COVID-19 pandemic. She also considered that healthier food was not necessarily tastier
(Van Cuijk, 2015). She wanted to change this perception and thought that a chef could be
creative while preparing healthier and more delicious salads.
She started her venture, Keep Good Shape (KGS), in 2017 in Pune. Pune city was the
fastest-growing industrial hub of India. The city was located in the Maharashtra state of
India. It attracted professionals and students from all over the country due to the presence
of industries, universities and institutions. It witnessed tremendous growth in the past
decade. The migrated population in the city had grown by 100% from 2001 to 2015. The
areas catered by Ms. Bafna in the Pune city had a population of professionals (single and
newly married) and students (who have come to the city for studies). These people were
time-pressed and could not cook food for themselves and were looking for healthy and tasty
options. With a seed capital of INR 3,500 (US$53.77) from her savings, initially, as a "part-
time" business, post her regular employment. She started selling homemade salads to
people across Pune. She reinvested her profits year after year without taking out her initial
investment and finally decided to engage herself full-time in developing KGS.
KGS employed 38 people (Exhibit 1); 15 employees were involved in cutting fruits and
vegetables, 15 others were involved with the delivery process, 4 chefs were helping her
make the salads, 3 executive members were looking after the receipt of the orders passing
them on to the chefs for preparation and 1 unit manager was looking after the overall
management of the business. Most of her employees had an underprivileged background,
especially women. Bafna's objective was to empower women by offering them a chance to
work with her. Most of her employees, especially in the early days of KGS, were not aware of
exotic vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, purple cabbage, red and yellow bell pepper that
were extensively used in preparing salads. Bafna used a regular job rotation mechanism to
keep her employees actively involved in the business. She trained them to choose suitable
vegetables and cut them appropriately. Notably, she selected them based on their time to
commit to the company, readiness to learn and job needs. However, she decided to "dress"
the salads herself, as she felt it was the most critical aspect of her business. All her
employees worked on a daily wage basis.
For her marketing endeavors, Bafna did not opt for the traditional methods of
communication to promote her brand; she used social media, particularly Facebook and
WhatsApp, extensively. She primarily relied on word-of-mouth (WoM) referrals and
customer recommendations to popularise her brand. On Facebook, she specifically relied
on a page called PULA (i.e. Puna Ladies) that had 60,000 women living in Pune as its
members. The "PULA page" offered free promotion once a week to Bafna, helping her
promote her brand.
Bafna began her day at 5 a.m. every day; she went to the market to purchase the
vegetables. She cleaned, cut and dressed the fruits and vegetables to cater to the orders
upon returning home. Her family, including her mother-in-law, husband and son, were
exceptionally supportive; they willingly helped her in her endeavors. Bafna considered her
mother-in-law a source of strength, whose guidance and support helped her sustain her
entrepreneurial venture, especially in the initial days. Her husband, Mr. Sunil, was an
entrepreneur running a travel agency; unfortunately, he was compelled to discontinue his
work due to the pandemic. He was now responsible for recruiting the delivery boys and
ensuring they did their job effectively and efficiently. In short, he was in charge of the
logistics process.
Bafna's customers provided her with positive feedback through SMS and WhatsApp
messages, which motivated her to put in more effort. If there were any customer complaints,
she promptly paid close attention to them and ensured that the complaint was not repeated.
Complete customer satisfaction was her motto and mojo, which effectively helped her grow
the business. She was innovative in her approach; she tried different menus from various
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