service ware, is looking at expanding the entire delivery container range with a number of sizes. In its quest to provide a complete offering for delivery, the company is also working on cutlery and bags. Chuk offers 100% compostable food service ware for serving and delivering food. The products are made from bagasse, the agricultural residue of sugarcane.
“India’s delivery market is slightly different from the rest of the world, especially when it comes to the multiple compartment trays. We are looking at launching multi-compartment meal trays for delivery in a few sizes in the near future,” Satish Chamyvelumani, business head, Chuk, said.
The company claims its delivery cartons are leak-proof, non-leaching, sturdy, 100% compostable, microwavable, and freezable. Chuk products are fully made in India.
Manufacturing at Ayodhya
Chuk has one manufacturing unit in Ayodhya, where it sources bagasse from nearby sugar mills. The bagasse undergoes a long process to be converted to final products. This makes Yash Pakka the only pulp-to-product manufacturing company in the world.
In addition, the company has manufacturing partners around the country who convert its bagasse pulp into Chuk products. “Our main aim is to enable more and more facilities to produce alternatives to single-use plastic so that a massive impact can be seen,” Chamyvelumani said.
The company has an installed capacity of about 18 metric tons per day (of producing the tableware products) at the Ayodhya plant. This plant uses both automatic and semi-automatic machinery for production.
“With our partner plants, we have an additional 6 metric tons per day of capacity and this is increasing as we are signing up new manufacturing partners,” Chamyvelumani said.
Chuk services a variety of customers that include Haldirams, Bikanervala, Fab Café, Lite Bite Foods, HMS Host, Chai Point, Amazon, Adyar Ananda Bhavan, Sangeetha, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and Isha Life.
Rapid growth in business
The company claims to have doubled its business in 2022-23 as compared to 2021-22. “The tableware sales have picked up really well and delivery products have also launched to positive reception from customers and we expect the business to grow as we launch more products and provide end-to-end solutions for customers,” Chamyvelumani said.
“We expect the growth trajectory to continue, primarily because of the increase in awareness among the customers and consumers. That said, I would like to reiterate that the primary goal of our company, as should be the case with any organization in this industry, is to work towards a cleaner planet. These numbers only indicate that we’re working in the right direction. We look forward to making an impact at scale,” Chamyvelumani added.
Sustainability is important for customers
Chuk believes sustainability is important to its customers as well as the end consumers. However, awareness and availability of products are the bigger problems that the company is trying to solve, Chamyvelumani said.
“For example, Haldiram’s has been our customer for several years now as it is one of the pioneers among QSR brands that switched to compostability. More customers are now getting increasingly aware about sustainability, and we are constantly trying to find and make the right product to suit their specific demands,” Chamyvelumani concluded.
