Bakeys.com Website Review

About Us | BAKEYS

The Company The company, BAKEYS FOODS PRIVATE LIMITED was established in 2010 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India as an alternative to disposable plastic/wood cutlery and bamboo chopsticks. After much research, we have designed the product, used it and enhanced it so that the user feels comfortable in all aspects of using cutlery. The products' popularity has won good feedback. We were excited with that and invested in many hours of research, to reach wider markets.

About Us

Profile of the founder | BAKEYS

Narayana Peesapaty He not just invented the edible cutlery but from mid 2016 his efforts and focus is on developing automatic machine to augment production capacities and thus try to reduce the existing gap between huge orders and low supply. He is not an engineer by qualification but has become one by necessity and is enjoying his technical learning. He enjoys reading science fiction, detective novels, mimicking, storytelling, researching and experimenting with his ideas…not just edible cutlery but a whole eco system around agriculture that he wishes to come up with some more product range using agri waste. He feels if a spoon can trigger an environment care in peoples conscious many more will come up with simple solutions for complex issues that are eating up earth resources and make life better for future generations. He believes that where there is a strong will, a good intent, focus, dedication, patience and correct approach one can work on positive contributions to anything they choose to do. While mistakes and learning's from it is a must stage for growth NOT GIVING UP is the main Mantra for success. A former researcher with ICRISAT – Narayana was the one to come up with the idea of Edible Cutlery. He holds BSC (Hons) in Chemistry from Osmania University and MBA from IIFM- Bhopal. He worked as ociate Research Director at AC Neilsen ORG-Marg, Baroda, India and had undertaken over 50 consulting ignments related to agriculture and Agri-based industries, forestry and forest based cottage industries, rural development, renewable energy technologies, etc. and headed the energy and forestry sector. Later he joined International Water Management Institute (IWMI), based in the premises of International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad as Senior Scientific Officer. Here he undertook research on the nexus between energy and groundwater under a USAID supported program WENEXA. Published several policy and research papers on groundwater management and ociated issues such as Minimum Support Prices supporting development of groundwater irrigation intensive agriculture, need for groundwater legislation, inputs to the Andhra Pradesh Water Land Tree act 2004, etc. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Bakeys Foods Private Limited- - Developing innovative solutions (grounded on business model) to growing environmental problems, managing the operations, developing the team and all ociated functions required for running the Company. He believes that the Change is inevitable. Before this change can overtake and overwhelm us, we should be the instruments of change. He created this business to disprove the conventionally known fact that environmental safeguarding and social responsibility rarely integrate with sound business process. He says, for Bakeys Foods, environmental and social amelioration is the business.

Profile of the founder

Why Edible Cutlery | BAKEYS

This innovation of edible cutlery was drawn from the following concerns: 1. Depletion of groundwater can be arrested by creating markets for less irrigation demanding crops such as jowar (sorghum). The edible cutlery is made from flours of this crop. 2. Demand for power from the agriculture sector does not commensurate its contribution to the GDP and on the contrary is creating pressures on other sectors, notably on the manufacturing sector. This is largely because of the faulty crop choices. This initiative could help in triggering the right crop mix (even districts with scanty rainfall are registering increasing trends in water guzzling rice crop). 3. The demand for plastic cutlery is increasing over the days. Plastic, a petroleum by-product is more harmful to human body because of the presence of several toxins and carcinogens. Its application as food consumption utensil enhances the chances of these chemicals to get into the human system. Because of the uniqueness of the product and its conformation to the triple bottom lines – social, environmental and business, our initiative was selected by the CII-USAID-World Resources Institute supported initiative called New Ventures as among the top ten sustainable businesses in the year 2006 – the year when I started my venture. NarayanaPeesapaty MD of Bakeys foods Pvt Ltd was invited to give a talk at TEDx VIT-Vellore on 2013 for his innovation on sustainability He was selected as GREEN HERO by Wellspun renewables in 2015 (

Why Edible Cutlery

Our Standards | BAKEYS

Our Standards (Eco friendly and disposable) We are a 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and we comply with ISO 22000. We follow the Food Safety Standards Act of Government of India. • Water contamination- As hot and boiled water is used to make the products there is zero water contamination • Pest management- we have done pest control needed for food industry in factory premises. • Workers hygiene – The workers are free of skin and contagious diseases. • Work place hygiene – The workers are given aprons and head caps. The manufacturing unit are fully enclosed from all sides to avoid dust, insects and pollution as per norms. Usage Instructions Handle carefully, do not poke cutlery with force in food. Open the packet only when you are ready to consume most of the spoons or store in tight lid containers as they can become less crispy if exposed to moisture in atmosphere. Do not refrigerate. Do not throw packets as they can break inside.Do not wipe with cloth or paper napkin before use. Do not wash and reuse. Throw in mud or just in potted plants to decompose after use if you do not wish to eat it.

