Welcome to Episode #38 of: The Journey Podcast with Simarpreet Singh (TJWS).Today's Episode features the OG of Food Industry - MR.AJAY GUPTA, the Founder of Capital Foods - predominantly CHING'S SECRET and SMITH & JONES Brands.Ajay Gupta launched Capital Foods and introduced Ching's Secret, a brand that soon became a prominent name in the Indian Chinese cuisine sector. The brand initially offered a Core Trio of Chinese sauces - Soy Sauce, Green Chilli Sauce, and Red Chilli Sauce , followed by Hakka Noodles. Capital Foods also launched Smith & Jones, offering international foods and ingredients, complementing Ching's Secret's offerings. By 2015, Ching's Secret had established the category of Desi Chinese, an Indo-Chinese fusion cuisine. Recently in 2024, the brand was acquired by TATA Consumer Products.Hear the founding story of Ching's Secret, how he converted a loss making enterprise to a 1000 crore+ business, the business model, the uniqueness, market competition, understanding consumers, journey of Authentic Chinese to Desi Chinese, Ranveer Singh aka Ching story & much more.Stay tuned and watch the full episode. CHAPTERS0:00 Precap & Intro 1:38 Famous Tagline of Ching's Secret3:40 The Idea Behind Desi Chinese - Capital Foods10:05 Power of Distribution & Product Line13:00 How Capital Foods started Sales & Exports?20:25 First Investment for Capital Foods29:30 Understanding the Consumer Market33:10 How Ching's Created Its Iconic Noodles & Masala Packs?38:20 The Launch of Schezwan Chutney & Soups41:55 Unit Economics, Growth & Exports48:05 Partnerships & Brand Building51:00 The Choice of Brand Ambassador59:15 How Ranveer contributed to Brand Success?1:06:28 Why Capital Foods was sold to TATAs?1:12:05 Startups & Valuation - Message to Founders1:18:04 Vision & New Horizons1:21:15 Health & Nutrition 1:23:30 Outro___________SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & COMMENT to engage in an interesting journey.@simarpreethsinghReach me atInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/simarpreeths/Twitter handle : https://twitter.com/simarpreethsLinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/simarpreethsingh/Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/simarpreet.singh07Keep following my channel for more such updates. __________ABOUT THE PODCAST "The Journey with Simarpreet Singh" is a talk show where we discuss life, family, emotions, childhood, success, failure, and more. That’s the thing with this podcast - it’s for everybody. All the episodes and the guests that we have recorded - our intent is to talk about their journey, get to know every aspect of these inspiring people and in the process, if anyone of you get inspired, or pick something from someone’s life, our work is done. __________#thejourneypodcastwithsimarpreetsingh #thejourneypodcast #podcast #simarpreetsingh #ajaygupta #chings #chingschinese #desichinese #ranveersingh #food #foodindustry #startups #foodstartups #schezwanchutney #kishorebiyani #valuation #tata #tataconsumer #viral #business #India