Female Founder in Focus – Kunali Chandaria-Dattoobhai – Founder of Sucres Des Terres
Welcome to the Female Founder In Focus series!
This series on my blog celebrates women blazing trails in different areas of business, tech, art, entrepreneurship, fashion, beauty etc.
I hope by sharing the stories and journeys of other women, you are inspired to chase your dreams, work hard and never give up.
Today’s Female Founder In Focus is Kunali Chandaria-Dattoobhai, the founder of Sucres Des Terres, an artisanal ice cream brand creating unique flavours made from all-natural, non-synthetic and locally-sourced seasonal fruits and produce.
Kunali’s background
Kunali’s story takes us to unique corners of the world; she grew up in Geneva and Singapore and completed her higher education in the US studying business. Realising quite early on that business was not for her, Kunali wanted to transfer colleges during her first year but didn’t end up doing it and instead decided to complete her business degree before pursuing her true passion.
Cooking and baking has always been a passion for Kunali. She says, “I love cooking and baking. It was meant to be a hobby and I just wanted to see what could become of it. But I ended up loving it so much that it led me to enroll in culinary school in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu”.
While completing her course at Le Cordon Bleu, Kunali did internships in Paris and also worked at the famous French bakery Le Notre. After Le Cordon Bleu, Kunali moved back to Geneva to work with O’Saveur, a chocolate confectionary company, but interestingly it was on the business side and not product development. Kunali admits that although she is a trained pastry chef, the experience she gained working on the business side of a food company helped her tremendously when it came to launching and running her own business.
Moving to unfamiliar territory
In 2008, Kunali relocated to Mumbai with her husband Yohaan. She admits, “Living in India is very different to visiting. After being independent in other places, India made me feel dependent. I remember spending so much time at the local telecommunications office just getting the internet fixed for our home and office. I didn’t drive back then and realised in Mumbai I needed, amongst other things, to learn how to drive to be independent. It took almost three years to feel fully settled.”
The birth of her own venture Sucres Des Terres is a serendipitous offshoot resulting from Yohaan’s own foray into the food industry. In 2012 Yohaan quit his own full-time job to launch quick service restaurants, which offered a rotational menu and delivery services targeted at the local corporate offices. Kunali admits she got “roped” into helping Yohaan with his new venture. She comments, “It was the age before UberEats and other food delivery apps, so the idea was to offer great quality rotational menus to alleviate the customers pain point of no variety. However, with the delivery app boom not far behind it became a business model which quickly became invalid. It was hard!”
At the same time, Kunali and Yohaan were part of a secret supper club in Mumbai; the group planned unique themed dinner events once a month and Kunali volunteered from time to time to make the desserts. On one such Thai themed dinner, she made a Ginger Snap and Thai Basil Ice Cream, she didn’t know it at the time but that was the beginning of Sucres Des Terres. The ice cream was made on Kunali’s mother’s now 30-year old ice cream machine!
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
It turns out Kunali’s ice cream was a true hit — people started inquiring more and more about the ice cream. One day a caterer calls and asks Kunali “What flavours do you have?”
To which Kunali — who didn’t have any kind of professional set up at the time — simply replies, “We work with fresh fruits. So what flavours do you want?”
By December of 2013, the orders for Kunali’s ice cream started pouring in. Kunali recalls that she gave herself a few months to see if running the ice cream venture was feasible — and it was. By February 2014 Kunali launched the brand Sucres Des Terres with a campaign and by summer 2014 following a big article in the local media, Sucres Des Terres was on Mumbai’s culinary map.
What’s interesting is that Kunali was very clear that she never wanted to start a business out of home because she believes it can encroach on personal space. Kunali wanted to work out of a professional space.
“Sometimes I question why I’m doing this but then I see a message from a customer saying “Sucres Des Terres is amazing” and then I realise why I’m doing this. I cherish those moments.”
Building Sucres Des Terres
Kunali says she is very fortunate that she and Yohaan had a small unused office space in the South Bombay area where they set up operations for Sucres Des Terres. The creamery started in the pantry of the office .However, over the years the pantry has grown to a completely professional space, with a small office attached.
What makes Sucres Des Terres ice cream truly unique is that it is completely non-synthetic and made of fresh produce and ingredients. The seasonality of fruits and produce is central to the recipe development and strategy. Nothing is outsourced and almost everything is made in-house. The luxe mason jar packaging breaks away from the traditional way ice cream is served.
Source: Sucres Des Terres Instagram Page
Sucres Des Terres translates from French to mean “sugars of the earth”; a subtle and elegant nod to the all-natural ethos of the brand. Kunali admits that a French brand name helps with the brand image and in the early days led some people to believe Sucres Des Terres was an imported brand, which resonated well with the Mumbai customer base.
The biggest drivers for Sucres Des Terres’ success over the years include the brand’s stronghold in the luxury custom desserts business segment with presence at high-end weddings and events of local socialites and celebrities as well as partnerships with local restaurants and corporates. Kunali says, “The entire brand has grown through word-of-mouth.”
Kunali’s had a small team from the very beginning; she trained her staff on how to make the ice cream but she still does all the recipe development herself even today. It’s the creative part of the business she enjoys the most. She says, “We do a lot of testing at the office and it takes about seven to ten days to launch a new flavour.”
Slow and steady growth
Sucres Des Terres is entirely self-funded and company profits are reinvested year after year to help grow the business; Kunali admits that she did not draw a salary for a long time after the business launched. Adopting a slow and steady growth strategy was a conscious decision on Kunali’s part. Until 2017 Kunali’s business strategy was largely based on a combination of a ‘take-it-as-it-comes’ philosophy and using her gut instinct, which worked well for the business.
But in 2017 the orders started increasing exponentially and Kunali quickly realised she needed to make some big decisions for the future of Sucres Des Terres. She recalls telling her husband, Yohaan, “This business is growing and I’m not the person to take it to the next level. If we want to grow, then come on board.”
With Yohaan and 7 other team members involved in the business, the last two years have been dedicated to adding more structure and systems in place to enable and sustain the future growth of Sucres Des Terres.
“I cherish the people who have built the brand with me and created something that’s beyond just me.”
What’s in store for Sucres Des Terres’ future
To grow and service new market segments beyond South Mumbai, Kunali reveals that there is a plan to seek more funding and invest in new machinery and infrastructure.
Kunali also hopes to expand to other cities in India by creating a subscription / made-to-order online business model, which can be easily and sustainably replicated. The challenge Kunali foresees with expansion is keeping food wastage to a minimal while still producing a good quality product.
Finding work-life balance
Kunali admits that finding work-life balance when working with a spouse is hard, “You’re always working. It’s rare to just be able to switch off. But we’ve been working together long enough that we’ve now found a way to balance our personal and professional lives.”
In 2018, Kunali and Yohaan became parents and Kunali decided to take a step back from the business, knowing she had Yohaan to rely on. They both worked very hard to implement the proper checks and balances to keep the business running smoothly.
Kunali admits that she has “working mom guilt” but to overcome it she has a few simple strategies: eating lunch with her daughter every day, leaving work early enough to be home for dinner and bedtime, and scheduling regular weekly mommy-daughter activities.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs from Kunali
- Do something whole-heartedly
- Expect failures along the way
- Take time to cherish whatever big or small thing accomplished
Learn more about Sucres Des Terres
Instagram: @sucresdesterres
Website: www.sucresdesterres.com