What Forage does

Forage is an Imphal West, Manipur-based direct-to-consumer food enterprise that produces and sells small-batch fermented products. Founded in 2016 by Korou Khundrakpam and Kundo Yumnam, the company operates a restaurant at Thangmeiband, an e-commerce storefront at forage.in, and a production facility branded Forage Realfood at Matai, described as a farmhouse nano-brewery. The SKU set is anchored on kombucha, with Ghost & Co. hot sauce, sourdough bread, and sauerkraut/fermented vegetables as extensions. Pricing is positioned at a premium relative to mass-market staples — kombucha at ₹150 for 275 mL, hot sauce at ₹190 for 60 mL, and sourdough at ₹100 for 800 g.

The company applies three primary fermentation techniques — kombucha fermentation, lacto-fermentation, and acetic acid fermentation — and uses a house-brewed pineapple vinegar as a base ingredient. Production runs in small batches, with kombucha reportedly bottled twice weekly. Distribution runs on two layers: a hyperlocal Imphal delivery operation covering roughly a 7 km radius via Keithel Express, and a national channel served through Delhivery and India Post. The D2C site is built on WooCommerce with Razorpay payments and supports both prepaid and cash-on-delivery orders.

Forage is privately held and bootstrapped, with no external funding disclosed, and operates with a team of approximately 27 employees. The company has been selected for the StartUp Manipur government program and holds a brewery license, both of which support production scaling and institutional credibility.

Name

Forage

Legal name

Forage

Website

https://foragers.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Forage is an Imphal, Manipur-based food enterprise that produces and sells small-batch fermented products including kombucha, hot sauce, sourdough bread, and sauerkraut directly to consumers through its e-commerce store, restaurant, and subscription service.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisanal Fermented Foods and Beverages

NAICS

Special Food Services (7223), Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing (3118)

SIC

Miscellaneous Food Preparations & Kindred Products (2090)

akta.pro primary industry

Kombucha Production (AFAFAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Kombucha & Other Fermented Non-Alcoholic Beverages (AFAFABAK), Fermented Tea & Botanical Beverage Production (Jun, Kvass, etc.) (AFAFAHAD), Probiotic & Live-Culture Beverage Production (Shots, Tonics) (AFAFAHAE), Fermented Beverage Concentrates & Bases (Kombucha Concentrate, Starters) (AFAFAHAG), Functional Foods & Wellness Beverage Retail (Kombucha, Adaptogens, CBD where legal) (CRAHAEAH)

Keywords

• Fermented foods
• Kombucha brewing
• Artisanal hot sauce
• Sourdough bread
• Natural probiotics

Headquarters

HQ city

Imphal West

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Sales (One-time): Direct sales of kombucha, hot sauces, and sourdough bread through their e-commerce website and restaurant. Customers purchase individual bottles/units at listed prices.
2. Forager's Kombucha Club Subscription: Monthly subscription service delivering 650mL kombucha bottles weekly or bi-weekly. Billed every 1/2/3 months in advance. Offers approximately 40% discount compared to retail bottles. Includes free home delivery within 7km radius.
3. Restaurant Sales: In-person dining at the Forage restaurant in Imphal, serving hearty real food inspired by Continental and Neighbourhood cuisines. Open daily except Wednesdays from 12pm to 8pm.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Forage is an artisanal food enterprise that manufactures and sells small-batch fermented food products — kombucha (probiotic fermented tea in multiple flavours), Ghost & Co. hot sauce (lacto-fermented ghost chilli sauces with house-brewed pineapple vinegar), and traditional sourdough bread — directly to consumers via its e-commerce storefront, restaurant at Thangmeiband (Imphal), and national shipping. It also operates the Forager's Kombucha Club, a weekly/bi-weekly subscription service delivering kombucha in reusable bottles with approximately 40% cost savings versus retail.

Product overview

Forage (Forager's) is a food enterprise offering all-natural fermented food products handmade in Manipur, India. The core product portfolio consists of Kombucha (probiotic fermented tea beverage available in multiple flavours including Ginger, Red Tea, Orange, Roselle, and Heimang), Ghost & Co. Hot Sauce (fermented ghost chilli hot sauce in Classic, Ginger Garlic, and Smoked variants), and Sourdough Bread (traditional wild yeast fermented bread). The business also operates a Kombucha Club subscription service providing bulk deliveries in reusable bottles with approximately 40% cost savings. Supporting products include house-made pineapple vinegar used as an ingredient. The company also operates a restaurant at Thangmeiband, Imphal serving hearty real food inspired by Continental and Neighbourhood cuisines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ghost & Co. Ghost chili hot sauce brand featuring lacto-fermented king chili with house-made brewed pineapple vinegar. Variants include Classic, Ginger Garlic, and Smoked editions.
• Forager's Kombucha Club

