Chakradhar Gade’s story is an inspiring story. Country Delight, the company he co-founded, was launched in 2015 in Gurugram, India. As of 2025, Country Delight has reached ₹1,380 crore (~$160 million) in annual revenue and operates across 18+ cities in 11 states with over 2,000 employees . The company solves a critical problem in India’s dairy and grocery ecosystem by delivering fresh, minimally processed milk, fruits, vegetables, and staples directly from farms to doorsteps. With a fully integrated supply chain—including sourcing, testing, packaging, and delivery—Country Delight brings trust, quality, and transparency to consumers, while creating fair returns for farmers.
Basic Details
| Origin Country | India |
| Legal Name | Beejapuri Dairy Private Limited |
| Brand | Country Delight |
| Founder | Chakradhar Gade |
| Co-Founder | Nitin Kaushal |
| CEO | Chakradhar Gade |
| Industry | E-Commerce |
| Website | www.countrydelight.in |
| Year of Founding | 2015 |
| Valuation | ~$600 Million (2025 estimate) |
| Employees | 2,000+ |
| Headquarters | Gurugram, Haryana, India |
| Status | Active |
FOUNDER OVERVIEW – CHAKRADHAR GADE
➤ Net Worth (2025)
As of 2025, Chakradhar Gade’s estimated net worth is between $30–50 million. This is primarily based on his equity in Country Delight, which has seen strong revenue growth and investor backing from Matrix Partners, Elevation Capital, and IIFL.
➤ Ownership in Company
Although exact shareholding is not publicly disclosed, Chakradhar retains a significant founding stake. Known for his grounded personality, he maintains a modest compensation structure and focuses on building long-term value through customer trust and operational scale.
➤ Ventures Founded
Country Delight (2015): His first major venture, aimed at solving India’s dairy quality problem through a direct-to-consumer model with full supply chain ownership.
➤ Investments
Chakradhar has made limited public investments, focusing entirely on scaling Country Delight. He mentors early-stage AgriTech founders informally.
➤ Recognition & Awards
- Startup India Recognition – Agri Innovation (2021)
- ET Retail Disruptor Award (2022)
- Featured in Forbes India’s D2C Founders to Watch (2023)
PERSONAL STORY: CHAKRADHAR GADE
Chakradhar Gade was born in 1983 in Andhra Pradesh, India, in a middle-class agricultural family. Raised in a community where food quality was cherished but often compromised by urban supply chains, he witnessed firsthand the disconnect between rural production and city consumption. This upbringing left a deep impression, and the values of honesty, hard work, and integrity were central to his early years. His father was a farmer and small trader, and conversations about seasonal crops and market volatility shaped Chakradhar’s outlook on systemic inefficiencies.
He graduated from IIT Delhi with a degree in Electrical Engineering and went on to earn an MBA from IIM Indore. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Chakradhar worked in finance and consulting, including roles at Citibank and McKinsey. But corporate success never quite resonated with him. During a conversation with his co-founder and IIT friend Nitin Kaushal, they discussed how even educated urban consumers didn’t trust the milk they consumed. That conversation triggered the earliest spark for Country Delight.
Leaving a stable career to start a supply-chain-intensive startup wasn’t easy. The duo began with a single vehicle delivering fresh milk in Gurugram, testing quality at every step. They handled complaints personally, worked with farmers on the ground, and took no salaries for months. Chakradhar often talks about how visiting rural suppliers gave him clarity and motivation when investor meetings or city operations felt overwhelming.
Through the years, Chakradhar evolved into a mission-driven entrepreneur. His personal journey has been about reconnection—bringing urban trust back to rural produce. He remains deeply involved in sourcing, quality testing, and farmer engagement. For him, building Country Delight is not just a business—it’s a personal mission to rebuild India’s broken fresh food chain with transparency and respect.
FOUNDING STORY: COUNTRY DELIGHT
Inspiration Behind the Idea
The idea for Country Delight stemmed from a simple but pressing observation: even educated, urban consumers had no reliable way of knowing the quality of the milk they consumed daily. In 2013, Chakradhar Gade and his IIT Delhi friend Nitin Kaushal realized how deeply broken the dairy value chain was—riddled with middlemen, storage delays, and diluted standards. Their vision was to offer 100% pure, farm-fresh milk directly to households, bypassing the traditional supply chain. Country Delight was officially launched in 2015 in Gurugram, starting with a small network of farmers and early adopters.
Founding Team
The founding duo of Chakradhar and Nitin brought complementary strengths—Chakradhar in operations and business strategy, and Nitin in technology and customer acquisition. Their friendship, combined with a shared belief in clean food systems, formed the emotional backbone of the venture. Initially, they handled everything—from sourcing to customer service calls—often delivering milk themselves in the early days.
