THE PROBLEM

A 210Cr food business (biscuits, cookies, noodles) was stuck in a 3-year growth plateau despite launching multiple premium innovations. The founder believed products were solid. The market wasn't responding.

THE INSIGHT

The company was innovating for premium retail but selling through ex-tobacco distributors trained for mass market push. This created a fundamental misalignment.

There was no product-market fit. Not because of the product. Not because of the market. But because the GTM team and product capability weren't aligned. The sales force couldn't sell what the product team was making.

THE WORK

Put a hard choice to the founder. Retrain the entire sales team for premium retail, or reverse-engineer innovation to match sales team strengths. The founder chose the latter. Faster. More capital efficient.

Recut portfolio from 85 products to 42. Focused innovation on what the sales team could actually sell through their existing distributor network.

Mapped store types to portfolio. Bakeries got certain products. Food stores got others. Grocers got a third set. Armed the sales team with clear actions per channel type.

THE OUTCOME

Growth accelerated from 2% to 26% almost immediately. Business doubled to 420Cr in under 3 years.

Zero team changes. No new hires. No retraining programs. Just GTM realignment and SKU rationalization that matched innovation to distribution capability.