AMBALIKA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

AND TECHNOLOGY MOHANLALGANJ

LUCKNOW .

MINI PROJECT -1

ON

“EDIBLE SPOON”

SUBMITTED TO .
MR. GAURAV SHUKLA
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT – AIHE
SUBMITTED BY .
PRANJAL GUPTA
1ST SEMESTER MBA {2023-24}

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This project is the outcome of sincere efforts, hard work and constant
guidance of not only me but a number of individual. First and foremost, I
would like to thank Ambalika Institute of Management And Technology
.giving me platform to show my skills and I am thankful to my Professor
MR. GAURAV SHUKLA for providing me help and support throughout
the project report period.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my faculty guide who not only gave me valuable
inputs about the industry but was a continuous source of inspiration during
these months, without which this project was never such a great success.
Last but not the least, I am also grateful to MS. YASH GUPTA an alumni
of my institute who helped me a lot in completing this project report.
Also I would like to thank all my faculty members, friends and family
members who have helped me directly or indirectly in the completion of the
project.

PRANJAL GUPTA

MBA Semester- 1

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 ABSTRACT

This edible cutlery is a perfect alternative to harmful plastic cutlery; it is not only
environmentally safe but also enriched with nutritious ingredients. Bakers use different
types of flours to bake single-use edible spoons, forks and chopsticks which can be
consumed after their intended use. The spoons have a shelf-life of 24 months and are so
made that they will naturally decompose between 3 and 7 days after use if not consumed.
The spoons are manufactured in several flavours, such as cumin, mint-ginger, carrot-
beetroot and sugar. The cost of a single spoons ranges from Rs.2-Rs.4, depending upon
quantity and flavour plane flavoured spoon is priced at Rs2/piece and others price
depending upon the flavours. We will also setup online platform for distribution of this
product.

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 CONTENT

❖ Introduction

❖ Scope Of Innovation

❖ Description

❖ Feasibility

1 Financial Feasibility

2 Operating/Production Feasibility

❖ USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

❖ Any other Information about the product

❖ SWOT Analysis

❖ Conclusion

❖ References

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 INTRODUCTION

Edible cutlery is made from dried grains.These are made primarily with rice, millets or wheat.
Since rice cultivation needs a lot of water, manufacturer’s market millet based products as
more environment friendly. The batter is baked in moulds which hardens it. Some
manufacturers offer an option of flavoured cutlery. Edible cutlery decomposes in about a week
if disposed. Edible cutlery is gaining popularity as an eco-friendly alternative to non-
decomposing plastic. Our mission is to start a cutlery revolution. Currently, about 40 BILLION
plastic utensils are used just within the United States within a year. Worldwide, this becomes
a figure at 16 times this magnitude. A majority of these utensils are only used once and then
discarded. Compostable utensils made of corn may seem like an answer to the problem. But it
turns out, a good percentage of corn based biodegradable utensils are thrown into landfills
anyway, where they will remain for a very long time without degradation. Because these
utensils need high heat and very specific conditions to properly degrade, many times their
benefits are negated. Of course, one may ask, why do we not just replace all our utensils with
reusable cutlery? Ask yourself, is this possible in today’s globalized world? Is it possible for
the millions of fast food restaurants around the world to provide reusable cutlery for one of the
many customers that comes in for lunch?

Therefore, our goal is to provide a replacement for the current disposable utensils on the
market. Our spoons are delicious, but if they are not consumed, they are able to degrade in any
outside environment, as they do not have specific requirements for degradation.

Our ambitions stretch far beyond the realm of edible spoons. Currently, we have molds to
produce chopsticks, dessert spoons, and forks," reads the company's Kickstarter page. "Our
plan is to expand into cups, plates, and many more traditional disposable tableware. Our goal
is to create and expand into a whole new line."

But we need your help. In producing our other lines as well as minimizing the cost of our
spoons (so that they are far more competitive with compostables on the market), we need the
funds to expand into our other lines.

The energy it takes to produce 1 plastic utensil, we can produce 100 sorghum based spoons.
And in comparison to Corn/PLA, we are able to produce 50. Our energy costs are minimized
through a semi-automatic process that minimizes waste and maximizes efficiency. Our low
usage of water in the production of each spoon (Less than 2% of the weight per spoon), allows
our spoons to have a very long shelf life up to 2 years while maintaining their crispness.