Starting Capital
Country Delight began as a bootstrapped venture. The founders invested their savings to develop basic cold chain infrastructure, procure fresh milk, and set up quality labs. Their lean approach—operating out of rented spaces and minimizing marketing spend—allowed them to prove the concept before raising external capital. Their first institutional funding came from Matrix Partners in 2017.
Early Challenges
One of the biggest hurdles was managing perishables in a supply chain with zero margin for error. Milk had to be tested, chilled, packed, and delivered within hours. Farmers were skeptical of new models, and customers had high expectations. The company struggled with logistics delays, tech glitches in delivery apps, and occasional quality inconsistencies. Chakradhar personally oversaw testing labs and delivery planning to ensure standards were met.
Breakthrough
The breakthrough came when customers began sharing their experiences on social media, praising the taste and visible freshness of Country Delight’s milk. Referral-based growth took off, especially in gated communities. As trust deepened, Country Delight expanded into curd, paneer, ghee, fruits, vegetables, and essentials like bread and eggs. Its integrated app and subscription model ensured convenience and retention. By 2022, the company had reached ₹500 crore in annual revenue. As of 2025, it crosses ₹1,380 crore, operates in 18+ cities, and continues to build a full-stack, farm-to-home fresh food ecosystem—staying true to its founding promise of purity and trust.
COMPANY PROFILE: COUNTRY DELIGHT
Country Delight is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) fresh food and essentials brand that delivers farm-fresh dairy, fruits, vegetables, and pantry staples directly to customer doorsteps. The company controls the entire supply chain—from sourcing and quality testing to cold storage, packaging, and delivery—ensuring unmatched freshness and trust.
Area Served
Country Delight operates in over 18 cities across 11 Indian states, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. It continues to expand to Tier 2 cities with increasing digital adoption and infrastructure.
Vision & Mission
Vision: To redefine how India consumes fresh food by delivering pure, natural, and high-quality products directly from the farm.
Mission: To empower Indian families with access to daily essentials that are free from chemicals, preservatives, and processing—delivered with transparency and convenience.
Services / Products Offered
- Country Delight offers a comprehensive range of daily essentials, with a strong focus on freshness, purity, and minimal processing. All products are sourced directly from partner farms and delivered within 36 hours through an integrated cold chain and technology-enabled logistics system. Here’s a detailed breakdown:
- Fresh Milk Delivery
Country Delight began with milk as its core offering and has now become one of India’s most trusted fresh milk delivery brands. It offers:- Cow Milk
- Buffalo Milk
- A2 Desi Cow Milk
Each variant is sourced from vetted farmers, tested for over 26 quality parameters, and delivered in eco-friendly packaging with no preservatives or reconstitution.
- Dairy Products
The platform provides a wide array of farm-fresh dairy essentials:- Curd (Dahi): Made daily from fresh milk, without thickeners or additives
- Paneer (Cottage Cheese): Soft, fresh paneer available in both cow and buffalo variants
- Ghee: Prepared using traditional bilona methods for premium flavor and nutritional value
- Butter and Buttermilk: Natural and preservative-free options
- Farm-Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Country Delight offers seasonal and daily vegetables sourced directly from farms. The supply chain avoids middlemen, ensuring that produce reaches the customer within hours of harvest. Products include:- Tomatoes, potatoes, leafy greens, and gourds
- Apples, bananas, citrus fruits, melons, and seasonal specials
Produce is curated for ripeness, taste, and pesticide-free quality.
- Breakfast & Daily Essentials
To complement dairy and produce, Country Delight provides:- Eggs: Both regular and high-protein eggs
- Bread & Buns: Freshly baked, preservative-free multigrain and white bread
- Batter: Idli/dosa batter made from freshly ground rice and lentils
- Coconut Water: Delivered fresh in natural shells or extracted form
- Grocery Staples
Expanding beyond perishables, Country Delight now offers essential grocery items:- Atta (Wheat Flour), Rice, and Pulses
- Cooking oils, Salt, and Sugar
- These are sourced with an emphasis on low processing and minimal chemical treatment.
- Subscription-Based App Platform
All services are managed through a mobile app that allows users to:- Set daily or custom delivery schedules
- Skip, reschedule, or top-up orders
- Pay via UPI, wallet, or card
- Track deliveries and view product quality reports
- End-to-End Cold Chain and Testing Infrastructure
Products are collected from farms, tested in-house at multiple touchpoints, and delivered through temperature-controlled vehicles. Each batch undergoes quality checks for adulteration, microbial presence, and shelf life.
