04:00  Ved’s view about the layers of plastic used in packaging.

It is a big challenge for people to know the harmful effects of plastic and in terms of that it cannot even be recycled. 

07:05   How were they able to get people to buy into the ideal of switching over to alternative packaging? 

It’s been an interesting journey.  There’s the  challenge that comes about launching multiple products and they don’t know what product is going to work and what is not. They also have to decide the capacity before actually launching the product into the market.  What has happened is that as they started launching, there have been vans upon vans in various states of India, which automatically creates traction. So the market is there, people are buying. 

08:41  Who are the competitors in the market or  are they the only players in the compostable market?  (…What were the challenges that they have imposed upon themselves?) 

They don’t see themselves as competing only with compostable tableware manufacturers because they are still competing with plastics and styrofoam which are cheaper. There’s even leaf-based containers like banana leaf and betel nut leaves.  But what they did in order to really be close to their competitors, they took up more challenges, like going against  typical designs that were available in the market. Their containers are square or rectangular, not like the standard round plates.. 

11:45  What are the perceptions of the people regarding plastic versus the alternative products to plastic?

Although their packaging and food containers are safe for the environment, people would still prefer plastics and styrofoam because they are lightweight and cheaper.  Using something like Chuk, is actually a higher standard thing, something of a higher status.   

13:30  Would it be correct that Yash’s different branding and different marketing set up is similar to that with a company in Malaysia which sells three different offerings of spring water, but in fact it is the same water?

Yes, it is similar in that the idea is to take out different brands, different marketing setup but coming from the same path.  The difference is usually in the pricing with some half the price of the other design and less than half the weight and things like that.

14:32  What kind of storytelling does Yash put out to attract clients? (…What are these stories that need to be considered e.g. payment cycles?) 

There are a lot of stories being told like in the distribution process where they handle most of the actual marketing and sales, partnering with QSRs, keeping customers happy, or getting quick service restaurant chains to switch to them in order to get a higher brand valuation. They are also  creating lots of videos with their customers, and the idea is to highlight them rather than them.

20:02  How does Yash attract talents who will be passionate about the growth of the company and aligned with their ethics and the idea of sustainability? (…What has changed in their hiring process?)

They are getting talents who are aligned philosophically in terms of ethics and those who are deeply moved with the idea of sustainability. They just recently lost their CEO on the marketing and their sales head, mainly because there’s no alignment. 

22:32  Why did the company choose to be B Corp certified and what are they doing about that certification?

They were encouraged to take on being B Corp certified but whether it will serve their interest at this stage or not, they are still deciding whether they  can actually keep invested with being certified.

23:39  What is the personal vision of Ved for Yash Pakka and what’s in the pipeline for the business?

For Ved it’s more on the side of development.  He firmly believes that all the answers for packaging needs to be aligned with nature. They are  looking around in terms of ways in nature packaging, specifically on the design and the way going into that direction. So most of their research is going towards microbial application.