Early 2011 – Land Purchase

• Purchased 78 cents of land at Kallarpe, Aryapu Village, about 6 km from Puttur Bus Stand, by paying a token advance.
• Successfully converted the land for industrial use.

Early 2011 – Raising Finance

• Keshava Ram sold a plot in Bengaluru he had purchased during his job.
• Shivashankara Bhat contributed from his savings.
• Raised a term loan from Karnataka Bank, pledging the family’s residential property.

Mid 2011 – Building Construction

• Obtained HT power connection, installed transformer and metering cubicle.
• Leveled the hilly land through earthwork to prepare it for construction.
• Constructed concrete flooring and 9-foot-high brick walls.
• Laid foundations for machines (expellers, boiler, dryer, etc.).
• Completed a shed with galvalume roofing and side cladding.

Mid 2011 – Plant and Machinery Setup

• Conducted site visits across Kerala and Tamil Nadu to study large-scale roasted coconut oil production.
• Took inputs from industry experts and visited vendors in Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
• Procured new machines suitable for future growth and set up an integrated oil extraction line.

Late 2011 – Trial Production

• Completed installation of power lines, oil pipelines, conveyors, elevators, and steam pipelines.
• Acquired all necessary government licenses and permits.
• Trial batches of coconut oil were extracted.
• Shifted packing machines from the old Parladka unit to the new Kallarpe facility.

2012–2013 – Team Building

• Recruited labourers for oil extraction and packaging.
• Hired skilled professionals for production, finance, and sales.
• Started developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

2012–2013 – Accounting System Setup

• Faced initial chaos in financial management with no visibility on cash flow.
• Keshava Ram, with his no accounting background, and Shivakumar, the new Finance Manager, struggled initially.
• With effort from Suprabha and Shivakumar, accounting systems were set up to match management expectations – a process that took two years.

2013–2014 – Sales Expansion

• Santosh built the initial retail network in and around Puttur by visiting outlets personally.
• Prasad Rai, originally hired for accounts, moved to sales due to his passion and potential.
• He built a van sales network, growing the sales team and distribution.
• Expanded to cover Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kodagu with 5 sales vans.

2014–2015 – Copra Procurement

• Shivashankara Bhat leveraged his experience and contacts to procure copra.
• Over time, the team took over this function to ensure consistent quality and price competitiveness.

2016 – Quality Standardization

• Initially, the focus was on growing volume by offering market-competitive prices.
• Over time, a gradual premiumisation strategy was executed.
• This allowed procurement of higher-quality copra and repositioned the brand as premium coconut oil.

2015–2016 – Brand Building Initiatives

• Suprabha took charge of brand development after handing over accounting responsibilities to Shivakumar.
• Initiatives included:
  • Uniforms for all employees
  • Hoardings at road junctions
  • Retailer signboards
  • Promotional merchandise like keychains, wall clocks, yearly calendars
  • Corporate and commercial videos, along with a brand song
• These efforts established a distinct identity for Cocoguru, differentiating it from generic coconut oil brands in the market.

2016–2017 – Distribution Network Shift

• Realized van sales had limitations for scale and high overheads.
• Adopted the FMCG model of super stockists and distributors, inspired by larger brands.
• Created a compensation system for distributors and built a network of distribution partners.
• This reduced fixed overheads and freed up vans and employees, shifting costs to variable, sales-linked expenses.

2016–2017 – eCommerce via Amazon

• A Mangaluru distributor encouraged online sales.
• Created a Cocoguru store on Amazon.
• Mahesh, initially recruited for accounting, became the key player in developing the online brand.
• By 2020–2021, Cocoguru rose to the Top 10 coconut oil brands on Amazon India, before intense price wars began among competitors.

2016–2017 – Campus Greenery Initiative

• Inspired by a vision beyond business, a green campus initiative was launched.
• Planted about 170 trees of fruit, flower, timber, and medicinal varieties from government and private nurseries.
• Cleared debris, laid interlock flooring for smooth vehicle movement.
• Focused on water conservation by digging an open well, harvesting rainwater, filtering and reusing water, and building a check dam.

2018 – Launch of ‘Lite’ Brand

• Cocoguru catered to premium customers.
• To reach the mass segment with an affordable yet pure coconut oil, a new brand "Lite" was introduced.
• This helped maintain brand clarity and avoid customer confusion between the premium Cocoguru and the value-focused Lite.

2019 – Cold Pressed Variant Launch

• Until then, Cocoguru was focused on roasted coconut oil, which was relatively new and took time to be accepted by the market.
• In response to growing urban demand, a cold-pressed coconut oil variant was launched, made using high-quality copra.
• The product resonated with urban consumers due to the popularity of the term “cold pressed.”
• Packaged in blue (to reflect coldness), it was differentiated from the green-labeled roasted oil.

2020 – Digital Marketing Push

• The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the need for strong digital presence and marketing.
• Hired Mr. Murari, a former computer science teacher, to bring digital capabilities into the business.
• Initiatives included:
  • A new website with e-commerce functionality
  • Regular social media posts in image format
  • Amazon advertising campaigns
  • Product listing on Flipkart

2021 – Onboarding with Reliance Retail

• Reliance Retail began expanding SMART Bazaar stores in coastal Karnataka, including one in Puttur.
• High customer enquiries at these stores for Cocoguru oil, combined with proactive vendor application by the team.
• Due to dissatisfaction with an existing vendor’s professionalism, Reliance Retail onboarded Cocoguru across stores in coastal Karnataka and Kodagu.

2023 – Restaurant Venture

• Cocoguru ventured into the restaurant business as an experiment in forward integration — using its own coconut oil as a key ingredient in food preparation.
• While the restaurant did not meet business expectations and was eventually closed, it proved to be a valuable learning experience.
• This venture planted the seed for a more scalable and relevant business idea: Fried Snacks.

2024 – Launch of Fried Snacks

• During the restaurant’s operation, customers began requesting take-home snacks with a longer shelf life.
• Cocoguru started making chips and savouries on-site, packaging and selling them directly at the counter.
• Encouraged by the demand, this grew into a dedicated line of packaged fried snacks, made using pure Cocoguru coconut oil.
• These products are now available at premium outlets across Bengaluru, establishing a new product category under the brand.

2025 – Entry into Bengaluru Market

• An initial attempt in 2020 to enter the Bengaluru market did not succeed, primarily due to an underperforming sales hire.
• In 2024, while recruiting a Sales Manager for Mangaluru, the team found a high-potential candidate for Bengaluru instead.
• This reignited the Bengaluru market strategy with renewed focus and execution.
• As of 2025, Cocoguru coconut oil is available at almost all Mangaluru Stores and all Gramarajya own outlets, franchises and dealers.