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 SCOPE OF INNOVATION

Plastic waste covers our oceans and landfill. The past 70 years of plastic waste have resulted
in pollution so ubiquitous scientists say it’s a marker of a new geological epoch, the manmade
Anthropogenic. Plastic cutlery is a contributor to this enormous problem – estimates suggest
the US alone uses 40bn plastic utensils a year but the founder of Indian cutlery company we
thinks we might have a solution. Cutlery you can eat. The vegan friendly spoons are made
from rice, wheat and sorghum, an ancient grain originally from Africa. Sorghum was chosen
as a primary ingredient for its tough quality (it doesn’t go soggy in liquids) and because it is
suitable for cultivation in semi-arid areas. The cutlery comes in three flavours – savoury (salt
and cumin), sweet (sugar) and plain. “It tastes like a cracker, a dry cracker because we don’t
put any fat in it. It can complement any food. The taste of the food gets into the spoon “.Even
if the spoons are dumped after use, they decompose in a few days. This makes its product more
environmentally friendly than biodegradable plastic utensils made from corn plastic, which
need to be subjected to high heat in specialised composting facilities to break down. The
spoons are packaged in paper bags and shipped using Styrofoam to prevent breakage. We are
launching the world’s first edible cutlery line made of three flours: rice, wheat, and sorghum.
Help us change the way we eat and think about waste! And we understand how important it
is to be able to provide delicious cutlery that can be eaten by anyone. We are already fully
vegan, preservative free, Trans fat free, dairy free and operate on principals of fair trade.

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 DESCRIPTION

INGREDIENTS :-
Our ingredients are as simple with absolutely no preservatives. The lack of water, moisture, or
fat in our product allows it to have a long shelf life without the need for extra preservatives.
They include: sorghum flour, rice flour, and wheat flour. However, because we knead our
dough through a certain method, our final product contains less than 10 ppm in gluten. Though
we are not yet certified gluten free, we are working on it, and our ultimate goal is to create a
formulation that requires absolutely no wheat.

Our first offering, the edible lunch spoon, goes perfect with ice cream, yogurt, and a variety of
soups. The spoon itself does not degrade within liquids due to the presence of a large quantity
of sorghum, a hearty crop that is strong, abundant, and requires very little energy for
cultivation.

Here are the current flavors we have created:-

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Now we discuss about the process how we will create
edible spoons by food waste material :-

• Firstly we will tie up with different restaurants and organisation by whom we will
collect raw waste material in affordable cost.
• Then the raw material collected from different source will be collected and added with
different items and prepared to make the product.
• Then we will get the food waste material mix with rice flour and made the base for the
product.
• Then we have to create the product designs the and make it according to desired need.
• This will help us to make cost of production get low and make our product affordable.
• By this we can make product in very low cost of production and also this will help to
reduce the food wastage.

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OBJECTIVES OF INNOVATION :-

Plastic contains chemical complexes, several of which are neuro toxic and carcinogenic. These
leach into food. In fact, even the so called food grade cutlery is that, where this leaching is
within permissible levels of 60 Parts per Million (PPM). When you know that the substances
that leach can cause cancer and impact your nervous system, why should you allow even one
part per million. This is why we made these edible and safe products. The cutlery is made of
flours of jowar (sorghum) blended with rice and wheat. They contain NO
chemicals/preservatives/fat/plasticizes, emulsifiers, artificial color or milk products. In fact
they contain nothing that is not a plant product (except salt, which we add for taste). They are
made gluten free and with many other grains that are easily available in other countries. They
are simply baked in high temperatures. This would be a "Make-In-India" initiative with the
aim to protect environment which is already up and running in small scale and expanding
slowly.

EXPLORATORY STUDIES

Further the findings and data collection will be done through questionnaire followed by
interviews. This would help to spread the awareness about the product among the target
customers. This would help to create a definite conclusion and insights into a given problem.
Responses may not be statistically measureable, but they will give you richer quality
information that can lead to the discovery of new initiatives or problems that should be
addressed.

