Malai

0:00Pooja Bavishi:Welcome to the Emerging Brands podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart. You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf.

0:42Pooja Bavishi:And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Glimpse. Glimpse is an AI powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most. If you're a brand selling and retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. If you've listened to the show or if you follow me on social, you know I love brands, brand extensions, ecosystems.

1:36Pooja Bavishi:Seeing how a brand can evolve for many years ahead and how they can meet consumers where they are in multiple different ways and also staying on brand, that is not easy. That's actually a really hard next level skill of building a brand. And so the founder and CEO I have on the show today is doing that so beautifully. I'm obsessed with her brand, Pooja Bhavishi. She is the founder and CEO of Malai. And I'm so happy to have you on the show officially. Thank you so much for having me, Kelly. I'm excited for this conversation. You're so welcome. You've been in business for over 10 years. So first, huge congratulations thank you that is not easy especially in the food space so that is just already such an incredible place to be in your journey and I'm so glad that we're capturing this moment of your brand and how you've gotten this far 10 plus years but also how you're continuing to evolve the brand.

2:48Pooja Bavishi:So before we dive into all of that fun, nerdy strategy stuff, I would first love to hear how this idea first came to be. What was the space in the ice cream industry that you saw? I know that you're really passionate with bringing culture into ice cream, but I would love to hear over 10 years ago now, what was that initial idea and concept that you had? Yeah, absolutely. I think the idea of Malai started well before 10 years ago, even though it wasn't conceptualized, like even though it wasn't like actually formed in my head. I love, I love, love sweet moments, sweet treats. I have a very big sweet tooth.

3:35And I think the extension of that is that I love the hospitality behind desserts. I, you know, sweets will always make someone happy. and it just like it feels like you're in the business of providing joy and I love that I love the idea of that and so I knew that eventually even though my career had nothing to do with food I wanted to eventually have my own dessert business I was an enthusiast I was a hobbyist I always made desserts I was the person who um you know even in my jobs I was a person who celebrated everyone's birthday I brought holiday like I celebrated every holiday everyone expected me to bring in sweets.

4:11I just didn't have a concept for it until I did, until I made ice cream. It was like one of the very first times that I made ice cream. And I was like playing around with the base and added Indian spices to it. Now I'm first generation Indian American. My parents immigrated here from India. And to me, there was no real distinction between, you know, the like the Indian culture that I experienced at home and you know the suburban American culture that Indian culture fits into so nicely um that I experienced like at school every day and all of that like I I always actually wondered why it was considered to be so disparate so separate when when the when this country is such a melting pot it is right by immigrants right like it's like Why is there a distinction?

5:01Pooja Bavishi:And so when I made those ice creams with the spices, I really started thinking about that gap in the market. I really started thinking about how these flavors that were enjoyed by millions of people around the country on a daily basis, billions of people around the world, were not considered mainstream. They were considered so, not only were they not considered mainstream, they were actually so otherized, right? They were so exoticized. and I really wanted to close that gap. I really wanted to think about and have others think about what American flavors are and who gets to define them and that Malai was born, right?

5:42That not only is it about like, you know, we are presenting and we are showcasing ice creams that are flavored with Indian spices inspired by Indian ingredients and Indian desserts and my upbringing as an Indian American, but also we're saying that these flavors are for everyone. They're not just for a segment of people. They are for everyone. They're American. And that's why we have shops in like the most mainstream neighborhoods that you can think of, right? Like it's, we don't want to be someone's favorite Indian ice cream. We want to be someone's favorite ice cream. And so that's, that's really what I like, I wanted to kind of like set up from the beginning.

6:19And, and like, that's like that, that was the goal from the very beginning and and still is today that like, how do we, how do we become a part of like these, like Cardamom and saffron and rosewater? How does that become a part of everyday lexicon? How did that become part of everyday pantries? And this is like the, this is going back to your like broader ecosystem, broader ecosystem of like, you know, how do we make sure that we are, you know, we're talking to everyone from all angles and really, yeah, really like kind of making these flavors and these ingredients more present. Okay.

6:56Pooja Bavishi:I'm obsessed with everything that you're doing and every, and the idea I'm like, yes, I'm in. It's so good. When you first had this idea over 10 years ago to even today, I feel like now, especially we just saw each other at Expo West. I feel like Indian flavors, Indian cuisine is very much now becoming more mainstream in the sense of like, it's not being put in the ethnic aisle. It's really now blending as it should, like all the cuisines, like let's bring it all together. But Indian in particular, I noticed that at Expo and we've been seeing this trend. When you first had the concept for the brand over 10 years ago, was that something that was totally out of the box and people were like, whoa, are you sure about this?

