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Two food professionals, one academy

One from the plant floor and one from the laboratory, with 70 years of combined expertise, they started an academy so that no food entrepreneur in India fails for lack of practical training.

Why AEA exists

Between the kitchen and the market

India has no shortage of people with a good recipe and real ambition. Many of them get stuck somewhere between the kitchen and the market. The recipe doesn't scale. The process isn't standardised. The licence is confusing. The costing is a guess. The brand is an afterthought, and the money runs out.

These entrepreneurs rarely fail for lack of effort. They fail because nobody who has done it before is beside them. Agrofood Excellence Academy LLP (AEA) was founded to be that person: a big brother to the new generation of food entrepreneurs.

AEA is a food-processing education, research and advisory academy based at Theur, Pune. We train new and growing food entrepreneurs to take a product from idea to market, through recipe, process, compliance, costing, branding and funding, and we build public awareness of nutrition, clean labels and food safety.

Why "big brother"

A big brother has walked the road first. He tells you the truth, even when it is not what you want to hear, and he stays with you until you are on your feet.

That is the relationship AEA wants with every entrepreneur it trains: not a classroom that ends with a certificate, but a guide from the first idea to the first sale and beyond.

Our vision

No food entrepreneur in India should fail for lack of practical, flawless training.

Our mission

To transform agro and food ideas into successful, market-ready businesses.

Mission 1: Public awareness

Help people understand nutrition and properly processed food: read beyond the label, know the difference between ultra-processed and scientifically processed food, and value food safety.

Mission 2: Entrepreneur training

Build a new generation of food-processing entrepreneurs through practical, commercially focused training and hand-holding from idea to market, including access to funding.

Our values

What guides every decision

Science first

Every recommendation is backed by food science and data, not trends or hearsay.

Practical over theoretical

We teach what works on a real plant floor and in a real market, with real machines and real costs.

Food safety is non-negotiable

We never compromise on hygiene, regulation or consumer safety, for ourselves or our clients.

Honest food

Clean labels, real nutrition and truthful claims. We don't overpromise, and we don't scare people.

Commercial sense

A food business must earn money to survive. Costing and pricing are taught from the first day.

Stay alongside

Like a big brother, we stay with entrepreneurs after the course ends, until they are on their feet.

The founders

Proven in industry. Backed by science.

Together they bring what new entrepreneurs rarely find in one place: hands-on manufacturing and machinery experience, and deep research, regulatory and product-development expertise.

Portrait of Anil Chittar

Mr. Anil Chittar

Co-founder • Food technologist and industrialist
  • B.Sc. (Tech) in Food Technology from UDCT, Mumbai (now ICT Mumbai).
  • 35+ years of building food factories, products and brands.
  • Chairman of Appropriate Projects India Pvt Ltd, which manufactures food processing equipment and food products, mainly traditional foods, and of Poornanna Foods Pvt Ltd.
  • Developed several technologies and machines for traditional food processing, and has installed 300+ food processing units built by his company on its own technology.
  • Winner of the Parkhe Award for Food Engineering Designs.
  • National expert for UNIDO and Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) missions in India.
Product developmentProcess and engineeringMarket researchBranding and marketingTraditional foods
Portrait of Dr. Shashank Bhalkar

Dr. Shashank Bhalkar

Co-founder • Food scientist and nutrition expert
  • PhD (Tech) in Food Technology from UDCT, Mumbai University; post-doctoral research in Biochemistry at Ehime University, Japan.
  • Executive Director of PFNDAI (Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India).
  • 3 decades in the nutritional food and nutraceuticals industry, across R&D, regulatory, QA, manufacturing and procurement, taking products from concept to commercialisation.
  • Specialist in paediatric nutrition, nutraceuticals and new specialised nutritional products.
  • Has worked with FDC Ltd, Raptakos Brett & Co. Ltd., Herbalife International and Abbott Nutrition.
R&DRegulatoryPaediatric nutritionNutraceuticalsInstant foods
What we do

Education • Research • Advisory • Innovation

The four words in our logo describe the four sides of our work.

Education

Courses, workshops and awareness programmes for entrepreneurs and the public.

Research

Product and process development grounded in food science and nutrition.

Advisory

Consultancy on technology, compliance, costing, branding, market and funding.

Innovation

Clean-label, nutraceutical, instant and modernised traditional food products.

Agrofood Excellence Academy LLP logo
Our logo

What our logo stands for

ShieldProtection, food safety and trust
Mentor reaching outThe big brother guiding a new entrepreneur
SproutA new venture growing; agriculture and food
Open bookEducation and knowledge
GearTechnology, machinery and processing
Molecular networkScience, research and nutrition

From idea to market, with people who have done it before

Tell us where you are in your journey. We'll tell you honestly what it takes.

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