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Some of you have been telling us our 1kg Cocoa Whey packs were arriving torn at the bottom.
We looked into it, and realised the issue wasn't just shipping.
It was the pack design.
So we redesigned it.
The 1kg Cocoa Whey is moving from a round-bottom pouch to a flat-bottom one.
Flat bottoms sit upright on conveyor belts, stack better in boxes, and put pressure on a stable base instead of on the seam.
Before locking it in, we ran the new pack through a drop test and a tear test.
Both cleared.
This is because we don't just test what's inside the pack. We test what carries it too.
The new pack is more expensive for us to make.
That's a trade-off we're happy to make if it means your pack arrives the way it should.
Starting mid May, your 1kg Cocoa Whey will arrive in the new flat-bottom pack.
Until then, you may still receive the older round-bottom pouch as we work through existing stock.
What's another thing you've noticed about an OWN product that you'd want us to relook at?
There's also a 3rd meaning.
You vote on what gets built, what gets paused, and what gets pulled. You have your OWN seat at the table that decides how we build.
RT @foodpharmer2: Trustified independently lab-tested our product.
Here’s what he found.
He verified that what we claim on the label is w…
Nobody on our team looks like they sell protein.
No six-packs or jacked looking people here.
Most of us wouldn't pass the stereotype of who's "supposed" to be in this category.
So here's the fair question: Why build protein if you don’t look like you use it?
When Revant Himatsingka (Food Pharmer) started OWN, he had the same worry.
"Who will buy whey from a guy who doesn't look jacked?"
But that question was never really about him, or us.
It's about a stereotype the category has carried for years that protein is for people who lift heavy and live in the gym.
~60% of India is protein deficient.
Most of them are parents, grandparents, first-time users, people in their 20s still figuring out their diet, kids growing up on food that doesn't have enough of it.
None of them look like bodybuilders either.
Protein is for everyone!
And hence everyone should be deciding how it gets built.
Which is why we don't sit in a room and decide what gets made.
You vote on flavours.
You tell us when the taste feels grainy.
You inform us even when we get some orders wrong.
We'd rather build with the people who'll actually drink this than look like the people who are "supposed" to.
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
I called an angry customer!
I keep doing surprise customer calls for every product that we build at @onlywhatsneeded.
In the early calls I did, I used to reveal its Food Pharmer, and then people used to just praise the product. Now, I don’t reveal it’s me till the very end of the call because I want to hear the real feedback even when it’s negative.
Negative feedback matters more to us than positive feedback. That’s how we improve.
Even when someone shares something positive, I still try to understand what could be better, in taste, texture, packaging.
We’re not building Only What’s Needed just for you, but with you.
So any feedback you have to share, we’re always listening.
This took longer than it should have.
For months, many of you told us you wanted smaller packs.
To try the product, carry it while travelling, or avoid committing to a full pack upfront.
We didn’t do it immediately. Because smaller packs aren’t straightforward.
They change how the product is filled, sealed, costed, and shipped and introduce a different set of operational constraints.
But the ask didn’t stop.
So we’ve finally done it.
A pack of 5 travel packs for Whey Protein Concentrate (Cocoa) is now live.
This exists because enough of you kept asking for it, every single day.
We’ll extend this to more variants soon.
Which one should come next, and why? Whey Coffee, Plant Protein, or Whey Isolate?
RT @foodpharmer2: These kinds of messages keep me going, even through the bad days.
An 88-year-old with late-stage kidney disease started…
Your votes make us go against our will.
When we started, you voted on a few fundamental things:
1. What category should we build in?
2. What is the name of the company?
3. Which product should we launch first?
That part is easy to say in hindsight.
What’s harder is changing things mid-build because your votes asked us to.
A few examples from the last few weeks:
~900 people told us the froth in Whey Protein Coffee doesn’t work.
We’re now building a version without it, even though it changes the texture.
38,000 people asked us to explore more flavours in plant protein.
We’ve started testing new options, even though we had originally decided to keep the range limited.
You also told us not to send the Braille note and leaflets after the first order.
That has been implemented, even though we thought sending it with very order would be more helpful.
These changes are being worked on because you asked for them.
Even going forward, whatever you vote for will be executed.
And if it isn’t, we’ll tell you why.
If there are other changes you think we should make, we’re open to suggestions.
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
Full disclosure: Revant Himatsingka sent me a pack of OWN whey with zero strings attached - no ask for a review/post, no nudge, nothing. The taste was so good (the coffee flavor. I'm already a huge fan of cold coffee, and this felt like drinking thick, tasty cold coffee, without any whey aftertaste) I actually bought a pack with my own money via Amazon (faster delivery compared to OWN store). That second purchase is why I’m comfortable writing this... my opinion was formed as a paying customer, not just as a recipient.
Having cleared that, let me come to the point I intended to make with this post. The pack design of OWN whey is like a long-form essay :) The pack is crammed with text and information from edge to edge. It's seems like the physical manifestation of Revant's mission that made him famous. By making the packaging text-heavy, he is literally forcing the consumer to do what he’s been preaching for years: *read the label*. It’s a clever way of aligning the physical product with the founder's core mission.
The outright difference is something that Revant had delcared before launching the product and which has now become a new trend with a few other brands to following suit - putting the nutrition listing on the front of the pack. This is using radical transparency as a flex.