Our Standards

Edible Cutlery | BAKEYS

Edible Cutlery We make our cutlery with dough made from a mixture of sorghum, rice and wheat flours, kneaded with hot water. No preservatives, chemicals, additives, colouring agents, raising agents, fat, trans fat, artificial chemical nutrition or ingredients, milk or milk products are added. These are baked to make them crisp, hard and moisture free. These are 100% natural products, 100% vegan, 100% degradable (if you choose not eat them). We started with spoons and would be adding forks, soup spoons, dessert spoons, yogurt spoons and then we would start making the crockery as well. These would include small bowls, cups, plates and even salad bowls. Unfortunately, we were unable to make knives. We also found that making coffee stirrers and chopsticks are indeed possible, but they would be very expensive, since these have to cool inside the moulds. The other products work on energy conserving technology. These two products cannot be made under this technology and the high energy cost would make it less competitive. Hence, we would not be making them. Since these are made with flours, we have the advantage of adding tastes and flavors. Basically, there would be three tastes- plain, sweet and savoury. In the sweet version, we have the choices of making vanilla, strawberry and other flavors. In the savoury version, we have the choices of salt and pepper combination (1) with added Indian spices and (2) with no additional spices added. In the sweet version, we would come with vanilla and strawberry flavors. The edible cutlery are not just utility products….. They are fun to use! FAQ's Does the cutlery turn soggy when used in foods that are extremely cold or extremely hot? These will soften up, if you leave them in liquid foods – hot or cold - for more than 10 minutes, in portion dipped only. What is the shelf life of this cutlery? Once the package is opened how long does the cutlery stay without softening? The shelf life is 18 months for best crispy taste, but if it is not opened from its wrapper it can last even 24 months. It can lose crispiness if packet is opened, spoons are left in open and the relative humidity outside is more than 75%. Even if the wrapper is removed, you can store them in dry air tight containers for similar results. Since these are made with flours they can be contaminated by frequent touching and in open atmosphere. Do not refrigerate. Do not store near other grains and food stuff that is prone to decompose fast. You claim to have added no preservatives, yet claim such a long shelf life. How is it possible? It should be noted that even in packaged foods that have preservatives added, have shelf life of less than 9 months. Our products are dehydrated. The long shelf life is because of tis. In the absence of moisture no microbial activity takes place. Hence, just like dehydrated fruits, vegetables, fish, etc, our products also have long shelf life. Can the cutlery be re-used? No. These are single time use products. Once these are taken out of the wrapper, dipped into food and put in mouth, these would absorb moisture. After that, if you keep them for later use, microbes will start thriving on the surface and makes it unsafe. Are there any coatings on the cutlery for finishing purpose? No coating is given. These are 100% natural, baked products, packed immediately after they are baked. Where can the edible cutlery be purchased? Can it be ordered online? If yes, once the order is placed within how many days will I receive the product? For now you can place your order directly through this website. from us. Our sales terms are at ex-factory prices. We have made logistics arrangements for deliveries anywhere in the world. (please refer to the list of destinations given on the order form). The delivery period will be within 15-20 days depending on distance, transport service provider and time for clearances and statutory formalities at the point of destination. The price quoted on Order pages includes transport + taxes. The website is sometimes suspended if the orders are too many and we have big backlogs. In such cases one needs to wait to place order. Shouldn't people be encouraged to reuse / or use metal cutlery, rather than replace one disposable product for another? We neither discourage reuse or use of metal cutlery nor are we trying to compete against them. Our products are meant to be replacement for plastic disposable cutlery & bamboo disposable chopsticks / Cutlery. Incidentally, we did a water-budgeting ysis and found that the water used to produce our edible cutlery is less than the water used for washing and reusing. How long does it take for the cutlery to decompose? It will naturally decompose anywhere between 3 to7 days if insects and stray s like dogs, cows, goats, birds do not eat it. If you pour water on it and leave it in soil/ pots it disintegrates faster. You can even put them in your compost pits safely. In what packs are they available? Present packs are of sets of 100 spoons. This is the minimum order quantity. The packing is now in a chemical free paper pouches with 2 spoons per pouch and finally in a cardboard box. We use Styrofoam to cushion them from breaking in transit. Can you give them food colours to make them more appealing? No. Artificial colours do not stand the baking temperatures and they go away. That is why you do not get coloured biscuits. However, we could get colours added by adding pulp of beet root to get red colour, carrot for yellow and spinach for green. These are very expensive because, of the raw materials costs and processing costs. Hence, we are not producing them. Any side effects on health from consuming these regularly? Presence of Gluten at less than 85 ppm is the only issue. If you are highly gluten sensitive, do not eat them. Why are they so hard on teeth to bite? These are spoons/ cutlery that one has to use as cutlery and thus must serve its basic purpose. If they break while using, it will not be cutlery but biscuits. Have you got a food license in your country and in other countries? We have FOOD License Issues by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Have you exported to other countries? Yes, to Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, USA, UK, UAE. Do you have/ intend to have dealers/ franchise/ multiple location production units/ collaborations/ partnership? Yes. Please refer to Business Opportunities with Bakeys. Is yours a zero wastes product/ process? Yes the production process comes under zero discharge. Will you make other shapes like forks, soup spoons, knives, straws, small spoons, plates, gl es, cups and serving utensils? Yes but gradually and not plates, knife and big serving bowls as they have proved unpractical in R & D.

Edible Cutlery