The Food Genius, Hitesh Tripathi

The descendant of a British Times stationmaster, Hitesh Tripathi comes from Lucknow. He lives with his parents, wife and kids, and has completed B.Tech in food technology along with a Master’s in business management from IIM Lucknow.

Having always had a passion for the food industry he decided to pursue his career on the same path and decided to work for Britannia Industries and then after a year moved on to Ashirvad for two years. Not content with this he decided to move abroad as he wanted further experience. So, he moved to Singapore and decided to work for Olam International in Singapore for the next four years.

Working in Olam gave him a lot of experience when he was in charge of the largest factory in the world for cashew processing, which had 5500 employees and a 25 million USD annual revenue. Since he was serving the American and European markets it gave him a unique perspective of the market abroad and the opportunity to learn new skills grew. This was a learning curve for him where exposure abroad meant he could grow his network further.

Hitesh has been responsible for the successful completion of more than 100 projects, has over 16 years of extensive expertise in the food and beverage industry, and has mentored more than 38,000 retail outlets.

But all of this was not enough for Hitesh and he was not satisfied with it. He wanted more, he wanted to make bigger and better deals. Hitesh was living his best possible life but he was not planning to settle with that. He was planning for far more than that.

He decided to let go of his stable and secure life and return to India to begin his own startup which he named Tech4serve. Hitesh knew this was not going to be easy but he did not let those thoughts hold him back from going ahead with his dreams. With a strong personality and mind, he began Tech4serve in 2011.

Their main goal was to provide the best guidance and support to their customers and create a brand-new destiny for the food and beverage sector to do this they began their company with the main emphasis on turnkey consulting for the food industry and the creation of new products.

Dominating the food industry Tech4serve has received many awards and recognitions. They have completed more than 100 fantastic food retail and commercial projects with the help of a highly qualified crew.

But reaching this height of achievement was not easy, there were many sacrifices that Hitesh had to make and many things that he had to let go of. For Hitesh, the ultimate goal has been success in fulfilling his dreams. He set out to build his own empire and he achieved it. He has always had his family members and loved ones cheer him on and believe in him, a very supportive family.

He is a believer in teamwork and has one of the best qualified, passionate and problem-solving teams to help him achieve his dreams. But Hitesh is talented and gifted enough to be a one-man army on his own. Known to the Google of the F&B industries there isn’t a business problem that he can’t solve.

At first, people were surprised and unsure when he quit his job but looking at the passion and determination with which he approached his job they were assured that this was his path. He wasn’t just an entrepreneur, he was a brandmaker. Hitesh’s biggest mantra is the 3Ps of business- people, product, and process.

He doesn’t believe in sugarcoating but he does believe in having a positive attitude and is a wise mentor and an inspiring human being.

With a big smile on his face, Hitesh has put Tech4serve on the map from biscuits to lemons and he did it all with a positive attitude.

What helped Hitesh come so far?

Well according to Hitesh, new startup owners should have clarity before beginning their business since nowadays everyone wants a startup but hardly does anyone think through as to if their plan truly sounds and if is this what they are looking for.

It’s easy to fantasize about everything going right but we must think realistically and plan everything well. Research is key. Hardly is this path easy and only if we are ready to give it our all should we proceed.

Similarly, it is easy to think of ourselves as lone wolves but a team makes it easier to delegate and solve problems more efficiently as they might see something that we might have missed.