面向未来的印度传统饮料

It was during a daily tussle with his three business partners over a flask of home-made aam panna — a traditionAl Indian drink concocted from raw green mangos — that Neeraj Kakkar had an inspiration that led to the creation of Paper Boat drinks.

过去尼拉杰•卡卡尔(Neeraj Kakkar)每天都和3个商业伙伴争抢一瓶自制的aam panna——一种用生的青芒果制作的传统印度饮料。正是在一次争抢中，他获得了灵感，最终创立了饮料品牌Paper Boat。

A former Coca-Cola India manager, Mr Kakkar had set up his own drinks company two years earlier in 2010. But Hector Beverages was drifting. Its energy drink, Tzinga, was selling only moderately. Launching a western-inspired “vitamin water” seemed the next logical move. Until James Nuttall, Mr Kakkar’s American partner, asked where to buy aam panna — the distinctive sweet-and-sour mango cooler, made by the mother of one of the partners — for his own visiting parents.

卡卡尔过去在可口可乐印度公司(Coca-Cola India)任经理，在Paper Boat问世前两年，也就是2010年，他就创立了自己的饮料公司Hector Beverages。但公司发展比较缓慢，旗下的能量饮料Tzinga销量一般。下一步似乎理应推出一款跟风西方的“维他命水”。直到卡卡尔的美国商业伙伴詹姆斯•纳托尔(James Nuttall)问在哪里能买到aam panna，他想给自己过来探望的父母买一些。这种有独特酸甜口味的冷饮正是其中一位合作伙伴的母亲制作的。

“We were flummoxed,” Mr Kakkar says. “We thought about it for some time and realised there is no aam panna available in this country. Talk of blind spots. You have been living here, working in the beverage industry, and the aam panna, which you like and which you fight over every day — nobody is making it, and it is available nowhere.”

“我们当时非常迷惑，”卡卡尔说，“我们想了一段时间，然后意识到这个国家根本买不到aam panna。这就是所谓的盲点。你在这里生活，在饮料行业工作，而你爱喝的，并且每天争抢的aam panna——没有人制作，哪儿都买不到。”

That was the origin of Paper Boat — Hector Beverages’ brand of traditional Indian drinks, which have been lapped up by affluent, urban Indian consumers since their launch in August 2013. Sold in sleek, single-serving flexible packaging — squashy bottles — Paper Boat drinks are available in 10 varieties — from the aam paana and jal jeera (cumin water) of north India, to the kokum, or wild mangosteen juice, popular in the southwestern coastal region.

这就是Hector Beverages旗下传统印度饮料品牌Paper Boat的缘起——自2013年8月上市以来，Paper Boat便受到了富裕的印度城市消费者的热切欢迎。Paper Boat使用时尚的流线型一次性按压式软袋包装，从印度北部的aam paana和jal jeera（茴香水），到印度东南沿海地区流行的kokum（野山竹汁），共有10种口味可供选择。

The indigenous beverages are reminders of a not-so-distant time when life in India was slower and less affected by globalisation. “We have hit on something,” says the ebullient Mr Kakkar, speaking in the lobby of a hotel in Gurgaon, on his way to his factory in rural Haryana. “The brand has some resonance with the people, the product has a lot of resonance with people, and there is a huge pipeline [of potential flavours] that is still untouched.”

这些本土饮料勾起了人们对并不遥远的过去的回忆，那时全球化还没有对印度人的生活产生如此巨大的影响，人们的生活节奏更慢。“我们击中了某个点，”卡卡尔在古尔冈(Gurgaon)一家酒店的大堂里兴高采烈地说，他正要到位于哈里亚纳邦(Haryana)农村的工厂去，“这个牌子引起了人们的一些共鸣，这些饮料则引起了人们更多的共鸣，还有一大堆（口味）没开发呢。”

India’s diverse culinary heritage inc­ludes many cooling drinks made from local fruits, spices, flowers and even pulses. Two decades ago, these drinks were everywhere: made at home, or by informal vendors, whose recipes were fiercely guarded. Today, they are rare treats. The vendors have disappeared, casualties of concerns about hyg­iene and the on­slaught of modern packaged drinks. Women, once the ones to make them at home, are today too busy — or don’t know how. “All these drinks are dying and they are dying at a very fast pace. But we can revive them,” he says.