7:50Pooja Bavishi:Like, I would love to hear what was like the initial reaction. Because if you were launching today, if you just came to market today, you'd be like, oh, yeah, of course, duh. But over 10 years ago, this was like really doing something totally different. I'm really glad that you asked that question. It's really, you know, 10 years seems like a very long time. Also, it doesn't seem like that long at all, right? Totally. Especially with COVID years and time. Exactly. Like what is time? Yeah. I think that, you know, there's a couple of, there's a couple of answers that I have to this question very directly.

8:28Yes, it was a risk. It was absolutely something out of the box, something very new. Certainly ice cream was experiencing a boom at that time. It's when Jenny's became super popular. Van Luren was on the market. Ample Hills was making a splash and like like kind of an artisanal ice cream that ice cream could be um like better like I can't

8:51Pooja Bavishi:think of a better word than that but like better than like what we were experiencing before like it it didn't just have to be you know taking this is getting very ice cream technical but like taking like pre-made base and putting Oreo cookies in there like it didn't just have to be that there could be innovation within there. There could be a better quality product out there. And certainly like those, those brands were inspiration for me. And, and they, they did, they did so much of the work to make sure that like, if they hadn't existed, Malai couldn't have existed. And so I'm, I'm certainly acknowledging that they did so much of that work before Malai even came into the picture.

9:31But I would like to think of Malai as, as a leader in, in kind of like at the beginning of this like kind of cultural revolution that we experienced with food brands. So at that time, our most popular flavor, the only flavor that never comes off menu is our rose with cinnamon roasted almonds. It's been our most popular from the very beginning. But man, like did I have a back and forth? Like I actually, I don't remember a lot from 10 years ago, like the nitty gritty, but I remember, I truly remember going back and forth about the rose of whether or not I wanted to launch it. Rose ice cream, just plain rose ice cream is so nostalgic to me.

10:12Like you find it at every single Indian grocery store in these like big tubs, any kind of family party, family friends party, like any kind of gathering would always have rose ice cream. So it's so nostalgic to me. And also it's so delicious. Like I love rose ice cream. And I wanted to create a Malai version of that but I too was like is a population ready for rose flavored ice cream are they gonna think of it as you know like as perfumey or too floral or you know the what they you want associations to be so positive when it comes to food and what associations would non-south asians non-persians

10:55Pooja Bavishi:non kind of like everyone who like experience that have with the rose and that was my biggest um kind of like misjudgment that I've had like I was like I don't think I'm going to debut this and then did um and I'm so glad that I did and this is your best seller it's a best seller by far and has been for 10 years wow and it was just so interesting to think about like what about it You know, what about it is like making everyone really excited. And I think it's just like, it doesn't matter if the associations are, it could be your grandmother's perfume. Like, let's just, let's just use that as an example.

11:37Pooja Bavishi:Right. But it's still positive. And so like, it doesn't necessarily need to be to a food memory. You can still have an association and a memory that you're getting from it that like my, my favorite reaction is really, this reminds me of something, but I don't know what it is. And like, I love that. I love that so much that it gave me confidence to like, kind of like, kind of go for it when it comes to all of these different flavors. But, but yeah, that rose was really surprising. Also, because we were doing something so new, that first summer, especially, I was in business school when I thought of Malai and sold my first scoop three weeks after I graduated.

12:18And so that first summer was definitely like a beta summer. right and um I would have surveys at every single place that I sold or did in-kind donations or whatever I would gather as much data as possible because I wasn't sure and so like I knew that you know if I didn't know who my customer was I didn't have a product right like I needed to know exactly who that person was that was interested in buying Malai and so I would test different topics and subject areas every single time I would go out to sell I would only sell on Saturdays and Sundays. And so I would gather as much data as possible to be able to first have the confidence to keep going.

12:58Right. Like after that first summer, I felt like I had enough traction to be able to be like, okay, this concept is viable. Right. Like we have, we have an MVP, you know? And then also like to kind of hone in on the people that you've identified as being Malai's customers.

13:17Pooja Bavishi:Okay, you touched upon so many things. I was literally writing down notes to follow back up with. No, it's so good. Because again, whenever I'm talking to founders, especially founders who've been in a decade plus, you have such great insights. And I appreciate you bringing it all the way back to the summer where you were beta testing and collecting data, because that's by and large, who's listening to the podcast, they're in your shoes that summer, right? So I really appreciate you connecting the dots. But one thing right off the bat that I would love to ask is what gave you that confidence to go with the rose and cinnamon roasted almond ice cream skew, because you were even questioning it yourself, even though in the heart of hearts, you knew that this was an important flavor and next to culture and the story, but also being aware of like, is the U.S.

