Clumsy Bumsy: Your Source for Quality Cat Food with a Passionate Touch

Krishanu Kona: CEO - Clumsy Bumsy

1. Which year was your company established? and why the name Clumsy Bumsy?

○ The whole journey started when my wife Nitika and I adopted our first cat Shifu whom we adopted in May of 2020. The rescuers were feeding Shifu commercial wet and dry food as those were the options available in India. As Shifu became the centre of our lives we realised that he had digestive issues off and on which caused diarrhoea and there used to be a very strong smell every time he pooped. Every time he pooped, we used to joke that Shifu has dropped a nuke and we need to evacuate the room.

While reading up about this, I came across a few research papers about nutrition and realized that the food we were feeding Shifu was filled with ingredients that wreak havoc in a cat’s digestive system but cat’s still eat it because of all the strong addictive flavours added to it. So we completely stopped commercial food and switched him to a fresh, complete and balanced diet prepared at home.

One year later in May of 2021 Nitika and I decided to start a brand called Zoomies that provides fresh food to cat parents across Delhi/NCR. We started with setting up a kitchen and making food there, freezing it and

delivering it frozen to cat parents within Delhi-NCR only. We did a trial till end of the year and by January 2022 we started doing it full time.

But while delivering frozen food, temperature controlled deliveries and overall logistics was a big problem and even our customers had problems with keeping it in the freezer. This pushed us to sort out this problem and in

August of 2022 we shifted to fresh food driven by Retort technology. Retort technology helps keep food fresh at room temperature without preservatives and helps ship pan-India as well. We also renamed from Zoomies to Clumsy Bumsy because of a trademark issue and started our E-Commerce website.

The name Clumsy Bumsy came to our mind when Shifu got stuck behind our TV for a second and in an attempt to come out, pushed the TV off the unit and broke it. This clumsy nature of his was the inspiration for the name. Our new TV is now wall mounted .

Nitika Sangal: COO

2. So far how is the response from pet owners? Are your products available pan-India?

• ○ The cat food space is a double edged sword because even though many cat

So we focus on helping our customers first understand why fresh food makes a huge difference in a cat’s life and their lives as well and secondly help them transition to fresh food.

The love and appreciation that we receive from cat parents makes it worthwhile but overall, it’s still a difficult market which we already knew from the beginning and still consciously chose to focus on cats because there’s no-one else doing that.

3. There are so many products available in India? Imports and domestic? What is unique about your product for cats?

○ What is unique about Clumsy Bumsy is the Zero Compromise approach that we take towards nutrition and food. We started Clumsy Bumsy for our cats and they still have it daily which is why our decisions are not driven by margins or profit, it is always driven by the well-being of cats.

This approach is what helps us focus on delivering a quality product that has no cheap ingredients like grains, fillers, thickeners, stabilizers, preservatives etc. and avoid the temptation of adding those ingredients to increase our margins. It also means that we will always use only the best quality human-grade ingredients which makes Clumsy Bumsy fresh and safe enough for us to eat as well.

And we do follow AAFCO guidelines which are very generic and which many brands follow, but we take it a few steps further by understanding a feline’s digestive system in depth and taking a science based approach towards creating recipes.

Even though there are imported and domestic brands of cat, there is no other brands which even comes close to the quality of food that Clumsy Bumsy provides and you can check that out by just turning over the pouches and seeing the ingredient list or you can call us and we’ll help you understand that.

Tata Tuna - A Cat Food from Clumsy Bumsy

4. Are the available products suitable for all types of Cats according to their Age? Kitten, Adult to Senior Cat?

○ Yes our food is suitable for cats of all life stages from Kitten to Senior cats.We do have a special diet called Renal Diet for cats with kidney issues which usually adult cats face.

5. How do pet owners get your products? please explain the distribution channel ?

○ As of today, cat parents can only purchase our products online from our website www.clumsybumsy.com and we are also launching on Amazon very soon.

6. Is the product a ready-to-eat-to-eat product? or it has to be mixed while preparing cat food at home? Is it wet food or dry food?

○ It’s ready-to-eat and complete and balanced which basically means that apart from Clumsy Bumsy there’s nothing else that you need to feed your cats period.

7. How do you address the price point when it comes to pet owners? Since we all operate in a price-sensitive market in India. Any new package size?

○ We first focus on providing the best quality ingredients and that defines our price point. We’ve recently launched 100g pouches which makes it easier for cat parents as cats eat less food than dogs.

○ From what you see in the cat food space, we can proudly say that ours is the best quality cat food that is available in India today, which is why we want to expand to UK and USA as well, going forward.

○ In a price-sensitive market, it’s very important to provide cat food that is affordable. Our food is definitely more expensive than the cheapest cat foods available in the market but more affordable than the premium commercial wet food brands while providing a much more superior quality product.

8. Are there any expansion plans into the Dog category?

○ Not in the foreseeable future. We will expand into dog food but after sometime.

○ We now are proud parents of 2 cats Shifu, Daffy and our dog Dilly and actively rescue cats as well while running a startup. We love all cats and they hold a very special place in our lives. We also guide aspiring cat parents with their queries about how easy or difficult it is to take on the responsibility and guide cat parents about nutrition, behaviour and any other queries. So if anybody needs any help regarding cats, we are always there to answer them

■ Building a brand without passion is like building a home without furnishing it.

■ Never compromise on product quality or you’ll never stop compromising afterwards.