Chips are all about technology. With the advancement of science and technology, the chip has only become smaller and more powerful. What if someone says, chips have become tastier too!

Well, this is about potato chips and not the chips that are in shortage currently and impacting various industries including automobiles and smartphones.

An Indian start-up founded in 2019 has brought to India a chip-making technology that, according to the Bengaluru-based venture, makes the potato chips quite tasty even while reducing the fat content by as much as 50 per cent and also keeping out cholesterol, artificial colours, preservatives, palm oil and gluten among other things.

TagZ is a start-up that has brought to India a technology called ‘popping’ that involves using high temperature and pressure on the finest quality potatoes.

“We at TagZ believe that snacking should satiate both your hunger and tickle the taste buds. We believe our popped potato chips fit the bill perfectly,” says founder Anish Roy, who has earlier worked with brands like Nokia and Coca Cola in various sales and marketing leadership positions across Asia.

To start with, TagZ has launched two ranges of popped chips – one, a range of classic Indian flavours such as Masala, Cream Onion and Salt, and the other, a range of international bar snacks such as Beer n Barbeque, Thai Vodka Tom Yum and Italian Wine ‘n Cheese.

According to Roy, who has travelled extensively around the globe, India is at least a decade behind the developed world in food technology innovation, which has led to a situation wherein the Indian packaged food market is flooded with mass-produced and unhealthy stuff sold in eco-unfriendly packaging.

“That is what our urban snack brand intends to disrupt with our innovative, better-for-you and eco-friendly snacking experiences across categories such as chips, dips, chocolates and cookies,” says Anish, who is himself a fitness enthusiast and loves sharing his passion for an active lifestyle with everyone he meets.

“We are making sure that consumers no longer have to choose between the fried fatty chips they love and the boring health bars and makhanas… At the same time, we are a plastic neutral brand as well. We recycle the same amount of plastic that we generate,” he adds.

Roy also has a co-founder in Sagar Bhalotia, an IIT Bombay graduate with over seven years of experience across start-ups such as Freshmenu, HealthifyMe, Oyo and Quickr.

Incidentally, popped potato chips may be a new concept in India but it has been in existence in the developed markets for well over a decade. The brand Popchips made its debut in the US in 2007 and has been quite popular ever since.

Back in India, TagZ has been registering healthy growth numbers as well while focusing on the top 30-40 million households of the country through an omni-channel strategy that includes more than 30 online partners and over 2,000 offline stores.

“We have already sold over 35 lakh units across the country. Our sales volume has grown 30 times in the last 18 months and our net revenues in the last six months have grown four times. Around 40 per cent of our sales have come from repeat customers and these repeat customers have come back to buy 3.2 times more of the items on offer over the last eight months from the company’s website,” says Roy.

Till date, the start-up has raised about $1 million from a clutch of investors including Venture Catalysts, Agility Ventures, and Dexter Angels. Going ahead, the star-up plans to expand its capacity by adding more plants to meet the growing demand.
“Remember how we all crave for those imported liquor chocolates? One day, I want to see every international traveller to India wanting to take back TagZ from India,” says Roy.

Original Article: https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/this-start-up-offers-potato-chips-with-a-pop-315368-2021-12-13