Khaas Food, the Dhaka-based safe food company, officially launched its honey sachet at Tk 10 on November 17 in an event at Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort, marking what the company describes as a pivotal moment in its retail expansion strategy.
The launch event brought together over a hundred retail distributors from across Bangladesh, signaling the company's intent to move beyond its established omnichannel presence into traditional retail distribution networks. In fact, the company has quitely been executing a retail expansion, the launch indicates an acceleration of that effort.
The move represents a significant strategic shift for a company that has, until now, built its reputation primarily through direct-to-consumer channels—starting as a Facebook page in 2015, then expanding to its own e-commerce platform, mobile app, branded outlets, partnerships with modern trade channels and e-commerce platforms like Rokomari and Arogga, and export.
The choice of a Tk 10 sachet format is instructive. In a market where price sensitivity remains high and trust in food safety continues to be a major consumer concern, the sachet approach tackles multiple challenges simultaneously.
The 8-gram sachet—equivalent to approximately one teaspoon, a standard single serving for daily use—is precisely calibrated for both affordability and practicality. At Tk 10, consumers who might hesitate to commit to a full jar of honey can experiment with Khaas Food's product with minimal financial commitment. This is particularly important for a brand trying to establish credibility in the premium safe food segment, where consumers have learned to be skeptical of quality claims, and also make safe food accessible to more people.
The product positioning reveals thoughtful segmentation. Khaas Food is targeting consumers who might want honey with their morning tea or coffee, parents packing their children's tiffin boxes, older adults seeking a convenient energy booster, and school-going kids who need portable nutrition. These aren't random demographics—they represent consumers with purchasing power, health consciousness, and routine consumption occasions that can drive repeat purchases.
The convenience factor extends beyond mere portability. The single-serve format addresses specific use cases: breakfast tables, office desks, kids' lunch boxes, and on-the-go energy needs. It's designed for what the company describes as "anytime, anywhere" consumption—a significant departure from honey as something that sits in a kitchen cabinet.
Perhaps most critically, the sachet format is ideally suited for traditional retail distribution. The 8-gram size represents a standard pack size that retailers can easily stock, display, and sell in neighborhood shops and general stores across the country. Small, individually-priced units reduce inventory risk for retailers while maximizing shelf visibility. This is particularly relevant as Khaas Food aims to reach Bangladesh's 180 million people through what it describes as "lakhs of retailers" nationwide.
"The Honey Sachet marks an important milestone as we begin our retail expansion," said Habibul Mustafa Arman, Managing Director of Khaas Food, at the launch event. "Its portable format will allow more people to enjoy pure honey anytime, anywhere."
The timing of this retail push coincides with a particularly interesting moment in Bangladesh's honey market. The domestic market, currently valued at approximately Tk 200 crore according to industry estimates, has significant headroom for growth—some projections suggest it could exceed Tk 1,000 crore as health consciousness drives consumption diversification.
What makes this market particularly intriguing is the absence of a dominant local player. Foreign brands, particularly Dabur from India, control an estimated 70% of the domestic market, while local brands collectively hold just 30%. This is despite Bangladesh producing an estimated 15,000-30,000 metric tonnes of honey annually, with production having grown 600% over five years according to export data.
The dominance of foreign brands isn't about production capacity or honey quality—Bangladeshi honey meets EU export standards and is regularly shipped to Japan, India, and other international markets. Rather, it's a question of branding, distribution muscle, and consumer trust. Dabur, for instance, buys local honey, processes and packages it in Bangladesh, and sells it back to Bangladeshi consumers at premium prices with the weight of its international brand behind it.
This creates an unusual opportunity: a growing market with strong local production capabilities but weak local brand leadership. For a brand like Khaas Food, which has spent nearly a decade building consumer trust around safe, pure food, the gap is potentially exploitable—if they can execute distribution at scale.
Bangladesh's food retail landscape is evolving rapidly. While modern trade channels and e-commerce have grown significantly in urban centers, traditional retail—the network of neighborhood shops, general stores, and informal distribution channels—still accounts for the vast majority of FMCG transactions across the country.
For a safe food brand like Khaas Food, which has positioned itself at a premium price point based on quality and purity while also trying to make safe food accessible to everyone, breaking into this traditional retail network presents both opportunities and risks.
The opportunity lies in scale—reaching millions of consumers who may never visit a Khaas Food outlet or order through its app. The risk lies in maintaining brand positioning and ensuring product quality through a far more fragmented and less controlled distribution system.
The company's approach appears calculated. Rather than attempting to push its entire product range into retail at once, it's leading with a few simple products in an accessible format. Honey is a natural choice—it's shelf-stable, has a strong health halo, faces significant adulteration issues in the market (which plays to Khaas Food's safe food positioning), and has broad appeal across demographic segments.
Since its founding in 2015 with the motto "Purity is Healthiness," Khaas Food has built its business on a different model than typical FMCG players. The company has invested heavily in controlling its supply chain, working directly with farmers, establishing quality standards, and building direct relationships with consumers through its e-commerce platform and branded outlets.
As of recent reports, Khaas Food operates 24 physical outlets across Bangladesh, maintains an active e-commerce operation, has established partnerships with modern trade chains like Unimart Limited, Meena Bazar and has even begun work on its own multi-category food manufacturing facility in Bogura. The company claims to have served millions of customers and operates with over 160 employees.
This retail distribution push represents a third growth pillar alongside its existing direct-to-consumer and modern trade channels. It's a recognition that to truly scale in Bangladesh's market, you need to be where the customers are—and for most Bangladeshis, that's still the neighborhood shop.
The company is betting that its brand equity, built painstakingly over nearly a decade through consistent quality and direct customer relationships, will translate into pull-through demand in retail channels. The sachet format, with its low price point and high visibility, is the vehicle for testing this hypothesis.
The path forward isn't without obstacles. Traditional retail distribution in Bangladesh is notoriously fragmented and relationship-driven. Margins are thin, credit cycles are complex, and maintaining product quality and brand standards becomes exponentially more difficult when you're dealing with thousands of small retailers rather than a controlled network of your own outlets.
Competition in the honey category alone is quite high, with numerous local and imported brands, widespread adulteration, and price-conscious consumers. Convincing retailers to stock Khaas Food—likely at a higher wholesale price than alternatives—and consumers to choose it consistently will require sustained marketing support and distribution excellence.
Moreover, Khaas Food will need to carefully manage channel conflict. How will the retail push affect its existing outlet network? Will the convenience of finding Khaas products at the neighborhood shop reduce traffic to branded outlets? These are trade-offs the company will need to navigate carefully.
What's clear is that Khaas Food is evolving from a digitally-native safe food brand into something more comprehensive—a safe food company with an omnichannel distribution strategy that spans e-commerce, branded retail, modern trade, export, and now traditional retail. The company states becoming a leader in the safe food category as its ambition.
This evolution mirrors a broader maturation in Bangladesh's startup and digital business ecosystem. Companies that started online are increasingly recognizing that sustainable growth in Bangladesh requires meeting customers across multiple touchpoints, online and offline, premium and mass market.
For Khaas Food, the Tk 10 honey sachet is both a product and a statement of intent. It signals a company ready to compete not just for the premium, quality-conscious urban consumer, but for market share across the broader Bangladeshi food landscape. It aims to take safe food to everyone.
Whether this strategy succeeds will depend on execution—on building a distribution network that can reach "every corner of the country" while maintaining the quality standards and brand trust that Khaas Food has built its reputation on. The honey sachet launch is just the beginning of that test.