Products and services

• Kombucha Probiotic fermented tea beverage made by fermenting sweet red tea with yeast and bacteria using a SCOBY culture, offered in multiple flavours (Ginger, Orange, Roselle, Heimang, Red Tea) and sold in 275 mL bottles to individual consumers through the website and restaurant.
• Ghost & Co. Hot Sauce Lacto-fermented hot sauce made from Manipur ghost chillies (Bhut Jolokia / oo-morok) and house-brewed pineapple vinegar, available in Classic, Ginger Garlic, and Smoked (limited edition) variants in 60 mL bottles, sold to individual consumers online and at retail partners with national delivery.
• Sourdough Bread Traditional sourdough bread made with whole-wheat and refined flour, water, pink salt, and a sourdough (wild yeast) culture, baked in small batches on pre-order and delivered on Saturdays to individual consumers in the Imphal area and nationally where shipping is available.
• Forager's Kombucha Club Recurring subscription delivering 650 mL reusable-bottle kombucha weekly or bi-weekly to subscribers within a 7 km radius of Thangmeiband, Imphal, billed every 1, 2, or 3 months in advance, with minimum 3 bottles per delivery and free home delivery.
• Forage Restaurant (dine-in and takeaway) Dine-in restaurant at Thangmeiband Meisnam Leikai (Panthoibi Community Hall, DM College Road), Imphal West, serving hearty real food inspired by Continental and Neighbourhood cuisines; also retails Forager's food products on-site. Open daily except Wednesdays, 12pm–8pm.
• Sauerkraut and Fermented Vegetables Traditional lacto-fermented vegetables including sauerkraut, lacto-fermented carrots, and beetroot, produced and sold as part of the Forager's product range, primarily during the lockdown period.

Quantifiable outcome

• Kombucha Club subscription offers approximately 40% cost savings compared to retail bottle pricing
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Keithel ExpressminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLong-time delivery partner providing logistics services for product distribution in Imphal during and after lockdown periods. Ensures delivery of kombucha and Ghost & Co. hot sauce products to customers.
• MayolminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLocal retailer in Imphal that stocks Forage products during and after lockdown, expanding product availability to walk-in customers.
• RazorpaycoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment gateway partner for processing online payments. Forage uses Razorpay for secure payment processing through credit/debit cards, net banking, and UPI. PCI-DSS compliant. Does not store card data on their servers.
• DelhiverycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLogistics partner for national delivery of select products to all locations in India serviceable by Delhivery.
• India Post EMSminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAlternative logistics partner for national delivery of select products to locations across India.
• StartUp ManipurcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment startup support program that selected Forage's project for their nano-brewery facility expansion. Provides support for scaling up kombucha production.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Raw Pressery: An Indian cold-pressed juice and functional beverage brand selling D2C and through modern retail. Comparable in the Indian D2C healthy beverage space and target consumer, though focused on juices rather than fermented kombucha.
• Mojo Cold Pressed Juice: An Indian cold-pressed juice and health beverage brand with D2C and modern retail distribution. Comparable in the Indian premium health-beverage consumer segment and D2C/subscription mechanics, but in juices rather than fermented tea.

Broad incumbents

• GT's Living Foods: The largest US kombucha and living-foods brand, with extensive D2C, retail, and product-line breadth. A broad incumbent operating at a vastly larger scale; useful as a benchmark for the upper bound of where a craft kombucha brand can scale.
• Tabasco: An iconic global fermented hot sauce brand with extensive international distribution. Useful as a reference point for the long-term scaling path a craft, fermentation-based hot sauce brand could take from regional to global presence.
• Cholula Hot Sauce: A major global hot sauce brand with broad retail and foodservice distribution. Relevant as a benchmark for the Ghost & Co. hot sauce product line in terms of category economics, distribution expectations, and competitive intensity.

Direct peers

• B-Tea: An Indian craft kombucha brand producing small-batch fermented teas and selling D2C online as well as through select retail. Highly comparable to Forage in product type, fermentation-based positioning, and Indian D2C go-to-market.
• Be Kombucha: One of India's better-known kombucha brands, distributing flavored kombucha through D2C e-commerce, modern retail, and HoReCa. Direct competitor in the same product category and target consumer (health-conscious urban Indian).
• Brew Dr. Kombucha: A craft US kombucha brand producing organic, small-batch kombucha with distinct flavor profiles and selling through D2C, retail, and foodservice. Directly comparable in product philosophy (small-batch, all-natural, secondary-flavor fermentation).
• Health-Ade Kombucha: A leading US-based craft kombucha brand selling organic, small-batch kombucha via D2C subscription, grocery, and foodservice. Comparable in product format, secondary-flavor fermentation approach, and D2C/subscription emphasis.
• Humm Kombucha: A US craft kombucha brand emphasizing natural ingredients and broad flavor variety in D2C and retail channels. Comparable in positioning, small-batch production ethos, and flavor-led product strategy.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Pinterestpinterest.com/foragersin
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foragefood

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forage