Young Entrepreneur Interview: From Our Neighbourhood to Five-Star Hotels
- Harinath K
- Jan 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 12
Harinath
Strategy & Growth – Reliance Retail; EI Outlook Editor
Abhishekta,
Founder of Celebrino Food and Beverages Pvt. Ltd.,
created Re'nao, a premium non-alcoholic beverage brand.
Declaimer: This story was shaped from a long conversation with Abhishikta — she stepped aside quietly, so I’m sharing the raw conversation for gentle readers to decide on their own.
The Quiet Rise of Abhishikta & Re’nao
Every society has a few people who leave quietly every morning —and return quietly every evening.
They don’t announce their struggles.
They don’t advertise their ambitions.
They live ordinary-looking lives.
And sometimes, they build extraordinary things.
Abhishikta is one of those people.
If you saw her in the lift, you would never guess that her brand now sits inside some of India’s finest hotels — Four Seasons, Taj, JW Marriott, The Leela, InterContinental and more.
You would never guess that her company has survived floods, trademark loss, a pandemic crash, and a ₹60+ lakh market recall — and still stands with dignity.
But that’s exactly how her story began.
Quietly.
A Childhood Like Ours — And Not Like Ours
Abhishikta grew up between Kolkata and Assam — not in boardrooms, but in real homes.
Homes where money was not glamorized.
Where work was.
Where dignity mattered more than display.
Her mother ran a small home-based food supply business long before “entrepreneurship” became a trend.
She cooked, packed, supplied, collected — and repeated.
Her father was a creative professional whose kindness sometimes cost him dearly.
From them, Abhishikta learned two lifelong lessons:
Work builds dignity.
Kindness needs boundaries.
These two beliefs would quietly shape everything she would later build.
The First Uncomfortable Question
Years later, in Delhi, Abhishikta stood in a room full of music, laughter and drinks — and felt strangely invisible.
Not because she didn’t belong.
But because she didn’t drink alcohol.
“Juice chalega?”
“Cola logi?”
“You’ll manage na?”
It wasn’t rude.
It was routine.
While some people quietly retreat into corners,
some stop showing up altogether,
some curse the culture,
and some force themselves to drink just to blend in —
Abhishikta did none of it.
Instead, she asked a calmer, braver question:
Why does celebration have only one vocabulary?
Why was there no dignified, adult, non-alcoholic option for people who simply chose not to drink?
That question didn’t become a company overnight.
It stayed quietly inside her.
Learning Where Real Products Are Born
Soon, Abhishikta found herself working inside agricultural clusters across North-East India — standing in muddy farms, watching fruits rot, watching farmers struggle to sell excellent produce because packaging, branding and market access were missing.
She learned a powerful truth:
Good products fail not because they are bad —
but because they don’t know how to become “sellable”.
This is where her hands got dirty.
And her understanding became real.
The First Proof Came From Home
Before there were websites or banners, Abhishikta tested her early sourcing at her society carnival in L&T Emerald Isle.
Lakadong turmeric.
Bhut Jolokia chillies.
Honey.
Black pepper.
Everything sold out in two hours.
Not because of marketing.
But because real products met real kitchens.
Her society became her first validation lab — shaping her confidence and sharpening her instincts.
Entering Beverages — Almost by Accident
Later, she was called in to help a struggling non-alcoholic beverage brand.
What she found shocked her.
The problem wasn’t sales.
It was trust.
Dumping.
Poor service.
No ownership.
When COVID hit, and that company’s stock froze in the market, someone casually suggested:
“Let’s start our own brand.”
It felt unethical.
Uncomfortable.
Until someone said:
“If you know cricket, you play cricket.”
And so, Re’nao was born — in the middle of lockdown.
When Courage Meets Reality
Re’nao’s first month did ₹26 lakhs in revenue.
It looked like success.
Then the second lockdown arrived.
₹60+ lakhs worth of stock froze in the market.
Many companies would have written it off.
Abhishikta didn’t.
She and her partner Rajesh Shetty recalled the stock, paid distributors back from their own pocket, and absorbed the loss.
That night, her life-long business rule was born:
Always choose the decision that lets you sleep at night.
Losing Everything — And Rebuilding Better
As if that wasn’t enough, floods damaged batches.
Then they lost their brand name in a trademark battle.
Everything collapsed — packaging, identity, positioning.
Instead of quitting, they rebuilt everything from scratch.
A new name.
Protected trademarks.
Better packaging.
Cleaner foundations.
Re’nao was reborn — slower, wiser, stronger.
Why Now for Quick Commerce
Today, people often ask:
“Why did Re’nao wait so long to come on Blinkit and Amazon?”
Abhishikta smiles — because for her, platforms were never the goal.
Readiness was.
She did not want Re’nao to enter quick commerce as a fragile brand that needed visibility.
She wanted it to enter as a confident brand that could sustain trust, margins, and consistency.
For years, she chose slow, clean growth —
inside five-star hotels and premium hospitality spaces —
places that don’t accept average and don’t forgive inconsistency.
That is where Re’nao quietly proved itself.
From 55 cases a month to over 1155 —
without ads, discounts, or noise.
Only now — after ensuring that growth would not come at the cost of margins,
trust, or investor money — did Re’nao step into Blinkit and Amazon.
Not to look big.
But because now, it is ready to stay big — cleanly.
A Brand Grown by Community
Re’nao was never “influencer grown”.
It was neighbourhood grown.
It was built on blind tastings, real feedback, real kitchens and real trust — beginning right here, in our own Emerald Isle.
More Than A Brand
Today, Abhishikta is not just building beverages.
She is building a brand that people own.
Her employees speak of Re’nao as “our brand.”
Her distributors protect it like their own.
Her bartenders recommend it without being asked.
Re’nao is already present across Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore and Hyderabad —inside five-star hotels, premium lounges, bars and fine-dine spaces.
She introduced tonic water, mixers, soda and water to an ecosystem that already trusted her discipline.
And soon, she will bring back her original category — Sparkling Brew —now redesigned for families, exports and premium hospitality.
Her next step goes beyond bottles.
She wants Re’nao to become part of celebrations themselves —
with curated party packages, bartender tie-ups, home-party solutions and premium hosting experiences.
Not as an add-on business.
But as a natural extension of a brand that already lives inside India’s best celebrations.
And when her child once asked:
“Why do you work so much?”
She replied:
“Because when our brand grows, more families grow with us.”
That may be the quietest definition of entrepreneurship you’ll ever hear.
And perhaps — the truest.
Next time you see her in the lift, remember —
some revolutions begin very softly.
Very informative