Today we’d like to introduce you to Snehee Chaplot.
Snehee, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a Food Scientist by training and have been in the industry for over a decade. I started my career with the big corporates like Tyson Foods, KraftHeinz and Nestle R&D and then worked with a couple of startups before starting my own Food Company, the Food Shop.
While working with the giants as well as the startups, I realized one common theme, there is a huge market gap in providing specialty ethnic foods which our diverse consumer base of North America yearns for and secondly, lack of innovation in manufacturing technologies in the same above field. I started The Food Shop with this vision – to become world leaders in food innovation.
We have launched 2 product lines – MaahVaah milk solids (mawa) mainly for exports to South Asia and Gallivant Mawa Ice creams – a new line of frozen desserts made with milk, mawa and flavors/ingredients from around the world,
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If it were smooth, everyone would do this! So no, it was not smooth at all. Finding the correct resources for manufacturing, finding the right ingredient vendors, finding buyers for products, name it and I have struggled everywhere. But we pushed through. Exports is an arena I can say I am becoming an SME in due the crazy number of struggles, heartbreaks and struggles we have faced!
Advice – finding the right partners is KEY! And never give up. There is always away.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Gallivant Mawa Ice Creams & The Food Shop – what should we know?
I am a Food Safety Scientist by training with strong experience in Operations, Lean manufacturing and Product Development. Our accomplishments:
1. Launched two brands in less than one year
2. Made close to 9K in sales since starting sales of Gallivant Mawa Ice Creams in September 3rd week
3. We have successfully invented a technology to manufacture South Asian Milk Solids and scaled it such that the product can be manufactured on an existing continuous production line without any loss in quality or taste. We call this the MaahVaah technology. https://www.thefoodshop.com/maah-vaah
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
Upbringing always has a huge role in the way we build our ideas, startups and in general life. I was born and brought up in Middle East, did my undergrad in India and grad in Minnesota at University of MN, twin cities. Since I started working, I have traveled to over 50 countries and the number increases every year!
Exposure to Multicultural environments and respect for all people from all walks of life was a 2nd nature at my home. This is the crust of my being and this is the biggest strength of my team/company.
My parents stressed a big amount on ensuring my siblings and I were good in academics – no discount was given on getting bad grades. This eventually helped me developing a strong passion for what I enjoyed learning and worked hard in learning it very well.
Lastly, I learnt very early in my life that being brilliant is not enough, hard work is very very important! So I work very hard to make sure my team remains happy and motivated as much as I am!
Pricing:
- Gallivant Mawa Ice Cream Pints – $7 per pint
- MaahVaah Milk Solids – $6 per kg
Contact Info:
- Address: 3333 Weslayan Street Suite 1456 Houston TX 77027
- Website: www.thefoodshop.com
- Phone: 9528385668
- Email: snehee.chaplot@thefoodshop.com
- Instagram: @thefoodshopofficial @gallivanticecreams @maahvaahofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefoodshopofficial
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-food-shop
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