We invited Ashwin Kashyap Raghuraman, Founder of BOWCHOW SuperDog for an interview with Most Popular Stories to know more about his entrepreneurial journey.
Ashwin Kashyap Raghuraman is an aviator by profession and an entrepreneur by choice. His fondness for dogs led him to start his own dog food company, BowChow SuperDog which provides good quality pet food.
- Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an Entrepreneur?
I did my commercial pilot training in Amman Jordan and then in Daytona Beach FL, USA. I moved back to India in 2012 during that time the airline industry was going through a rough patch. While trying to convert my license to Indian CPL, I started a paper cup export company along with a friend. Being an athlete myself, I also started a summer fitness program for kids where I would recruit struggling athletes from low-income families as trainers. My family business is paper trading so I still work with my father on that.
Being a pet lover, I was always looking out for good quality pet food for my dogs, but after spending lots of time over the internet, I understood that commercial pet food is not ideal for pets. They contain lots of plant and animal by-products along with chemicals and preservatives that harm your pet in the long run. I understood that home mad food is ideal for our pets, so I started making food at home. One day a friend’s pet was refusing to eat dry food, so I offered to drop by with some of my homemade food. My friend jokingly said I should start a dog food business, one thing lead to another and here I am the founder of BowChow SuperDog “THE BEST CHOW FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND”.
Coming from an orthodox TamBhram vegetarian family my first challenge was to figure out how to handle meat myself. Then understanding how and why it was very important to our pets. During the initial days, I had the help and support of a dear friend Raghuraman uncle (not my father) who taught me everything I need to know about cooking with chicken for pet food. After several months of trial and error and multiple recipes, we locked on to the existing recipe, which every pet now loves.
Trying out recipes from home and delivering them to approximately 29 dogs across the city in Coimbatore was the first challenge. And that too daily, and follow up phone calls to find out if the pet liked the food, understanding whether there was any change in its daily activity. The vigor in which it ate the food, to understand the palatability.
The second was if one of the pets refused to eat, then we had to come up with an alternate recipe. Therefore, I would figure out how to improvise on the previous recipe.
After close to a year of research and development we locked on to the existing recipe. Next challenge was obviously scale, luckily I came across a friend who knew about food processing technology and told me about the current technology we are using, which does not involve any chemical or preservatives, it just uses temperature and pressure to sterilize the sealed pre-cooked pouch thereby giving us the desired shelf life.
- Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
To be honest, I was addressing an issue I faced as a pet parent. The lack of good quality food for your dog made me start my own dog food company, and therefore I am on this entrepreneurial journey.
- What was the vision behind it?
Pets have become a part of the family. Most of us pet parents refer to our pets as family members but still, we do not take time to make food for them. Ideally, we would not like to eat from our favorite restaurant for the rest of our lives, would we? So why feed our pets/family the same packed and processed food, which mostly contain plant and animal byproducts every day for the rest of their lives? The vision was, is, and will always continue to be the best alternative to homemade made food for pets!!
- Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique.
We at BowChow SuperDog offer ready to eat meals for pets.
Our meals come in four different sizes, 400g, 600g, 1kg, 1.5kg. Depending upon your pet’s breed and age, you can select the portion size suitable for them. Since each packet is a single-serve meal, the freshness and nutrition will be retained in every serving. We do not use any chemicals or preservatives; we use a pressurization technique because of which you can store our product for 45 days at room temperature. We ship across India.
- What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Boarding, health care, training, and grooming have huge potential in the Indian pet industry, while products such as pet food are met with huge competition by giants in the industry. Although being a completely different form (wet Food) and a better product we are and will be constantly compared to Kibble (dry food). But eventually with more people entering space awareness will hopefully be created.
- How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
There are two thing I believe anyone should invest in,
- Themselves: I wake up early in the morning around 6-7 am I go for my run and some workout.
- Good People: I have been fortunate enough to have the company of an excellent team (Jerome and Benjamin).
These are the 2 things I believe will help one handle any amount of pressure or stress. And I have been lucky to be blessed with friends and family who have been a guiding force for me during such times.
- What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
Never be complacent. As a person or a startup, I believe you should continuously be growing.
ALWAYS, SET TARGETS AND WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING THEM.
- How your company is helping India to grow?
I am not sure how I am helping India grow, but I am helping in creating job opportunities for aspiring young minds. In addition, our manufacturing is in India, and our raw materials are sourced locally.
- In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Since the inception of ‘Bowchow SuperDog‘ , I have been firm on few things.
- NEVER COMPROMISE ON QUALITY.
- TREAT ALL CUSTOMERS RESPECTFULY
- HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY
- What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
- Market research
- Smart spending of funds
- Do not expect immediate results
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