Flavers’ Journey from Dragons’ Den to Sustained Growth with Shabbir Mookhtiar (episode 499)
Shabbir Mookhtiar is the co-founder and CEO of Flavers, a home delivery service for home-cooked food. Number 50 on the Startups 100 2024 they’re growing fast. Founded in 2020 they now have over 100 chefs and over 10,000 paying customers.
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[04:32] Busy professionals hire neighbors for home-cooked Indian food.
[09:20] Diverse customer base embraces unique global cuisines.
[10:56] Business evolved from local to premium world cuisines.
[16:56] Dragons’ Den appearance leads to major sales boost.
[18:12] Dragons’ Den exposure yielded significant free exposure.
[19:59] Listen to Shabbir’s Top Tips!
Identifying and Solving Real-World Problems
Shabbir’s journey into eCommerce began with identifying a common problem faced by busy professionals—finding the time to cook healthy meals. This personal experience led to the creation of Flavers, a platform that connects customers with home chefs. Shabbir’s story highlights the importance of solving real-world problems through innovative solutions. By addressing a genuine need, businesses can find a solid customer base and create a meaningful impact.
Adapting Business Models to Market Demands
Initially, Flavers operated within a five-mile radius, allowing customers to order from local home chefs. However, the business model evolved to focus on nationwide delivery of ready meals, leveraging third-party logistics for efficiency. This pivot not only expanded their market reach but also reduced food wastage.
Importance of Custom Tech Solutions
Building a marketplace for home-cooked meals presented unique challenges that off-the-shelf solutions couldn’t address. Flavers had to develop a custom tech platform to manage the varying availability, menu offerings, and preorder times of home chefs. This bespoke solution ensured a seamless experience for both chefs and customers. It also provides a competitive edge and enhances operational efficiency.
Strategic Rebranding
The rebranding from Cook My Grub to Flavers was a strategic move to reflect better the company’s focus on premium, diverse world cuisines. This shift helped attract a broader customer base and better position the brand in the market. Flavers’ experience highlights that rebranding can be a powerful tool to align a business with its target audience and market positioning.
Leveraging Media Exposure on Dragons’ Den for Growth
Shabbir’s appearance on Dragons’ Den significantly boosted Flavers’ visibility and sales. The episode brought a massive influx of website traffic and tripled their sales. On the day the episode aired, their website saw nearly 100,000 visitors, leading to a significant tripling of sales over the next two months. This prime-time exposure to nearly 4 million viewers provided invaluable awareness and credibility for their brand, far surpassing the reach of traditional advertising methods. Shabbir emphasized the importance of timing for such appearances, advising startups to be operationally prepared to capitalize on the sudden boost in attention and customer interest.
eCommerce Book Top Tip
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
- Email marketing
Tool Top Tip
- Microsoft Clarity behavior analytics tool to better understand customers
Carbon Top Tip
- Try and adopt recyclable packaging.
Interview links
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Shopify recently turned the tables on me, and took me from interviewer to interviewee.
Knowing, as they do, that the most successful retailers today are those that bridge the gap between online and offline and make it a seamless experience, Shopify wanted my thoughts on how to achieve truly connected commerce, particularly in the key areas of local selling, omnichannel selling and cross border selling.
You can read my thoughts, along with other commerce experts from Germany, France, Spain and Italy by downloading the report.
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