Everyone loves to savor some fresh fruit juice at almost any hour of the day. And no matter how many experiments one does in the kitchen, having it while you are out is always tempting. But while the whole world takes these blended liquids to improve health, very few people care about the adverse effects of the byproducts, the pollution those disposable cups, glasses, and straws that are served with them cause.
Here’s where Anand Raj, an RJ turned entrepreneur, decided to make a change.
Anand is the owner of Eat Raja, India’s first zero-waste juice café situated in Bengaluru. Being zero waste, the juice bar owner makes sure that no leftover goes unused or wasted.
LifeBeyondNumbers talked to Anand about his eco-friendly startup.
Anand served as an RJ for 12 long years in the IT Capital of India before becoming an entrepreneur. When he left his flamboyant career to take over his late father, BS Nagaraj’s juice counter, in September 2017, he decided to rename it as ‘Eat Raja’ in memory of him. Anand reminisces that his dad used to fondly say “thinnu Raja, thinnu Raja,” meaning “eat, my king” when Anand was a child. And thus, these very words reflect in his startup’s name.
Also, Anand is very close to his mother, Saroja Velan, and wanted to involve her in his new work, for which he used the tagline ‘made my mom’.
The motto was to allow one to devour the taste of mom-cooked recipes, thereby promoting the concept that mother’s place is not just in the kitchen but also out there in the big world.
“For the past 45 years, my father was taking care of the juice shop. Over these years, I was building a successful career as a radio jockey, as I always wanted to be one. But then in 2016, an unforced event took place, my father passed away and the responsibility to run the juice corner came to me. We downed the shutters for nearly six months without any clue what to do. It was sad that an establishment my old man built from scratch was remaining idle. Soon after I decided to quit my job and start afresh,” Anand shared.
“Also I made my mind to include my mom into the business as I have always seen her asking for money from my dad, even for small things like buying cookies. I wanted her to make money for herself and use it by her choice,” he adds.
Being a radio jockey for so many years, Anand was aware of our country’s environmental crisis – be it in terms of landfills, waste segregation, and plastic waste. While organizing shows, Anand used to get in touch with many people who were doing something significant for the environment.
When his father used to run the place, he had seen how he used to generate a lot of waste – in terms of cups, straws, PET bottles, and carry bags. So, when he took over, he decided to get rid of this legacy of waste, and that’s how the journey from being a humble juice shop to Bengaluru’s first zero-waste juice corner took place. He gradually contacted a group of environmentalists who were into solid waste management, leading him the way.
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“As an RJ, I have interviewed many environmentalists and warriors who were doing something or the other for the environment. Of them, I had met Vani Murthy and Meenakshi Bharath, who started their waste management journey way back in 2008 and 2009 and formulated a Solid Waste Management Round Table Group in Bengaluru to sensitize people on why they need to start managing their waste effectively. I was always very impressed by their deeds. When I decided to take over the juice shop with a motive to make it waste-free, I met Vani Murthy and Meenakshi Bharath again, this time to learn a few tips on living a green life myself”, said Anand Raj.
Initially, he started out with biodegradable, and then reusable cups that can be safely disposed of and washed respectively. But he realized that it was still going to landfill and was causing a lot of wastage of water. That’s when he came up with the unique concept of serving the juice in the shell itself.
“I constantly used to think of ways on how to put my creativity to some use. Keeping that spirit alive, one day, we just experimented with serving the juices in fruit shells of pineapple or watermelon. It solved two purposes, we were making use of a waste item and secondly, we were saving a lot of water as we don’t have to wash the utensils again and again. Approximately, washing one glass takes about 200 ml of water, by utilizing the natural alternatives, we are saving all that,” explained Anand Raj.
Eat Raja now serves all sorts of fruit juices on its own cover. But of all, Chilli Guava Shots are the biggest hit. That’s exactly how Anand picked the name of his Instagram handle.
The cool juice bar also offers fruity popsicles.
Now even if the juice was served in the shell, there were heaps of fruit covers lying with them. That’s not what one would call zero waste. So, to solve this issue, Anand started the noble work of feeding the cows with fruit waste. He calls it the fastest way of creating compost.
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Besides that, with the guidance of the environmentalists, Eat Raja started making bio enzymes by fermenting the fruit waste with jaggery. This composition is effectively used as natural cleaners for cleaning floors, clothes, and even toilets.
Next, to solve the issue of electricity consumption while juicing; Eat Raja introduced Cycle Mixie in which one can juice their own fruit pulp by peddling.
Recently Anand collaborated with a social worker to make candles and soaps out of the fruit waste. There are a number of women, destitute, including transgender who has been trained under the initiative.
Also, they are using biodegradable packaging for each of the products that have been formulated out of fruit waste. And they have banned tissues at the juice corner. And guess what, they are also pet-friendly!
After achieving such a massive success in Bengaluru, Eat Raja is now open for franchise and Anand has been getting a lot of calls regarding the same.
“We have been trying to expand for quite some time and have been on to starting outlets in Bengaluru, and other states as well. I also got calls from the USA, Slovakia, and other foreign locations of which Dubai is likely to manifest in the near future as I have already visited the place,” informed Anand.
Yet the pandemic did affect almost all businesses across the world, of which the food industry is one. We asked Anand about Eat Raja’s performance during the period.
“Last year till July we had no business but then when the lockdown lifted we started to gain momentum. But with the second wave, we are worried all over again. One of our outlets was supposed to be on a college campus in Bengaluru which is halted at the moment. Also, we have been strictly anti-delivery so far as you cannot possibly deliver juices in their natural shell. But now in case there’s another lockdown, we are thinking of shedding our old policy and bottling the juices in glass containers for delivery which can be returned to us for reuse, and for that, we will provide concession on the next order,” says Anand Raj.
If you are in the city and want some yummy juices, do visit Eat Raja and join the revolution.