32 Food Business Ideas (Manufacturing & Processing) In 2024

If there is a list of evergreen income generating channels, food business ideas are definitely going to dominate it.

• Zomato, Swiggy, Fassos, Box8, MagicPin are some of the highly successful food related startups from India.
• Similarly, Britannia Industries, Heritage Foods, Jubilant Foods, Nestle India, Prima Agro are some of the nse/bse listed stocks from the food industry.

The common thing between all these companies is that they were all started as small food business ideas in India. I totally understand that foodies would love it if they can earn a decent income by running a food business in India.

And so, here I am with a list of food business ideas with low investment that you may start in India in 2024:

1. Bakery store
2. Banana chips factory
3. Besan manufacturing
4. Beverages manufacturing
5. Cashew nut processing unit
6. Cattle poultry
7. Coconut oil manufacturing
8. Compound asafoetida
9. Dalia manufacturing
10. Fruit bars

and then, you’ll also find a list of 24 food business ideas towards the end of the insight. Happy reading!

List of food business ideas in India, 2024

food manufacturing & processing business ideas

• You can imagine the potential of food business ideas and startups in India by looking at the IPOs of Sapphire and Zomato.
• It was unexpected in the COVID hit economy to see these food IPOs not just sail through but do really well in the market.
• Zomato traded at 2x it’s IPO price [now it is below it’s IPO allotment price].

Of-course, Indian startups are a sensation right now in the investment circles, but what’s exciting is that Zomato recently launched a platform to help small hotels raise investment as well. This would definitely help Cloud kitchen entrepreneurs to expand further.

Cloud kitchen food business idea is a hot recipe right now.

I’ve explained about cloud kitchen business idea in another article on GrowthRomeo. There are several other food business ideas for you to start in India in 2024.

1. Bakery related food business ideas

bakery

• Rural India is a major consumer of bakery goods i.e., Biscuits and cookies, cakes, buns, etcetera.
• With the right set of machines like a Food mixer, flour mixer, Rotary oven, Rotary moulder, Oven, Oil spray machines, and packaging machines – you can start a small-scale bakery food business in your town/village to cater to the local population.
• This is the most common, and an easy food business idea on this list.
  

Which is the best location to start a bakery food business?

• Bakery products usually falls under snack items, or something people want to eat while they are in conversation with others.
• So, bakery store would best suit in a residential area with high footfalls, or in a corporate region.
• In tier 2 cities, if you start a bakery business, you can focus more on creating bread and salty items, esp roasted dry fruits.
• And try avoiding to focus aggressively on event celebration related bakery products. In metro cities, you can focus on cake and event celebration focused items.

Here are some good kids related business ideas

2. Banana chips factory food business ideas

Banana chips & wafers

Banana chips production is among unique food business ideas to start in India in 2024. The process to make banana chips/wafers need, of-course, banana (not ripe but raw), citric acid solution, syrup solution, frying oil, salt, etcetera.

High-level process to manufacture banana-chips:

• You first slice the raw bananas and dip it into the citric acid solution. This ensures that banana slices do not degrade to brownish color (expected behavior).
• After soaking it for 2-3 minutes in Citric acid, drain them by using a plastic sieve.
• Now, dip the dried banana slices into a syrup solution, again dry it either in an artificial environment or let it naturally dry in the sunlight for 2-3 days.

Next?

• Fry the banana slices in the Oil, and let it dry in the natural sunlight.
• Pack it in an airtight container and your profitable small scale banana chips business is all ready to take off.

Are you looking for a profitable food business idea with low investment? Next opportunity is exactly that.

3. Small scale besan manufacturing plant food business ideas

Besan

If Banana chips or a Bakery store is not your thing, then maybe you can start a profitable small scale Besan manufacturing food business idea.

• The Besan manufacturing process is really simple – you only need to clean and dry the gram dal, and then subject it to crushing, grinding, pulverising machines.
• Pack it and ship it to the market. Congrats!
• You have started steering revenue from your business.
• And by the way, pursuing Besan manufacturing food business idea now makes you an FMCG industry entrepreneur 😉

Would you be interested in exploring online business ideas?

4. Small scale beverage manufacturing food business ideas

Start a beverages outlet

• Global non-alcoholic beverages market surpassed $1.54 Trillion in 2024.
• In India too, beverages is a big market.
• The most common beverages in India are Coconut water, Lychee juice, Packaged drinking water, tea, coffee, ginger drink, orange juice with pulp, fruit juice in aseptic packages, soft drinks.
• Alcoholic drinks consist of Beer, Whisky, and Rum.
• You can explore more opportunities in the beverages business and start at a small scale in a niche area.
• Even if beverages are not your thing then keep looking for food business ideas in India until you find one that suits you.

Get the treasure of home based business ideas.

5. Cashew nut processing food business ideas

Cashew nuts

• 500 years ago, the Portuguese brought cashews to Goa, India. And ever since it is growing in popularity here.
• In-fact, with $566 Millions, it is one of the highest revenue generating export commodities from the agriculture sector.

You too can start your own cashew production food business in India.

• Start with a small scale cashew raw-material food processing business.
• Cashew export promotion council of India extends its support to cashew processors and exporters in India.
• Cashew based food business ideas are suited for Jammu & Kashmir based entrepreneurs.

Here’s a list of best business ideas in India.

6. Cattle poultry food business ideas

Cattle poultry

• Cattle and poultry feed manufacturing is a small scale profitable food business idea for India.
• In fact, cattle feed is a very old industry in India, and encompasses grass, legumes, silage, etcetera for dairy focused cattles.
• Soy, grain, wheat, corn, and oil seeds are other major sources of cattle feed.

