Aanshi Patel: Building NUVA, One Honest Question About Food

Aanshi Patel, Founder and CEO, NUVA Nutrition

"The more I learned about food, the more I realized that what we eat is not a purchase. It is a part of our health, our homes, and ultimately our lives"

Aanshi Patel didn't set out to revolutionize the way India eats when she founded NUVA Nutrition. Instead, she had a simple question that sparked the entire endeavor. Can buying everyday food be made better? Today, Aanshi Patel is the founder and CEO of NUVA Nutrition – a fresh produce and healthy grocery brand based in Vadodara, Gujarat that caters to individuals, restaurants and businesses alike.

Behind the Retail Counter

Her journey as a retailer taught her how the same things keep coming up in those conversations with the people shopping at her store.

Fresh, clean. Same quality next week as this week. People who buy food for their kids, parents and loved ones look for the guarantee that they're not taking home sub-par quality and something to make them ill.

These experiences have helped form the core of NUVA today.

From Consumers to Chefs: Fresh Produce for Restaurants

Next came restaurants. Aanshi has started supplying the restaurants in the city with fresh produce, and this was a whole new ball game that Aanshi was playing. Restaurant chefs plan their menus based on the produce and the supplies available with them – if the tomatoes arrive late or differently each week, the plan will fail. And it has to be the same quality, and it has to be delivered on time.

Working with restaurants also opened her eyes to the number of people and steps it takes before the food reaches the plate of someone. The farmer, the supplier, the kitchen and finally the consumer – if one of the links fails, it affects everybody. Today, NUVA is delivering regularly to both consumers and businesses, and she pays the same attention to every step involved.

When Health Got Personal

Her health became a part of the journey. She became aware of the importance of her eating habits and food ingredients and nutrition took a personal meaning for her. What stuck with her was the fact that the daily decisions that we make and continue making year after year have a far greater impact than any particular meal.

"Health made me realize that food isn't an isolated decision. We put something on our plate that becomes a part of us. This made the responsibility behind food business a lot more significant for me".

But it also gave her an idea that people shouldn't be forced to choose between convenience and quality. In her opinion, a food brand carries a responsibility that extends beyond sales. People must be able to know about the food they put into their kitchen and the better choice has to be easily accessible.

The Farmer Behind Every Tomato

Ask her what is closest to her heart and she'll reply farmers.

In her retail shop, the tomato is simply another product with a price tag. But once she got into sourcing and supplying the restaurant industry, she got to see who is behind it. Months of hard work on getting the harvest. Uncertainty caused by the weather conditions. Fluctuating markets. Physically demanding work that most of us cannot even imagine. A bruised fruit is a nuisance for the consumer for a second, but for the farmer it can be months of work ruined.

"I don't think we pay enough attention to the person behind our food. Before it turns into a product on the shelves, it is the hard work of someone, their land and their livelihood."

At NUVA, the goal wasn't only to deliver the produce from one point to another. Her team wanted to treat it with some level of respect for its origins.

Trust You Can Taste: Ozone Washed Vegetables in Vadodara

Food is unique in many ways. A bad shirt is a problem, but food goes directly into your body and into your family's. Aanshi always keeps this in mind.

NUVA washes their fresh produce on their own wash line. The vegetables and fruits get an ozone bubble wash first, then an RO bubble wash and a UV bubble wash. Then the product goes through a turbo dryer and air knife dryer before getting packed. Ozone destroys the pesticide molecules found on the surface of the produce, then transforms back into oxygen leaving nothing harmful. Studies have shown that ozonated water decreases pesticide residues by 85-99% (depending on the specific compound), and NUVA is the second brand in India to use ozone water washing technology on everyday fruits and vegetables.

Inside the NUVA wash line, from ozone bubble wash to the final dry

While ozone washing isn't a miracle, the wax coatings remain on the fruit and it's always good to wash your hands before cooking. But it's one more step that consumers shouldn't have to think about.

"I want people to look at NUVA and feel that someone has already thought of the things they shouldn't have to worry about."

The customers noticed. One of them, Hina Patel, described the produce as clean, flavorful and chemical-free, while others praise their eco-friendly packaging and fast delivery. The product range has evolved since then and includes such products as Khapli wheat flour, Lakadong turmeric and A2 cow ghee.

Not Just Straight Lines: Challenges and Values

Being young and building a food business hasn't been smooth. Some days go great, the business is growing, but other days are spent handling the operations and making difficult decisions. What Aanshi learned during the journey is that a founder doesn't need all the answers. Curiosity to ask better questions is more important.

The NUVA team at the store in Vadodara

There are five values upon which NUVA operates: trust, health, quality, convenience and respect to the journey of food from farm to plate.

Looking Ahead: A Trusted Food Brand from Vadodara

Looking ahead, Aanshi wants to grow beyond Vadodara without compromising on the values with which the brand has started. While the fresh food isn't going away anytime soon, mostly she wants to become a trusted brand.

"Success for me is not only about the size of NUVA. It's about the number of people we can trust, the number of farmers whose value we can create and how well we can do something as fundamental as putting food on the table."

Words to Carry Forward

The story of Aanshi Patel shows that big things start small – from an ordinary item on the kitchen counter and one question that should be asked again and again. Can we do this better?

Discover NUVA Nutrition and its ozone washed fresh produce at thenuva.com.