印度丰富多样的传统饮食包括很多用当地水果、香料、花朵甚至豆子制作的冷饮。20年前，这种饮料到处都有：家中可以自制，路边小贩也有售卖，配方都是密不外传的。如今，这些饮料都很稀罕了。人们对卫生问题的担忧，以及现代包装饮品的冲击，让那些小贩纷纷销声匿迹。以前女性会在家中制作这些饮料，现在她们则忙得无暇顾及——或者也不知道怎么制作了。“所有这些饮料都在消逝，而且速度非常快。但我们可以重振它们，”卡卡尔说。

Traditional beverages were the last thing on his mind when he re­turned to India from Wharton business school in the US, in 2010. Once, he hoped his MBA would speed his rise at Coca-Cola. By now, he had a thirst for enterprise. But his ideas of what to sell were heavily influenced by his western experience.

当他2010年从美国沃顿商学院(Wharton business school)回到印度时，从来没有考虑过传统饮料。他一度曾希望自己的MBA学历能够加速他在可口可乐公司的晋升。而这时，他对创业已有了浓厚的兴趣，但对于卖什么，他的想法却严重受到西方留学经历的影响。

His first partner was former Coke colleague Suhas Misra, whose moth­er fatefully provided aam panna for his lunch. Their initial product, funded by savings, was a soya-based protein powder, which they peddled at gyms. “The hypothesis was: India is a large country, a vegetarian country with lots of malnutrition, so let’s start a protein powder,” Mr Kakkar says. “But nobody was buying it.”

卡卡尔的第一位合作伙伴是之前在可口可乐公司的同事苏哈斯•米斯拉(Suhas Misra)。犹如宿命一般，米斯拉的母亲在他的午餐里准备了aam panna。他们用自己的积蓄推出了第一款产品，是一款以大豆为主料的蛋白粉，在体育馆里推销。“当初的设想是：印度是一个大国，一个以素食为主的国家，营养不良的人非常多，所以咱们卖蛋白粉吧，”卡卡尔说，“但是没人买账。”

Then at his Wharton graduation in May 2010 Mr Kakkar caught up with Mr Nuttall, who had worked on flexible pack­aging. Mr Kak­kar persuaded his old classmate to join Hector Beverages. The plan was to launch energy drinks, the world’s fastest-growing drink category, in flexible packaging.

随后，2010年5月，在沃顿商学院的毕业典礼上，卡卡尔找到了在软包装领域工作的纳托尔。卡卡尔说服了这位老同学加入Hector Beverages。他们计划推出软包装功能饮料，而功能饮料是世界上增长最快的饮料品种。

By September 2010, Hector had rais­ed its first outside funds: $3m from Catamaran Ventures, the venture capital fund of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, and from Footprint Ventures — both in Bangalore where Hector Beverages is now based. They had also brought in fourth partner Neeraj Biyani, also from Coke, for his strength in sales.

到2010年9月，Hector已经募集到了第一笔外部资金：从Infosys创始人NR•纳拉亚纳•穆尔蒂(NR Narayana Murthy)创立的风险投资基金Catamaran Ventures，和Footprint Ventures募得了300万美元——这两家机构和Hector Beverages现在的总部都设在班加罗尔。他们还带来了同样来自可口可乐公司的第四位合作伙伴——长于销售的尼拉杰•比亚尼(Neeraj Biyani)。

Tzinga launched in March 2011, but uptake was slow. A year later, Mr Kak­kar had his aam panna epiphany. He began working with branding and des­ign consultancies to create the Paper Boat brand, with its evocative tagline “drinks and memories”, and its stylish packaging and website. The project was aided by $8m from a funding round led by Sequoia Capital in late 2012.