The market for cattle food business ideas is growing as dairy products continue to gain popularity and see growth in demand too. In my opinion, it’s among promising food business ideas for villages in India, especially in the rural areas of agriculture focused states like Bihar, UP, MP, Punjab, etcetera.

By the way, did you go through the collection of business ideas for rural areas, villages, and small towns?

7. Coconut oil manufacturing business

Coconut oil manufacturing

We have discussed in detail about coconut related business ideas. And if we are discussing, that means, coconut oil manufacturing is a very profitable business idea in India 😉 The raw materials are available in ample quantities in several coastal states of India. The entry barriers to this business are low.

And because Coconut oil is already very popular among consumers (Thanks to Parachute Oil), it’ll be easy to find initial customers for your business. You can start a coconut oil business with low investment at a small scale. Please do share the article with in-depth details on coconut businesses.

Explore future business ideas to start a business that would thrive in 2024-2030

8. Compound asafoetida food business ideas

Asafoetida

Another unique food business idea in India for 2024.

• Asafoetida is the word for ‘Hing’ or ‘Heeng’ as pronounced in some parts of India.
• It’s used as a cooking ingredient. ‘Hing Kabuli sufaid’, and ‘Hing Lal’ are two different varieties of Asafoetida that’s produced in India.
• Hing is basically a juice extracted from the roots and dried stems of a herbal plant called Ferula assa-foetida.
• This is then mixed with consumable and dissolvable gums to be used in cooking as it imparts odour and taste to the food.
• It’s also known to help in digestion, and has anticoagulant and antimicrobial features.

Start a small-scale Asafoetida/Hing manufacturing business in India.

Here’s a list of wholesale business ideas for you.

9. Dalia manufacturing food retail business ideas

Dalia manufacturing

• Breakfast is one of the most critical parts of an individual’s diet.
• A healthy breakfast includes high-on protein, fibre, and other nutrients too.
• Dalia is one such breakfast option for kids, youngsters, and even aged people. As it is very easy to cook.
• Yes, it can compete with Maggi too.
• Dalia manufacturing business can be started in any part of India where a good amount of wheat is produced. 

How to setup a Dalia manufacturing unit?

• You can set up a small scale Dalia manufacturing business in less then 5 Lakhs.
• The actual project cost could go upto 25 Lakhs but you will only need to invest 5, and the rest can be borrowed from Banks as business and term loans.
• The annual marketable production capacity of this small scale dalia manufacturing plant would be around 300,000+  KGs.
• After all expenditures, even if you are able to sell with only a margin of 10% then you’ll be commanding around 30 Lakhs a year in no time. Amazing opportunity, right?

Start a Dalia manufacturing business in India.

Here are some manufacturing business ideas.

10. Fruit bars food business ideas

Fruit bars

One of the new age food business ideas in India in 2024.

• Most of the fruits are seasonal in nature and so the market in India and globally as well is very open towards consuming processed fruit products.
• Jams, Jellies, Juices, Pickles, Chips, Wafers, Toffee, etcetera are quite a success in India, USA, Australia, among several other nations.

How to start a fruits bars manufacturing business?

• To start a fruit bar business you would need around 10 Lakhs in initial investments.
• The project cost would be around 30-35 lakhs.
• The remaining amount can be borrowed from banks as a business loan.
• The manufacturing process for fruit bars is straightforward.
• You obtain the core raw materials – fruits. This can be sourced from farmers who are producing the fruits of your business interest, or you can start growing your own if you have the land and resources.
• And process it to make fruit toffees [explained below].

Find some awesome retail business ideas.

High-level process to start manufacturing fruit toffees:

• For fruit toffee manufacturing, you would need to mix the fruit pulp with sugar, color, preservatives, glucose, skimmed milk, hydrogenated fat, fruit toffee flavors, etcetera.
• Cool down this blend in a tray dryer and then cut into desired shapes and sizes.
• Lastly, you got to pack this in food graded films.
• You may print your brand on these films.
• Pack these toffees into cardboard boxes and ship them to the point of sale.

Congrats! You’re now all set to be a fruit bar entrepreneur now.

Start a profitable small scale fruit processing business in India with low investment.

The Food Business Ideas List Continued..

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We discussed 10 unique small scale food business ideas to start in India in 2024. But that’s not all. There are so many profitable food business ideas that you can start at a small scale in rural as well as urban India. Here we have continued the list with 24 more food business ideas. We keep updating the list with new ideas from time to time.

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24 small food business ideas

1. Small scale fryums manufacturing plant
2. Ginger and garlic processing unit
3. Ice Cream parlour food business idea
4. Jam jelly murabba manufacturing food business opportunity
5. Kismis & dry fruits wholesale opportunity
6. Kurkure, Snacks, and mixture packaged food business idea in India
7. Maize flakes (Corn flakes) food startup business in India with low investment
8. Mango Jelly food processing business idea 2024
9. Masala/spices manufacturing and wholesale business in India
10. Noodles manufacturing unit food startup business idea 2024
11. Palm based products businesses
12. Cloud Kitchens business
13. Papad manufacturing small business
14. Poha manufacturing plant
15. Pulses, Atta, and Sattu based food business Ideas for villages in India
16. Soya based small scale food business ideas with low investment in India
17. Wafer biscuits manufacturing startup
18. Paddy processing unit
19. Packaged food and grains export business
20. Diet & health consultant startup
21. Farming consultancy services business in India
22. Food research and development agency
23. Packaged food reviews startup
24. FMCG retail analytics business for consumable products

With that, hope you found a good food business idea that interests you and you find it worth starting.

Tada, Nishant.

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