Cricketer-Turned-Entrepreneur Builds Guilt-Free Food Brand to Rs 100 Crore Valuation in Under 3 Years

From playing cricket at the Under-19 South Zone level to becoming a serial entrepreneur, Sandeep Jangala’s journey has been full of passion and hard work. In just under three years, he has built Yummy Bee, a Hyderabad-based healthy food brand, to a valuation of Rs 100 crore, with a current turnover of Rs 8 crore.

Yummy Bee marks an exciting new chapter in his inspiring journey, shaped by a strong passion for health-conscious eating. As the Founder, MD, and CEO, 38-year-old Sandeep is determined to change how people view healthy food.

Sandeep Jangala, former South Zone U-19 cricketer, now champions guilt-free food through Yummy Bee (Photos: Special Arrangement)

“Through our R&D efforts, we create products that are sugar-free, maida/ gluten-free, and preservative-free,” he says.

What makes Yummy Bee different is its unique model. “We operate as a cafe chain model, and we are also into Consumer Packed Goods (CPG). We are a Haldiram’s with the vibe of a Starbucks but on the guilt-free end,” Sandeep explains.


His wife, Sonia Lamba (36), who is Co-founder and Head of Branding and HR, shares the same vision. “Our vision is to be the largest guilt-free brand in the country in the next five years by creating the cleanest products possible and to uphold everyone’s right of having food that is tasty, healthy and affordable.”

Established in August 2022 under the name VLOGS Food Pvt Ltd, Yummy Bee follows the VLOGS philosophy – Vegan, Low-calorie, Organic, Gluten-free, and Sugar-free. Their millet-based, sugar-free desserts and foods appeal strongly to health-conscious customers.

The venture started small but grew quickly. Yummy Bee currently operates 10 stores in Hyderabad (six mid-format cafes and four cloud kitchens) serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a special focus on desserts. Plans are underway to expand to Bengaluru.

Yummy Bee operates 10 outlets and has over 100 product SKUs.

Yummy Bee’s products are also available through modern retail and quick commerce platforms.

“We started as a cloud kitchen initially to test the idea and then scaled it up to a multiple outlet chain. As a father to two young girls, aged eight and three, I have always been very particular about what my children eat,” Sandeep shares.

“I wanted to create something that I would be happy to serve to my family and that’s how I planned this venture. It was an effort to ensure when we purchase something we should not be worried about the type of ingredients being used.”

“Our product development mantra is clear - create products that you would be happy to serve your own family,” he says.

Sandeep initially invested around Rs 1 crore to set up the cloud kitchen and operations. Later, he raised Rs 43 lakh from friends and family, Rs 7 crore in a seed round to expand in Hyderabad, and Rs 11 crore in a pre-Series A round to expand outside Hyderabad and grow their CPG business.

Entrepreneurship is not new to Sandeep. In 2013, he founded Appoids Tech Solutions, an ERP solutions provider for the government sector. Under his leadership, the company scaled to Rs 50 crore in revenue.

“One of the first software we created was for the education department, where we helped the government in ensuring proper delivery of education in rural India,” says Sandeep.

However, after the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down government projects, Sandeep stepped away from day-to-day operations at Appoids, which continues today with a focus on private clients like Mahindra.

In 2020, using his Appoids technical team, he launched Transform Fitness, a fitness and nutrition platform. The platform was acquired by Apollo Group’s URLife, led by Upasana Kamineni, for two million dollars. After selling his stake, Sandeep left a high-paying Rs 2 crore annual package at Apollo to chase his passion for guilt-free food.

In its first year, Yummy Bee registered revenues of Rs 44 lakh (FY 2022–23), which jumped to Rs 3.95 crore in FY 2023–24 and Rs 8.18 crore in FY 2024–25. They are now aiming for Rs 50 crore in annual recurring revenue by expanding their stores in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and growing their packaged food (CPG) business.

“Anyone who is looking to eat healthy is a customer for us. This could be someone who is into fitness or nutrition, or a mother who wants to ensure her family eats healthy,” Sandeep shares.

Yummy Bee has over 100 SKUs across its Hyderabad stores in Jubilee Hills, Kondapur, Kokapet, Kukatpally, Sainikpuri, and Manikonda. The brand employs more than 150 people in Hyderabad.

From a cloud kitchen to a cafe chain and CPG brand — Sandeep’s Yummy Bee journey shows how purpose and innovation can create a lasting buzz

Their offerings include double chocolate brownies, tea cakes, pastries, cheesecakes, vegan snacks, bento cakes, and eggless collections. All fresh products have a shelf life of just 1–2 days since no preservatives are used.

CPG products have a six-month shelf life, even though they avoid common chemicals like MSG, maltodextrin, and titanium dioxide. Sandeep shares that a lot of investment went into R&D for making healthy seasonings without harmful additives.

Sandeep completed his BTech in electronics and communications from Koneru Lakshmaiah College of Engineering and went on to prepare for civil services, reaching the interview stage twice but missing out on getting into the IAS cadre.

“My dad Suresh Babu has been my biggest inspiration. He is a doctor-turned-IAS officer and I have seen his selfless service to society,” he shares.

“My mantra is to help people through my work. Whether it was improving education in rural areas, enabling fitness access for common people, or now through healthy food, I want to serve society like my father.”

Sandeep has studied Marketing and Branding at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and also holds an associate degree in photojournalism and documentary photography from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University.

Cricket was Sandeep’s first love. “I have been playing cricket since I was 10. My dream was to play for India. I was part of the South Zone Under-19 team and got the chance to play alongside players like Ashwin, Jadeja, Rayudu, and Dinesh Karthik,” he says.

A final-year engineering injury ended his cricket dream, pushing him toward other ways of contributing to society.

Apart from work, Sandeep is a sneakerhead and a collector of wines and whiskies from around the world (though he doesn’t drink).

While physical stores are Sandeep’s main focus, most cake orders come through their website, along with platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.

Creating vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free products is no easy task. “It’s easy to create a sugar-free or gluten-free cake, but it is challenging to make a vegan cake, without butter and milk,” Sandeep says. He also notes a trend toward vegetarianism in Hyderabad, where vegetarian pizzas now outsell non-vegetarian ones.

Yummy Bee products meet the standards Sandeep sets for his own family

At Yummy Bee, ethics are as important as taste. “We have made a conscious decision to avoid gelatin in our products. We also avoid using white chocolate as it cannot be made without sugar,” he says.

Their pizza base is made of multigrain millets like jowar and bajra, without maida or gluten.

“If I cannot give something to my daughters, aged three and eight, I don’t recommend it to other children either. That’s probably why we have a 60% repeat customer rate,” says Sandeep.

“Our biggest promoters are our customers. Millets are everywhere today, but our biggest USP is product differentiation,” he signs off. - ©TWL