14:17Pooja Bavishi:consumer ready for this? Right. To go for it. Cause I think so many founders are straddling that decision and it's really hard to know, like to go for it or not. And they struggle and they loop on this. So just what helped you just go for it? And so I, yeah, so before I started selling at markets, because I was in business school, I was like, it's like super in business school mode. I would hold focus groups. This is, this is a real throwback and it's showing how nerdy I am, but I would hold focus groups and And I would like kind of just like mix and match groups of friends, classmates, old co-workers, and I would bring them over to my apartment and test different versions of the same flavor or ask them questions about things like, what's the rose ice cream sound to you?

15:14Like, would you even want to try it? Would you want to sample it, right? Ice cream is so unique because it's like one of the only foods that you sample before you buy. And that's true. What I realized there is that I honestly, like I got a 50-50 response on the rose and I honestly realized I had nothing to lose. I wasn't a brand for 10 years. First of all, you know, building a brand takes time. And I think that like we are always looking at these huge successes and unicorns and comparing ourselves to them. But truly, like, there's an everyday grind. And there's a time aspect to building a brand that not that many people talk about.

16:00And that is something to keep in mind that like, you know, like, I know we've reached 10 years. And I'm so proud of that. We have a long way to go. But there was never in my mind, I never thought at any point in this journey that I'm going to, you know, Malai is going to be an overnight success or that Malai is not going to take, you know, it's all, you know, have you heard that saying? that every overnight success takes seven years to build. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so there's that aspect of it as well that I like, I wasn't jumping into like big POs or anything like that. I was honestly like testing the market.

16:35So I had nothing to lose. Like if, if the rose worked that first weekend, let's try it again the second weekend.

16:41Pooja Bavishi:Right. And so like I had nothing to lose. The other thing I was doing and I was testing variations of the rose. So there was like a rose vanilla almond that I also tried I tried a rose pistachio and I would just like see how the sales would do and then landed on the cinnamon roasted almonds a because like even in like Indian markets no one was combining rose and cinnamon and I thought that was like a really unique really delicious pairing um that was kind of like not thought of before and I really wanted like malai is not repeating any flavors or I think we're like trying to think of completely new ways to present ice cream.

17:19So I really liked that aspect of it. Cinnamon's also something that, you know, when we're, when we're talking about Americans, everyone knows what cinnamon tastes like. And so there was an access point. And so, so that's what I ended up landing on. But, but really like, it was like, I was, I like, I was try it, right. Like I just had to go for it. And there are certainly flavors that didn't work as well when I went for it. Right. And, And there was like a chocolate tahini that just didn't perform well, even though I thought it would. And so like I was just testing that first time. Yeah.

17:55Pooja Bavishi:That's such a great point. And now cut to you have scoop shops, you have CPG, you have catering, and you have a cookbook. So I know that that even ecosystem could be a whole other episode, but I would love to hear how you are connecting all of them or how they even work together. Because again, what you've built is very much a North Star for a lot of emerging brands. So I'd love if you could just break down how they all kind of work together or talk together and how you manage to have them all operating in sync with each other. Yeah, it's a great question. And one that I'm honestly still trying to figure out, to be perfectly honest, to be omnichannel is not easy.

18:44it's also for a small business you like you don't even always have the resources to be able to focus on all three channels at the same time we have the e-commerce we have grocery and we have scoop shops and so very very transparently we have focused on the growth of our scoop shops for the past couple of years we went from one store in we had one store between 2019 and 2024 but in 2024 we opened our dc store and by you know may of 2026 we'll have four total stores so like like in two years we went from one store to four stores so we really focused on on the scoop shop growth um and like now we're shifting our focus to more cpg food service wholesale growth um and And, you know, as we grow, we can focus on the other channels as well.

19:39The reason why we are kind of keeping a foot in all of those channels, though, is because, A, there's a demand for it. Like, you know, people, our customers ask us all the time, like, do you not do catering? We want you at our wedding. You know, those kind of things are the demand for, you know, like, can you figure out shipping? You know, like, we want it over here where you're not selling in grocery stores. So certainly there's that. But also if we're if we're thinking about like our our main goal, which is we're changing the way ice cream is perceived in this country. Right. Like we want to actually change behavior that we want it to feel as typical and normal to get a scoop of masala chai as it is a scoop of cookies and cream or to see a pint of carrot halva on your grocery store shelf as it is a pint of cookie dough.

20:30to work you have to attack from all angles right like you have right you have to you have to meet people where they're at and so people might not be in New York DC or Philadelphia so we have to make sure that we have we can access them in other ways those people might be cooking at home so the cookbook was really imperative for that reason like these are the pantry ingredients that you should have it's so easy to find these ingredients and it's so easy to create something delicious us. So like, it's really like, just like making sure that like, we're not just, you know, Hey, we're telling you that ice cream should be this way, you know, like, and you should be open to these new flavors, but you can only get it when you're, when you're visiting New York, right?