For this research the variables that are being used are one dependent variable and independent
variable.

Dependent variable :-

The dependent variable for this product is “sales”. Sales are affected by many independent
variables such as price, availability, quality, appearance of the product.

Independent variable :-

The independent variables would be price, availability, quality, appearance. These variables if
they don’t meet the customer expectations would affect the dependent variable ‘sales’. As of
now the cost of the spoon is Rs. 2 but as the production picks up it can come down to Rs. 1.
As the shelf life is 18 months if the stock is available at the right time then it would not affect
the sales. Quality and appearance should meet the expectations of customers in order to boost
the sales.

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IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION :-

1. THEY’RE ECO-FRIENDLY
They help limit plastic waste and are completely biodegradable. Plastic cutlery is usually made
of polypropylene and polystyrene, which can take over 400 years to photodegrade.Producing
just one pound of plastic cutlery can take up to 78 liters of water and release 2.5 lbs of CO2!
Edible utensils, on the other hand, are made of safe-to-eat ingredients. For example, Bakey’s
edible cutlery only uses three ingredients: rice, wheat and sorghum (an ancient grain from
Africa).

2. THEY’RE FUNCTIONAL
They come in the shape of forks, spoons and chopsticks. They can last up to 18 months,
and if you don’t finish eating it by the expiration date, just pour water on it or compost it - it
degrades within 3 days

3. THEY’RE DELICIOUS
They come in three flavours: plain, sweet and savoury. But, they don’t overpower the taste of
your food!

4. AND NUTRITIOUS
They contain fibre, iron, protein and calcium. Sorghum is also naturally high in micro nutrients.
AND, if you’re celiac, they can be made totally gluten-free. And if you need the extra energy,
they are about 34.86 calories per utensil.

5. THEY’RE SOUP-ER FOR YOUR SOUP

Edible spoons are the perfect addition to your soup. Unlike normal crackers or croutons, they
won’t become soggy while you eat your soup.

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 LIMITATIONS OF INNOVATION

1. The Positioning Problem

Edible cutlery has been around on the sidelines, waiting to get mainstream, for so long now
that I am sure the prices would have been brought down to compete with other types of cutlery.
And when you’ve already done a great deal of deliberation on the pricing and there seems to
be no way of bringing it further down without eroding your profit – the thing you need to focus
on is ‘value’.

2. The Consumer Behaviour Problem

We as consumers are used to getting things our way, how can I eat the served and the serving
both? Rational thoughts won’t allow you to buy the concept of eating your own cutlery.

Because eating your cutlery, something in which or with which you have just had food, comes
in the way of the usual consumer behavior.

3. Bad choice of name?

Now another best thing about these edible cutleries is that they go with absolutely all types of
foods and eatables, they are also vegan and completely eco-friendly.

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 FEASIBILITY
(Financial and Operating Feasibility)

Financial Feasibility :-
Financial feasibility describes whether your project is fiscally viable or not. A financial
feasibility report includes a cost/benefit analysis of the project. It also forecasts an expected
return on investment (ROI), as well as outlines any financial risks.
The global edible cutlery market size was valued at USD 22.6 million in 2018. Growing
awareness regarding the urgency to control the pollution caused by plastics is expected to force
cutlery manufacturers to develop eco-friendly products. The majority of non-profit
organizations and business affiliates have launched various programs aimed at reducing the
consumption of plastic.
Plastic cutlery takes ages to decompose and pollute the soil. The governments of various
countries have been providing funds and tax benefits to companies that are striving to reduce
carbon footprints. Therefore, edible cutlery acts as biodegradable solutions to combat the
recycling issues associated with plastic raw materials. Growing use of these cutleries can be
seen in the airlines industry, where steel forms have been considered an unviable option owing
to the threat of planes being hijacked by the use of these cutleries as weapon.

Growth of the tourism industry in Asia Pacific countries including China and India is expected
to play a key role in increasing the penetration of restaurants and quick service restaurants. As
a result, these edible cutleries are expected to find enormous opportunities in the food service

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sector in the aforementioned countries. Additionally, abundance availability of various grains,
including rice, is expected to ensure access to raw material for edible cutlery vendors operating
in these countries over the next few years.

