One Word Killed Every Deal. Dropping It Built 850+ Retail Counters.

A shopkeeper's question about expiry once ended a sale before it started. Ten months later, the same product sits on more than 850 retail counters in Dehradun.

Pure for Sure's stuck phase

Ravi Sharma, co-founder of the Dehradun-based vegan food company Pure for Sure, writes that in July 2025 his plant could run at 100kg of tofu a day. Only 25kg of that, he reports, was actually selling. Over the following six months, Sharma reports paying ₹7.50 lakh in salary out of his own pocket while the plant waited for volume to catch up.

Early retail counters got 2kg packs to test. By Sharma's account, at least one shopkeeper balked at the shelf life and refused to stock the pack on the spot. Even so, Sharma reports that 300kg moved across those counters within 30 days.

The line that changed the math

The bigger problem, Sharma writes, was not shelf life. It was the name on the label: saying "tofu" ended the deal on the spot, but calling the same product "soya paneer" brought the order.

People buy emotion, not product.

That line is translated from Sharma's own words, written in Hinglish: "Tofu boltey hi deal khatm ho jati thi, soya paneer bola tab order aaye log product nahi emotion kharidte hai."

The target, and the count that passed it

Sharma's stated goal was modest: turn 500 retail counters into permanent clients at 60kg a day, enough, he writes, to cover the plant's running costs. The number he was actually chasing, by his own account, was 100kg a day.

Sharma's submission to Unhu Founders Journal lists the milestone in his own words: "Having 850+ retail counters." Ten months on from the stuck phase, he reports production now running at 120kg a day.

Key Takeaways

• The label was the blocker: Sharma reports that swapping "tofu" for "soya paneer" on the same product turned stalled conversations into orders.

• Personal capital bridged the gap: he reports paying ₹7.50 lakh in salary out of his own pocket over six months, before volume caught up with production.

• The stated target was a floor, not a ceiling: the public goal was 500 counters and 60kg a day; the real number he was chasing was 100kg a day, since passed.

What he tells other founders

Sharma's advice to early-stage founders: "Just do whatever you want to do, everyone has own destiny don't listen to anyone."

The product on the shelf never changed. Only the word for it did.

~Editor

Shivam Patil