Business Model
Country Delight operates on a D2C subscription model. Users subscribe to regular deliveries via a mobile app and pay digitally. Products are sourced directly from farms, tested in internal labs, and delivered within 36 hours. This reduces layers of middlemen and ensures higher margins and quality control.
Revenue Model
Country Delight operates on a vertically integrated D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) model with a strong focus on recurring revenue, high-margin private labels, and operational efficiency. The company’s revenue streams are structured as follows:
- Subscription-Based Recurring Sales
A major portion of Country Delight’s revenue comes from its mobile app-based subscription model. Customers pre-load their wallet and schedule daily or weekly deliveries for milk, dairy, fruits, and essentials. This ensures high user retention, predictable demand, and stable cash flow. The recurring nature of these purchases results in a strong lifetime value (LTV) per user. - High-Margin Private Label Products
Country Delight controls its own sourcing and manufacturing for key categories like milk, paneer, ghee, curd, and batters. These private-label products offer significantly higher gross margins compared to third-party reselling. By reducing intermediaries, the company retains more value per unit sold. - Upselling and Cross-Selling
Once users are subscribed to core categories like milk or curd, the platform intelligently introduces additional daily essentials—such as fruits, vegetables, and bakery items. These are higher-margin categories and benefit from existing delivery infrastructure. Cross-sells boost average order value (AOV) and basket size without increasing customer acquisition cost (CAC). - Logistics Optimization for Unit Economics
Because delivery routes are algorithmically planned and repeated daily, Country Delight achieves dense delivery clusters, reducing per-order logistics cost. This last-mile efficiency contributes indirectly to profitability by preserving gross margins. - Digital Payment-Linked Float Revenue
Customers preload their Country Delight wallet via UPI, card, or net banking. This wallet system generates a float (temporary balance), which the company leverages for cash-flow planning and potential interest-based gains. - Referral and Loyalty Incentives
Referral programs and loyalty credits increase user retention at low marketing cost. These community-led acquisition methods support revenue growth without heavy ad spend, protecting margins. - Selective Premium SKUs and Limited Editions
Country Delight occasionally introduces seasonal premium SKUs like A2 ghee, exotic fruits, and festive bundles at higher price points. These one-off items contribute to top-line revenue and test new product-market fits.
By building a direct relationship with consumers, minimizing middlemen, and layering tech over logistics, Country Delight’s revenue engine is efficient, scalable, and margin-friendly—well-suited for long-term sustainability in a competitive fresh food market.
Market Landscape & Competitors
Key competitors include BigBasket, SuprDaily, MilkBasket, and local dairy cooperatives. Country Delight differentiates with proprietary sourcing, tighter cold chain control, and a premium promise of natural, unprocessed food.
USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
Unlike most marketplaces, Country Delight owns its sourcing and delivery end-to-end. Products are tested at multiple checkpoints and never stored for more than 36 hours—ensuring exceptional freshness and safety.
Growth Highlights
- Revenue grew from ₹500 crore in 2022 to ₹1,380 crore in 2025
- Expanded from 4 to 18 cities in 3 years
- Active subscriber base in the millions
- Ranked among India’s Top 3 D2C fresh food brands
- Built a loyal customer base via 90%+ repeat order rate
Funding & Investment History
Backed by Matrix Partners, Elevation Capital, Orios Venture Partners, and IIFL. Has raised over $100 million across funding rounds. Plans to become EBITDA-positive in the next fiscal year.
Awards & Recognition (Company)
- D2C Brand of the Year – Retail Tech Summit (2023)
- Forbes India D2C Innovator List (2022)
- Agri Innovation Leader – CII FoodTech Awards (2021)
Team Size & Culture
Country Delight has over 2,000 employees. The team values integrity, operational excellence, and customer empathy. On-ground teams work closely with farmers while tech and product teams focus on innovation and reliability.
Future Plans
Plans to enter 30+ Indian cities by 2026, introduce new product lines like natural juices and organic grains, and expand its own farming network. Also considering exports of premium Indian dairy products to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
CONCLUSION
“In India, food is sacred. But somewhere along the way, we lost trust in what we eat. Country Delight is our way of restoring that trust—one delivery at a time.”
—Chakradhar Gade, speaking at an AgriTech panel in 2023
Chakradhar Gade’s journey with Country Delight is a powerful reminder that meaningful entrepreneurship begins with everyday problems. From his roots in Andhra Pradesh to leading a high-growth food-tech brand, his focus never shifted from one core goal: delivering pure, honest food to Indian families. Country Delight’s rise—from a bootstrapped milk route to a ₹1,380 crore D2C powerhouse—proves that trust, quality, and persistence are scalable. Chakradhar didn’t just build a company—he redefined how India consumes fresh essentials. His story is a call to founders: build for trust, stay grounded in purpose, and let impact compound over time.
