Seven of ten stores reordered in a week. Kanji+ is betting general trade can carry a fermented drink.

Hitesh has been placing six bottles of Kanji+ at a time in the fridges of local retail stores, on terms designed to remove the retailer's downside entirely: weekly visits, sold bottles refilled, unsold stock taken back.

Seven of the first ten stores asked for a refill after one week, he reports. Three asked for a higher margin instead. He declined.

The count now stands at 15 retail stores, and Hitesh writes that some are asking for 15 to 20 bottles for the coming week because customers are picking the product up.

Kanji+ is a ready-to-drink probiotic shot made from traditional fermented kanji, produced by Noida-based Zemiq Foods. The company built its early traction on a direct subscription model, reporting 40 paid subscribers in its first three weeks and pricing a trial pack at ₹199 against a ₹849 weekly plan. At a founders' meet, the brand was named Most Memorable Brand among more than 100 taking part.

Retail shelves are a different test. A subscriber has already decided to buy before the bottle arrives. A store fridge has to win the decision at the point of sale, next to everything else in it.

The experiment tests a specific assumption about a traditional fermented drink: whether the barrier is unfamiliarity or availability. Hitesh's read is that it is availability. He writes that people are willing to try the category if it is sitting where they are already making buying decisions.

He describes the phase as early, and frames organised general trade as a channel that could become a strong one rather than one already proven. The stated next target is 100 stores.

Hitesh is building in public, publishing his failures and challenges alongside the wins. ~Editor Shobhit Mehandiratta