Operational Feasibility :-
Operational feasibility is the measure of how well a proposed system solves the problems,
and takes advantage of the opportunities identified during scope definition and how it satisfies
the requirements identified in the requirements analysis phase of system development.
Spoon edible cutlery accounted for a share of more than 35.0% in 2018. These products are
easier to manufacture than most other types of cutlery owing to their simple structure.
Furthermore, the product is recognized across the world and people prefer using it too, unlike
the use of a knife or fork, which is yet considered complicated in many parts of the world.
These products have gained popularity among countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, where eating with bare hands is a tradition.
Spork edible cutlery is expected to expand at the fastest CAGR of 9.2% from 2019 to 2025.
The product is a combination of fork and spoon, which is considered exceptionally useful while
traveling. One single item is adequate for the consumption of various kinds of food including
soup, salad, and pudding. Furthermore, some of these sporks are flavored with pepper, which
complements the soup too and thus, is gaining popularity among food service providers in
airlines.
Online channel accounted for more than 75.0% share of the global revenue in 2018. Edible
cutlery was initially launched through online channel itself and therefore, it continues to be the
most used point of sale. The majority of organizations give a very detailed description of the
features of the product, which includes the ingredients of the product, size, and flavor. All
these together make the process of buying much easier and thus, the online channels have
continued to be people’s preference.
The offline channels are expected to expand at the fastest CAGR of 9.0% from 2019 to 2025.
Organizations in order to create an in-depth penetration among consumers are striving to reach
them through the convenience stores and supermarkets. Additionally, high concentration of
these offline channels including convenience stores and supermarkets in developing economies
including China, Bangladesh, and India is expected to open new avenues over the next few
years.

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 UNIQUE SELLING POINT (USP)

The edible spoon trends in India are made of millet (Jowar) blended with other grains and are
100 percent natural and do not contain artificial preservatives. These ‘Millet Spoons’ come in
various flavors, like plain, sweet and spicy, in different taste like ginger-cinnamon, ginger-
garlic, celery, black pepper, cumin, mint-ginger, and carrot-beetroot. The USP of the spoons
is that they have the shelf life of three years and decompose in just 4-5 days after the use. The
shelf life and the decomposing time is itself a great achievement as an average plastic bottle
takes more than 450 years to be entirely degraded from the environment.

At present, the edible spoons cost Rs 2 while the cost of the spoon can be reduced to half once
it is produced in masses. The spoons have entered the market already.

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 OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCT

How to make Edible Spoons?

We make our cutlery with dough made from a mixture of sorghum, rice and wheat
flours, kneaded with hot water. No preservatives, chemicals, additives, colouring
agents, raising agents, fat, Tran’s fat, artificial chemical nutrition or animal ingredients,
milk or milk products are added. These are baked to make them crisp, hard and moisture
free. These are 100% natural products, 100% vegan, 100% degradable (if you choose
not eat them). Since these are made with flours, we have the advantage of adding tastes
and flavours. Basically, there would be three tastes- plain, sweet and savoury. In the
sweet version, we have the choices of making vanilla, strawberry and other flavours. In
the savoury version, we have the choices of salt and pepper combination (1) with added
Indian spices and (2) with no additional spices added. In the sweet version, we would
come with vanilla and strawberry flavours.

The edible cutlery is not just utility products….They are fun to use!

