Vivas Nandhakumar, Anil Paremal, and Sai Surya are shaking up India’s stagnant rusk market with Ruskle—a premium, flavorful snack that ditches decades of bland tradition for a vibrant, flavourful brand aimed at younger palates. In an exclusive interview, the co-founders shared how their diverse skills in strategy, logistics, and food manufacturing spotted post-COVID snacking trends and turned a cultural staple into a fun, standalone treat.
An Oppurtunity in a Culturally Significant Category
Vivas handles strategy and marketing from an advertising background, Anil brings logistics savvy from his prior startup, and Surya expertise is bakery and large scale manufacturing. United as friends post-lockdowns, they did research for a year in the snacking category to narrow down on rusks—a beloved but uninspired snack—and saw untapped potential. “Big players ignored innovation for years,” Vivas noted, inspiring Ruskle to deliver taste-driven variety for modern snackers.
The cheeky name “Ruskle” and tagline “It’s not Rusk, it’s Ruskle” which also targets a younger and more experimental audience which is how they are making India’s loved snack relevant again.
In-House Mastery Over Production Hurdles
Self-funded via personal capital and sweat equity, the team built proof-of-concept through in-house manufacturing for full supply chain control. Anil stressed scalable processes from day one, tackling packaging limits and machinery needs for new SKUs. This hands-on approach ensured quality while proving demand to investors, despite Bangalore’s tech bias yielding rejections.
Validation came via an investment from dLabs@Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, followed by an Angel Investor. A recent win at the prestigious Ten Minute Million (TTMM) competition at IIT Bombay helped Ruskle scale.
Vibrant Branding and Health Edge
Eye-catching colors make Ruskle pop on shelves and social feeds, driving conversions among youth. No-maida recipes highlight baked benefits, educating consumers while flavors keep engagement high. Trust builds through consistent quality, shifting rusk from sidekick to star—much like their goal to dominate the category.
Offline expansion via the upcoming “Ruskle Bites” targets broader reach in the on the go snacking category
Scaling with Passion and Vision
Frugal starts evolved into team-building, automation investments, and new markets, all while chasing household-name status. “We’re changing rusk forever,” Vivas affirmed, blending innovation with reliability to win loyalty.
Their aim is to introduce new flavours to their customers; their passion is to be never boring and always exciting. Ruskle’s consumer base also leans towards mindfulness which lies perfectly in bed with Ruskle being Baked not Fried and being a completely No Maida and No Palm Oil brand.
Interview by : Sejal Thakur