The back starts with a personal story. I have noted other brands like Adukale too using their origin story to create a sense of connection with the buyers (tinyurl.com/adukalepack).
But, considering it is a D2C product, it perhaps doesn't need "shelf-level" attractiveness, something that FMCG product packaging considers. Even when this product is 'seen' on online stores, it doesn't need a 'pick-me-up' look, since this packaging works because of the pre-existing trust - the pack doesn't need to sell, it only needs to confirm. So the package design and content acts more as post-purchase validation, plus minor surprises like the origin story.
As I said in the beginning, the whey is compellingly tasty and flavorful, particularly the coffee flavor. I have not tried the cocoa version yet (curious to see if cocoa hits the same 'no whey aftertaste' mark). So, in this case, the extensive package text matches the product's quality if we use taste as a filter.
#packaging #marketing #d2c
Which plant protein flavour should we launch next?
50%Cocoa
38%Pista Badam
12%Unflavoured
8 votes • Final resultsWe got some orders wrong.
When Plant Protein came back in stock, we nudged everyone who had clicked “notify me”.
The traffic spike was higher than what the system could handle.
For a brief window, some orders went through twice.
A few people received more than they paid for.
They could have kept it and no one would have known. But people reached out and told us.
You can build systems to catch errors.
You can’t build a system that makes someone report a mistake that benefits them.
We’ll fix the errors, but this is what stays with us.
People were looking out for us and not just themselves.
Whey raw material has gone from ₹1475 to ₹2000+ per kg. We haven’t changed our prices yet.
When we started Only What’s Needed, whey cost ₹1475 per kg.
Then:
October ₹1580
November ₹1660
Today it’s over ₹2000
We didn’t increase prices when we first saw this trend.
We absorbed the cost, even when it meant stretching our margins.
We also bought the raw material in bulk which allowed us to sustain so far.
That buffer is now running out.
We’ll have to take a call soon.
Before that, we’re trying one more thing.
If you know a reliable whey supplier or someone in the dairy ecosystem we should speak to, please connect us.
Some customer queries at OWN go to a doctor, not a support team.
We started noticing something early. People don’t react to protein the same way.
~60% of India is lactose intolerant.
Whey comes from milk.
At the same time, ~40% of our customers are trying protein for the first time.
For some, even a sudden increase in protein feels heavy on the gut.
So when someone reports discomfort, we connect them with a doctor.
Because sometimes the problem isn’t the product.
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
Tried this one out.
Absolutely loved it 💯
Thank you for all the good work 🥂
@onlywhatsneeded @foodpharmer2
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
Yesterday I went out to deliver a few Plant Protein orders myself.
We had a delay in shipping and I wanted to apologise to some of the people who had been waiting.
What I didn’t expect was the warmth. At every door I knocked on, people welcomed me with so much kindness.
I love doing these visits because they help me connect with our customers beyond the screen, on a more personal level, and also get more detailed feedback.
Most companies today look at customers as numbers, statistics or targets like views, orders and revenue.
But behind every order or every rupee of revenue is a person who trusted you enough to try something you built.
That is why I don’t believe businesses are really D2C or B2B.
At the end of the day, everything is H2H. Human to human.
The more we remember this, the better the businesses we build will be.
@onlywhatsneeded
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
Our customers exposed us. Here’s how:
For the first time, we invited our customers into our manufacturing facility. Just like I have spent years exposing food companies, we asked them to do the same with @onlywhatsneeded.
A few months ago, I posted our factory tour on our website. At the same time, I realise that I can be biased and may end up showing only the good parts. That is why this time I asked our customers to investigate the factory themselves.
When customers come in person, they see things as they are, the good and the bad.
We’re going to keep opening up our factories for customer visits, because if you’re consuming something every day, you deserve to see how it’s actually made.
Only What's Needed by Food Pharmer retweeted
When I started @onlywhatsneeded, I had no idea how complicated building a business can be.
In the last 1 month we have seen problems like:
-Whey raw material prices increase dramatically again
-A loss of 2 lakhs even before launch
-1000+ orders getting delayed
At the same time, we have seen successes like:
-Becoming the no. 1-rated protein on @instamart_it
-Holding the largest product market share on Instamart
-Our launch on @amazonIN with a 4.5 rating
All of this without spending a single rupee on advertising.
Ever since we launched Only What’s Needed, I started doing public board meetings on YouTube. In these board meetings, I share major updates, challenges, product launches, feedback, and mistakes.
In this month’s board meeting too I have shared all the good and bad, highs and lows. The link is in the comments if you would like to watch it.
Love, health, and transparency is Only What’s Needed.
Let’s make India healthy again.
Plant vs whey has become one of the loudest fights in protein. But a lot of that fight was just marketing.
Old school whey brands grew up selling to gym bros. So trainers pushed it, stores stocked it, and the industry repeated the same line for years.
Then a new wave of brands entered with plant protein and suddenly the story flipped.
They made whey the villain and told you it is not clean and gives you bloating.
2 camps. 2 marketing narratives.
But in reality you just have to choose what works for your body.
Some people digest whey perfectly well. Others are lactose intolerant.
Hence, the plant vs whey debate never lands on a single answer.
Also, if you are already getting enough protein from your regular diet, you may not even need a protein powder at all.
So, what do you prefer?
Whey protein or Plant protein
Questions before answers.