2011年3月Tzinga上市，但推广缓慢。一年后，卡卡尔获得了aam panna的灵感。他开始同品牌和设计顾问合作打造Paper Boat这一品牌，设计了动人心弦的广告语“饮料与回忆”以及时尚的包装与网站。2012年底，该项目在红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)牵头的一轮融资中募得了800万美元，获得又一助力。

But making the aam panna itself prov­ed tougher, as large amounts of green mangos were not commercially available, nor did Indian processors have the cap­acity to handle the hard green fruit. “Green mangos were available on the trees, but nobody was taking it from the tree. They are letting them ripen,” Mr Kakkar says.

但是，事实证明制作aam panna本身更加困难。因为无处买到大量的青芒果，印度的加工商也无法加工这种坚硬的青芒果。“树上倒是有青芒果，但是没人摘。他们要等果子成熟，” 卡卡尔说。

So Paper Boat started with jal jeera, a mix of lemon juice and spices, and aamras, a ripe-mango smoothie. Test marketing began in 2013 in Delhi and Bangalore, and sales of the single-serving, Rs30 ($0.5), drinks have been rising in big Indian cities ever since: “Within a few months, we realised we are sitting on a good thing,” says Mr Kakkar, who declines to reveal turnover.

因此，Paper Boat以用柠檬汁混着香料的jal jeera（茴香水）和用熟芒果汁调制的aamras起步，于2013年在德里和班加罗尔试卖，每袋售价30卢比（合0.5美元）。此后Paper Boat饮料在印度大城市的销量一路攀升：“只过了几个月，我们就认识到自己坐在一座金矿上，”卡卡尔说。他拒绝透露销售额。

In 2014, Paper Boat was able to launch aam panna, using 150 tons of the raw fruit. But the struggle was an early taste of the biggest challenge facing the business: the supply chain management of sourcing ingredients.

2014年，Paper Boat使用150吨生芒果推出了第一批aam panna。但这次努力让他们首次感受到Paper Boat面临的最大挑战：原料采购的供应链管理。

Each traditional drink uses different ingredients, including fruits that grow wild, such as kokum and jamun. By working with fruit processors, and issuing forward contracts, Hector Beverages has persuaded some farmers to cultivate the fruits to ensure a stable supply.

每一种传统饮料的原料都不同，其中包括野生水果，比如野山竹和堇宝莲果(jamun)。通过与水果加工商合作，签订远期合同，Hector Beverages说服了一些农民培育这些水果，来保证稳定的供应。

“Every product has its own challenge in terms of the supply chain,” Mr Kakkar says, adding that young staff have been able to tackle these seemingly impossible challenges. “If you give it to young people, they do not understand what is possible, and what is not.”

卡卡尔说：“就供应链而言，每一款产品都有各自的挑战。”他补充道，年轻的员工解决了这些看上去不可能解决的挑战，“如果你交给年轻人，他们不知道什么是可能，什么是不可能。”

Hector Beverages, which has about 300 employees, up from 150 before the Paper Boat brand launched, struggled to keep pace with demand for its new drinks last year, says Mr Kakkar. Until this month, it had just one factory, capable of making 2m units a month. But it is now starting production at a new $3.6m factory that can turn out an additional 6m drink packs a month.

在推出Paper Boat品牌之前，Hector Beverages有150名员工，现在员工人数增长到300名。去年，公司曾难以跟上其新饮料的需求增长步伐。直到本月，Hector Beverages只有一家工厂，每月能生产200万袋饮料。但现在，投入360万美元的新工厂开始生产，每月能多生产600万袋饮料。

Of the founding quartet, two have exited the venture: Mr Nuttall returned to the US for family reasons, and Mr Misra left last year to pursue a higher degree. Mr Kakkar remains as the driving force focused on expanding in India, and perhaps to other countries with indigenous beverage traditions threatened by globalisation.

四位创始人中，有两位已经离开：纳托尔由于家庭原因返回了美国，米斯拉去年离开去攻读更高的学位。卡卡尔依然是驱动力，专注于在印度市场做大，也许将来还会拓展到其他本土饮料传统受全球化威胁的国家。

“Right now we are Paper Boat drinks and memories of India,” he says. “But at some stage, we can be Paper Boat drinks and memories of the world.”

“目前，我们是Paper Boat饮料、印度的回忆，”他说，“但在某天，我们可能成为Paper Boat饮料、世界的回忆。”