BHARATI PAWASKAR
We are at the stage where customers are just learning to accept puddings as an alternative to satisfy their sweet cravings as puddings are considered to be epitome of desserts and richness. But buying a gourmet pudding from a retail store is not common and in fact the concept didn’t exist until Toffee Doodle came into existence in Goa. They are rich, scrumptious, satisfying and nutritious! Think of their melting taste, the finest ingredients that go into them and the concentration which gives them a smooth creamy texture. Puddings offered by a Goan start-up ‘Toffee Doodle’ aren’t just a sweet product, but an experience of various cuisines from cultures around the world including Goa, say its makers.
Toffee Doodle’s debut product Serradura is a Portuguese delicacy. The second one on their shelf is Brigadeiro, a Brazilian dish, and this summer the young chef of Toffee Doodle, Viraj Hede, is coming out with Tender Coconut, a sweet delicacy from the land of coconuts, Goa.
Viraj falls short of words when he describes his favourite, rich and creamy vanilla pudding made up of milk cream and condensed milk, fused with classic English caramel toffee and topped with cookie crumbles - Serradura. “With three layers, each having its own taste Serradura needs to be eaten by scooping up all three layers in a spoon and indulging the soft and creamy melt in mouth pudding to experience the unique fusion of authentic Serradura and English caramel toffee. It can be de-moulded into your own plate or bowl and it will plop out with the same shape as that of a cup,” smiles proprietor Viraj.
If one wants a wobbly refreshing pudding which will burst in the mouth, then one must go for tender coconut pudding which offers a very satisfying texture and feel. Creamy yet light, made up of fresh tender coconut with its flesh and water. Most creamy and sinfully chocolaty of the three, Brigadeiro has a unique combination of white and dark chocolate with a crunch of choco-chips in the middle.
Manufactured in small batches under personal supervision, puddings and gourmet desserts were available only in cafes and premium restaurants. Toffee Doodle made the convenience of experiencing the same luxury of gourmet desserts in a packaged format easily available at any supermarket around you.
“Ours is India’s first retail brand of puddings, founded in Goa in April 2017 and the journey in the past 25 months has been very heart-warming. From the initial 200 cups per day, we now make 1000. And from just five retails stores we now have tie-ups with 115,” claims Viraj.
Being from a middle class family, there was very limited access to funds for young chef Viraj whose entire entrepreneur journey at Toffee Doodle has been bootstrapped. As most kids are, Viraj too, was always fascinated with sweets, chocolates and candies. Observing his craze for making different types of custards, Viraj’s father encouraged him to learn more about food.
“With this motivation from home, I zeroed upon my goal of making pudding for a living. This became my dream which I nurtured until I could actually start Toffee Doodle,” shares Viraj who specialised in food production, catering technology and food nutrition. He learnt the nuance of business and marketing from Goa Institute of Management (GIM) and tried his hands on as a marketing consultant under Ankur Warikoo at Nearbuy.com, managing the market of Goa.
“I saved money I earned in those two years and finally invested the same with some loan, and started my own brand Toffee Doodle, India’s first pudding brand in FMCG market,” claims Viraj who started with a minimal investment, fair enough to produce a small batch. He had numerous puddings on his mind, and he selected one of his favourite to start with - simple, yet tasty, Serradura.
Serradura, a traditional pudding in Portugal, enjoys a long history and a fan following in Goa for many generations. In Portuguese, serradura means sawdust pudding. “We make it with all natural and fresh ingredients from full fat milk and cream. Speciality is the uniqueness of Caramel Toffee. I always like to give my own twist to every authentic recipe, and therefore, I incorporated one of my favourite topping of English caramel toffee to the classic Serradura recipe, which is the only Serradura fusion till date,” claims Viraj.
His next in line product was Brigadeiro, the traditional recipe and dessert of Brazil. Consumed in various forms, it has an epic history since 1945 in that country. This year he introduced one of the most loved puddings in Goa - a delicate, smooth pudding made up of full cream, milk and freshly cut tender coconut chunks which is 100 per cent natural, preservative free, light and refreshing, rather a simple to make recipe at home.
“My vision is to revive traditional puddings present in all cuisines from around the globe and serving puddings from all over the world to those in Goa,” observes Viraj whose mission is to make these puddings super accessible, affordable and most importantly convenient to eat for all. He recently revamped the packaging - an easy-to-carry sealed container with a disposable wooden spoon.
While most start-ups fail during their initial two years, Toffee Doodle surprised all by its successful journey. Started with a single product and 10 retail stores in 2017, Toffee Doodle is now catering to 100 odd retail stores and restaurants offering three premium products and has a shelf-life of 7-14 days.
Viraj never keeps targets, only marks goals. For him, entrepreneurship is not about starting a business of his own. But, it is a mind-set with a lot of focus, discipline and approach to do things in a different way to create a substantial value to the consumers being profitable.