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WHY YOU SHOULD NOT USE
PLASTIC?
Plastic contains several chemical
complexes that leach into food. Many
of these are carcinogenic and neuro-
toxic. The increasing trends in cancer
incidences across the world is due to
excessive exposure to plastic in form of
packaging in food industry (e.g.: milk
pouches) and plastic disposable cutlery
before using it. Thus, would be actually
licking this industrial contamination.
The food law all over the world is silent
on how hygienic the utensils should be.
These fall under industrial production
law
The food laws all over the world are
silent on how hygienic the utensils
should be. These fall under industrial
production laws.
The character of plastic does not change
even after several times use. Therefore,
there is a high opportunity for the
unscrupulous food vendors to pocket
more profits by putting the cutlery to
unhygienic reuse. This time, the user
would be susceptible to licking
bacteriological contamination.
Please remember, there is no law that
prohibits reuse of cutlery and the law is
also silent on the hygiene standards for
the utensils to serve food
When and if thrown away, plastic
cutlery adds to the mounting non-
degradable material garbage
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HOW EDIBLE CUTLERY IS
BETTER
Edible cutlery is made of food materials
and they come with nutritive contents.
Edible cutlery contains no chemicals,
additives or even preservatives. They
are 100% natural and baked products.
Edible cutlery falls under food category
and hence, hygiene is of paramount
importance
Edible cutlery cannot be reused. These
are baked at high temperatures;
therefore, the likelihood of microbial
spores to survive is very little. Even if
these micro-spores land after
production, they are not likely to
germinate because, the products are
dehydrated (which is why they have
long shelf life, even without
preservatives). Moisture is essential for
life to germinate/generate
These disintegrate in less than a week,
unless stray animals and insects do not
eat them up sooner.
 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as
understanding of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing.
SWOT for Edible Cutlery is a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and
exploit the opportunities that can be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In
addition, it also identifies the weaknesses of the organization that will help to be eliminated
and manage the threats that would catch the attention of the management.

This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company
from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The
strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities
and threats are generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is
also called Internal-External Analysis.

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 1. STRENGTH

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the
organization:

➢ Advantages of the organization

➢ Activities of the company better than competitors.
➢ Unique resources and low cost resources company have.
➢ Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.
➢ Unique selling proposition of the company.

2. WEAKNESS

➢ Improvement that could be done.

➢ Activities that can be avoided for Edible Cutlery.
➢ Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.
➢ Factors that can reduce the sales.
➢ Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

3. OPPORTUNITIES:

➢ Good opportunities that can be spotted.

➢ Interesting trends of industry.
➢ Opportunities for Edible Cutlery can be obtained from things such as:
➢ Change in technology and market strategies
➢ Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field
➢ Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.

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4. THREATS:

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

➢ Company’s facing obstacles.

➢ Activities of competitors.
➢ Product and services quality standards
➢ Threat from changing technologies
➢ Financial/cash flow problems
➢ Weakness that threaten the business.

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SKETCHES

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21
 SAMPLING

The sampling technique which we are going to use is random sampling. In this project we need
a sample of about 80-90 customers from whom the responses are recorded in a questionnaire
form. After the data collection is done then we would further process with analysis through
regression.

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 CONCLUSION

From the research analysis, it is found that people in Noida City are not more aware about the
edible cutlery. Most of the people having street food outlet still using plastic cutlery, but after
analysis it is found that edible cutlery got the good responses from the people, as it is tasty,
fun, and nutritious & environment friendly. And where plastic is ‘Non- Biodegradable’,
dangerous to human health & environmental pollution.

Edible spoons have the greatest potential to tackle humans over reliance on plastic cutleries
but lack the necessary funds to produce other utensils. Furthermore, edible spoons encourage
its users, especially children, to be Eco-friendly and be more health conscious.

It also helps minimize and potentially solve environmental, health and socioeconomic issues
prevalent in many nations. Hence, edible cutleries could not only help solve our everyday
dilemmas, it could also prevent us from over plastics and further contribute to the damages
against our ecosystem.

Suggestions & recommendations

1. As Nagpur is a metro city and our prime minister is also announced to eliminate all
single-use plastics in the nation by 2022, so we should be a part of this mission by
avoiding the use of plastic cutlery and instead of plastic use edible cutlery, which gives
fun, nutrients & taste.
2. Nagpur should open the manufacturing unit of edible cutlery in the city.
3. As the shelf life of edible cutlery is 24 months, so no need to worry about the expiry in
bulk production.
4. And the use of plastic cutlery in the Nagpur city will be zero & human health will be
safe.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) http://www.bakeys.com/edible-cutlery/

2) https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bakeys-edible-cutlery-1.4763171

3)https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264122222_Preparation_and_Nutritional
_Quality_Evaluation_of_Edible_Spoons

4) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1240116767/edible-cutlery-the-future-of- eco-
friendly-utensils

5) https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/apr/13/edible-cutlery- company-
eat-plastic-pollution-oceans

6) https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/edible-cutlery-market

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