面向未來的印度傳統飲料

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.

過去尼拉傑•卡卡爾(Neeraj Kakkar)每天都和3個商業夥伴爭搶一瓶自制的aam panna——一種用生的青芒果製作的傳統印度飲料。正是在一次爭搶中，他獲得了靈感，最終創立了飲料品牌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.

卡卡爾過去在可口可樂印度公司(Coca-Cola India)任經理，在Paper Boat問世前兩年，也就是2010年，他就創立了自己的飲料公司Hector Beverages。但公司發展比較緩慢，旗下的能量飲料Tzinga銷量一般。下一步似乎理應推出一款跟風西方的“維他命水”。直到卡卡爾的美國商業夥伴詹姆斯•納托爾(James Nuttall)問在哪裏能買到aam panna，他想給自己過來探望的父母買一些。這種有獨特酸甜口味的冷飲正是其中一位合作伙伴的母親製作的。

“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.”

“我們當時非常迷惑，”卡卡爾說，“我們想了一段時間，然後意識到這個國家根本買不到aam panna。這就是所謂的盲點。你在這裏生活，在飲料行業工作，而你愛喝的，並且每天爭搶的aam panna——沒有人制作，哪兒都買不到。”

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.

這就是Hector Beverages旗下傳統印度飲料品牌Paper Boat的緣起——自2013年8月上市以來，Paper Boat便受到了富裕的印度城市消費者的熱切歡迎。Paper Boat使用時尚的流線型一次性按壓式軟袋包裝，從印度北部的aam paana和jal jeera（茴香水），到印度東南沿海地區流行的kokum（野山竹汁），共有10種口味可供選擇。

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.”

這些本土飲料勾起了人們對並不遙遠的過去的回憶，那時全球化還沒有對印度人的生活產生如此巨大的影響，人們的生活節奏更慢。“我們擊中了某個點，”卡卡爾在古爾岡(Gurgaon)一家酒店的大堂裏興高采烈地說，他正要到位於哈里亞納邦(Haryana)農村的工廠去，“這個牌子引起了人們的一些共鳴，這些飲料則引起了人們更多的共鳴，還有一大堆（口味）沒開發呢。”

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.

印度豐富多樣的傳統飲食包括很多用當地水果、香料、花朵甚至豆子製作的冷飲。20年前，這種飲料到處都有：家中可以自制，路邊小販也有售賣，配方都是密不外傳的。如今，這些飲料都很稀罕了。人們對衛生問題的擔憂，以及現代包裝飲品的衝擊，讓那些小販紛紛銷聲匿跡。以前女性會在家中製作這些飲料，現在她們則忙得無暇顧及——或者也不知道怎麼製作了。“所有這些飲料都在消逝，而且速度非常快。但我們可以重振它們，”卡卡爾說。

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.

當他2010年從美國沃頓商學院(Wharton business school)回到印度時，從來沒有考慮過傳統飲料。他一度曾希望自己的MBA學歷能夠加速他在可口可樂公司的晉升。而這時，他對創業已有了濃厚的興趣，但對於賣什麼，他的想法卻嚴重受到西方留學經歷的影響。

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.”

卡卡爾的第一位合作伙伴是之前在可口可樂公司的同事蘇哈斯•米斯拉(Suhas Misra)。猶如宿命一般，米斯拉的母親在他的午餐裏準備了aam panna。他們用自己的積蓄推出了第一款產品，是一款以大豆爲主料的蛋白粉，在體育館裏推銷。“當初的設想是：印度是一個大國，一個以素食爲主的國家，營養不良的人非常多，所以咱們賣蛋白粉吧，”卡卡爾說，“但是沒人買賬。”

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.

隨後，2010年5月，在沃頓商學院的畢業典禮上，卡卡爾找到了在軟包裝領域工作的納托爾。卡卡爾說服了這位老同學加入Hector Beverages。他們計劃推出軟包裝功能飲料，而功能飲料是世界上增長最快的飲料品種。

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已經募集到了第一筆外部資金：從Infosys創始人NR•納拉亞納•穆爾蒂(NR Narayana Murthy)創立的風險投資基金Catamaran Ventures，和Footprint Ventures募得了300萬美元——這兩家機構和Hector Beverages現在的總部都設在班加羅爾。他們還帶來了同樣來自可口可樂公司的第四位合作伙伴——長於銷售的尼拉傑•比亞尼(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，但推廣緩慢。一年後，卡卡爾獲得了aam panna的靈感。他開始同品牌和設計顧問合作打造Paper Boat這一品牌，設計了動人心絃的廣告語“飲料與回憶”以及時尚的包裝與網站。2012年底，該項目在紅杉資本(Sequoia Capital)牽頭的一輪融資中募得了800萬美元，獲得又一助力。

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，事實證明製作aam panna本身更加困難。因爲無處買到大量的青芒果，印度的加工商也無法加工這種堅硬的青芒果。“樹上倒是有青芒果，但是沒人摘。他們要等果子成熟，” 卡卡爾說。

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以用檸檬汁混着香料的jal jeera（茴香水）和用熟芒果汁調製的aamras起步，於2013年在德里和班加羅爾試賣，每袋售價30盧比（合0.5美元）。此後Paper Boat飲料在印度大城市的銷量一路攀升：“只過了幾個月，我們就認識到自己坐在一座金礦上，”卡卡爾說。他拒絕透露銷售額。

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噸生芒果推出了第一批aam panna。但這次努力讓他們首次感受到Paper Boat面臨的最大挑戰：原料採購的供應鏈管理。

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.

每一種傳統飲料的原料都不同，其中包括野生水果，比如野山竹和堇寶蓮果(jamun)。通過與水果加工商合作，簽訂遠期合同，Hector Beverages說服了一些農民培育這些水果，來保證穩定的供應。

“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.”

卡卡爾說：“就供應鏈而言，每一款產品都有各自的挑戰。”他補充道，年輕的員工解決了這些看上去不可能解決的挑戰，“如果你交給年輕人，他們不知道什麼是可能，什麼是不可能。”

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名員工，現在員工人數增長到300名。去年，公司曾難以跟上其新飲料的需求增長步伐。直到本月，Hector Beverages只有一家工廠，每月能生產200萬袋飲料。但現在，投入360萬美元的新工廠開始生產，每月能多生產600萬袋飲料。

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.

四位創始人中，有兩位已經離開：納托爾由於家庭原因返回了美國，米斯拉去年離開去攻讀更高的學位。卡卡爾依然是驅動力，專注於在印度市場做大，也許將來還會拓展到其他本土飲料傳統受全球化威脅的國家。

“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，我們是Paper Boat飲料、印度的回憶，”他說，“但在某天，我們可能成爲Paper Boat飲料、世界的回憶。”