Muesli & Co making dreams come true at the Food Factory

Pinu Raja runs his business, Muesli & Co, from the Food Factory in Stoke and says it’s the perfect facility for any sort of food or drinks business that’s in its early stages, but especially suited to people who have started something small and want to scale up production to see if there’s a wider market for their artisan product before they invest in their own processing facilities.

Pinu and his wife, Nasrin Mary, own Muesli & Co., an innovative business that has a range of specialist mueslis and granolas in tasty flavours, including a couple designed to use in savoury dishes. More about that later.

The couple bought the business in 2023 and they set about expanding it in a managed way alongside their original Indian foods business – FoodD.

Pinu and Nasrin started their New Zealand business venture by manufacturing Indian sweets and snacks from their home and selling them from their food cart in Trafalgar Street, where they also sell their Indian dosas and curries.

As demand grew they relocated the manufacturing of the sweets, dosas and curries to the Food Factory in Stoke to scale up production. That meant they could sell their products in supermarkets too, “we had to have a proper food-certified processing facility rather than just a certified kitchen at home,” says Pinu.

When the opportunity to buy the muesli business popped up they set that up in their kitchen at the Food Factory too.

Pinu and Nasrin have impressive business qualifications but didn’t have any experience in the food sector until the moved to New Zealand in 2018. Pinu has a Masters in Software Science as well as a Business Studies degree from the University of Liverpool in Liverpool. He also has a Diploma in Applied Management from NMIT, while Nasrin has a Bachelor of Technology degree.

Pinu says: “We came here as students. We wanted to move away from India and didn’t really have a plan to be in New Zealand but ended up here because my wife’s close friend was in New Zealand at the time, and had studied in Nelson so we followed her.”

“I was working as well as studying when we first arrived and Nasrin worked in a rest home as a caregiver until she got pregnant so then I was doing three jobs.”

To earn a little extra income they started making traditional Indian snacks and sweets at home. “We started by selling them on Facebook and WhatsApp. Sales started slowly but grew quickly. We were even sending products to Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch – mainly to the Indian community.”

One of these traditional Indian sweet treats that are sold under the FoodD brand is rose cookies, which are made with coconut milk, rice flour and sugar. After making the batter a mold is dipped in the batter and then into a deep fryer making a super crispy, crunchy treat shaped like a rose.

Pinu told me that the person they bought the Muesli & Co. business from used to buy the sweet treats from them. “He came into the food cart one day and told us he was selling his business and while we didn’t know anything about making muesli, we could see an exciting business opportunity.

The couple just needed to learn about cereal and the food manufacturing requirements for that particular product, “that’s where the Food Factory works really well for us, it has food-grade manufacturing facilities so it was easy for us to use without investing huge money in a specialist kitchen. It has been an amazing space.

“The business has grown to the point we have scaled up the equipment by investing in bigger ovens and have taken over another kitchen space at the Food Factory. We separated out our Indian foods from the muesli because it has grown to the size we needed more space.”

Muesli & Co. produce breakfast foods that include Mango Passion Muesli, with Annie’s fruit leathers to provide the natural fruit flavours and the very popular Blueberry Fig muesli among others.

A recent innovation is the addition of savoury flavours that are designed to use in ways other than as a bowl of cereal. Pinu says “we wanted to make something to replace conventional breadcrumbs that was suitable for vegans and those on a keto diet. Our Savoury Chilli Lime muesli is perfect for coating things like chicken to create a perfect crust. They can also be sprinkled on salads to add some crunchy texture.”

All Muesli & Co. cereals start with one of two bases, the first is a granola base with added flavours and the other is a muesli that is suitable for those on a paleo diet or need a gluten-free breakfast option.

Pinu told me that one of the things that is really important to them is to make these healthy mueslis and granolas as naturally as possible and as affordable as possible. “We only use natural ingredients and flavours, nothing artificial, and we work on small margins to keep them affordable.”

The small margin means they have a real focus on growth, relying on volume sales of modestly priced, healthy products rather than small volumes of high-priced cereals. That means you can buy a 350gm pack of healthy muesli or granola for just $8.50 from their online store, the same price that is recommended for retail sales in supermarkets.

And they are widely available in supermarkets. You will find Muesli & Co. products in New World supermarkets nationwide, Fresh Choice supermarkets nationwide, Pak ‘n’ Save Richmond, at Pic’s Peanut Butter World, Four Square Mapua, and Connings.

You can also buy the FoodD gluten free and vegan Indian treats, like the rose cookies, in selected stores too and will soon be more widely available.

Pinu and Nasrin are following their Kiwi dream of taking a product and creating something special, right here in Nelson. They are developing a brand that they can proudly grow into another significant locally-based business.

Published in the Nelson Mail 19-06-2024