21:11Like actually a strategy on our part that like, no, we're going to make it easier for you. And so give us a chance.

21:19Pooja Bavishi:I love it. And you're opening up in the West village soon. are opening up in the West Village in the next month. So excited for you. And I'm also very excited too. Okay. So as you now grow and expand and something that you touched upon earlier is having the confidence to go for it. I feel like that's such a common thread through just hearing your story and hearing how you tested and iterated and have evolved and tried different things to really now hone in on, again, this ecosystem of meeting consumers where they are to bring this flavor and really embed it into American ice cream culture. What would be a piece of advice that you would share with an emerging brand founder, someone similar to who I work with?

22:11Pooja Bavishi:They have a product idea. They haven't built their brand yet. They're maybe just going into product formulation. They're in the very, very early days. And I work with many who want to bring their culture into their products. And they also want to make sure that it connects with American culture too. And just what does that even mean? And making your flavors connect and that it feels authentic, but also familiar. and they're oh I'm working on quite a few brands now that are are teetering that and I would love to hear your advice of one just overall no matter what someone's doing having that confidence to go for it but two a bit more niche of someone who really wants to bring their culture yeah cuisine and and any advice you have there I would say first and foremost and this seems really obvious but love your product.

23:09The reason why I have confidence in bringing these products to market is because I truly, with all of my being, I truly believe that Malai is the best ice cream in the world. I am a fan of it. I'm a customer of it. And I am a creator. And I love Malai. I love the product and I am so proud of it. Like I'm just like the product in and of itself, like forget the company, forget the brand, forget our growth. I am so proud of the product. I love it. And I'm never going to put anything out there that I personally don't love.

23:47Pooja Bavishi:And I think that once you love your product, all of those other questions kind of go away, right? Like it doesn't matter if you're thinking about like how this feels authentic versus not, how this feels familiar versus not, how this fits into the entire ecosystem of mainstream versus niche. All of that doesn't matter because if you have a great product, it's going to all fit together. It's going to work out. You're going to create the demand because the product itself is so great. And so I would say that those questions are kind of noise. Focus on creating the best possible product. Make sure you yourself would be a customer.

24:31And I would say that like the part of the cultural aspect of it, you know, like I am who I am, right? Like I am an Indian American woman. I am a woman of color. I am someone who grew up in North Carolina. I am all of these things. These are my identity. And or that's the like the parts that I want to pull cultural aspect or if it's even like you know like if it's like the fact that I'm like their connections in some of our flavors that are just a connection to North Carolina right that's where I grew up like it's just like these these things that you want to pull in there's no there's no playbook for it right Like, it's just like, like, what, what is it?

25:18What speaks to you? What is it that you want other people to know about you and your product? And, and that's what you should focus on. It's really like, and I know that they both kind of sound the same, both of the pieces of advice, but it really kind of is that like, if you are creating a product that is truly so good, it automatically is going to have a part of you. It's automatically going to tell a story about you and whether like that cultural aspect or not, like it's all going to come through. It is. And so like, I think that if you think too hard about it, if you like are just like, I need to create this, this is the gap in the market that I see.

25:57That's when I think that's, that's when like, we don't see as much success because like, there isn't like the passion behind it. There isn't the authenticity behind it. There isn't this like desire that like I need to get this product to as many people as possible because I truly believe it's the best product and I think that that's that's the number one thing without products there's nothing and so so like that like making sure that like get it to the best possible

26:25Pooja Bavishi:version it can be I think that's everything I love that reframe and also what I'm hearing is that the more that you're just connected with your own point of view, there's going to be an organic translation of how that speaks through the product itself, the product extensions, the brand itself, because you are aligned and you're feeling confident in your own point of view and what you're bringing to the table as well. And that's a really important piece, especially for someone super early on. And I feel like also the advice or just really the story you shared about doing that beta testing and surveying and giving yourself that creative freedom and also collecting feedback, it sounds like that also helps shape or give input into that point of view that you were bringing to the market.

27:21Pooja Bavishi:And I think that so many emerging founders are even scared to even ask people what they think or to even get to that point of sampling product ideas. So I'm really glad that you also connected those pieces because I think those working together really help shape, again, going back to that confidence to bringing a product to market that you're genuinely passionate about. Yeah, exactly. Love your product. Yes. Love your product. so simple but it's not easy especially when it's just an idea and you have to go through the steps of actually creating it but I I feel like that's a great north star to to go for it like having that in the back of your head of like I'm gonna be obsessed with this and I'm going to make sure that it's speaking through me like it's something that I feel really confident or just proud of giving to others.