Corn Man: The Man Who Quietly Cornered Half of India's Popcorn Market
6/29/202638 min
One in two popcorn kernels eaten in India comes from one man's farms. He built the crop from nothing, the processing plant that rivals anything in North America, and a farmer network no competitor can crack. When COVID killed every client overnight, most founders would have cut and run. He doubled his acreage. He has 50Xed his revenue in 5 years, build a moat few can crack and plans to now indigenise other crops and commodities like oats and palm oil with host Anirban Chowdhury.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsS.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao· Guest0:00
So my wife's biggest complaint is that I treat my corn better than I do her.
Anirban Chaudhuri· Host0:04
Our guest today runs a market-leading company that you've probably never heard of, but chances are that you consumed his product just this weekend.
S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao· Guest0:13
We chanced upon an opportunity when my friend ran a cinema chain, and he was going to run out of popcorn, and we got into this business on a whim. That journey has brought us today to becoming the fourth-largest grower of popcorn in the world.
Anirban Chaudhuri· Host0:28
S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao built Gourmet Popcornica from nothing. No crop, no market, no playbook, to controlling half of India's popcorn kernel market.
S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao· Guest0:45
We went to the third-largest grower of popcorn in the world. COVID hit. Our entire business was supplied to cinemas, and overnight on the 21st of March, 2020, 80% of my clients shut shop.
Anirban Chaudhuri· Host1:00
This is a story about building a category, farming at scale, and quietly becoming indispensable.
S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao· Guest1:06
What we did is we started by trying to understand the farmer's pain. We are not just indulging in contract farming in vain. We're doing so in- with our mind, body, and soul.
Anirban Chaudhuri· Host1:18
Your revenue grew from, from FY16 9.2 crore rupees to 500 crore in FY2026.
S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao· Guest1:26
Financial year '27, we're targeting between 500 and