Opportunities and challenges in food entrepreneurship: In-depth qualitative investigation of millet entrepreneurs

Abstract

Consumer food preferences are undergoing a rapid transformation, and there has been a heightening of interest in eating healthy, sustainable foods. Food entrepreneurs are cashing in on the trend and are diversifying their existing offerings to include healthier options using alternate ingredients such as millets. However, these entrepreneurs face several challenges, and the actual growth of the market is lower than expected. The present study examines the opportunities and challenges faced by millet entrepreneurs. A total of 25 millet entrepreneurs were interviewed using a semi-structured qualitative design. Key opportunities include increased awareness of millets, people going back to their traditions, and informative food labels were the key opportunities, while a lack of awareness, lack of familiarity, preparation difficulty, sensory attributes, lack of affordability, inferior image, customer distrust, and millets’ longer gestational cycle were major challenges.