Malhotra says her biggest challenge as a celebrity co-founder has been proving she is an active decision-maker, not just the face of the brand.
Bree Matcha was born from a personal switch from coffee to matcha, with Malhotra spotting a gap in India for high-quality, accessible matcha.
With matcha adoption limited to metros, Bree is expanding through consumer education, two new flavoured variants, and community-led wellness experiences.
'Acting Demands Vulnerability, Business Patience,' Says Actor-Turned-Entrepreneur Sanya Malhotra
"One of the challenges is constantly proving that I'm not just the face of the brand but also deeply involved in strategy and decision making," Dangal star told Outlook Business in an exclusive interview
Actor & Entrepreneur Sanya Malhotra
Summary
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Sanya Malhotra has played a wrestler's daughter, a grieving widow and a woman quietly suffocating inside a marriage. But in the past year, she has taken on a role that has tested her differently, that of a Co-founder of her brand Bree Matcha, which offers Japanese matcha tea powder direct to consumers and to retail stores. This new role for the 'Dangal' actor is more about trying to convince a room that she belongs in it.
"One of the challenges is constantly proving that I'm not just the face of the brand but also deeply involved in strategy and decision making," Malhotra told Outlook Business in an exclusive interview. "There are assumptions around celebrity-led brands that they're just the face of it. Breaking that perception requires consistency, preparation, and just the passion that you need to build a brand."
It is a tension that sits squarely at the centre of India's celebrity entrepreneurship boom, where Bollywood names increasingly back wellness, beauty and lifestyle ventures. In a space crowded with famous faces, the line between brand ambassador and actual builder is routinely questioned.
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Malhotra, who co-founded Bree Matcha alongside wellness entrepreneur Kunal Shah and Harvard-trained strategist Siddharth Shah, is firmly staking her claim on the builder side.
Almost a year into building her venture, Malhotra has realised that "acting demands emotional vulnerability and creative discipline, while business requires patience and financial thinking."
She oversees branding, packaging, product development, sourcing decisions and advertising. The brand's launch campaign—a deadpan video where a fictional character named 'Manya Salotra' interviews Sanya Malhotra—was her creative call.
The brand, which sources ceremonial-grade matcha from Kagoshima, Japan, and positions itself as "India's finest organic matcha", is currently seed-funded by Essenzaa Nutrition, friends and family and Malhotra herself. Initial conversations with external investors are now underway.
Expansion plans include retail partnerships, café tie-ups, and community experiences—runs, wellness events—reflecting a longer-term bet on lifestyle adoption over transactional sales. "I want people to understand what they're consuming and why," she said.
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Acting, she is clear, remains her first love. But Bree Matcha, she says, has become an extension of who she is. "Whether it's business or acting, it demands authenticity, and I try to show up fully in each."
Edited excerpts from the exclusive interview:
In the last one year of your entrepreneurial journey, what are the challenges that you faced as a woman building her own brand? And what has entrepreneurship taught you that acting hasn't?
I think the past one year has been incredibly fulfilling and enriching but equally humbling as a woman building a brand. One of the challenges is constantly proving that I'm not just the face of the brand but I'm also deeply involved in strategy, creative direction, and brand and business decisions.
I think there are assumptions around celebrity-led brands that they're just the face of it but breaking that perception requires you know to be consistent, prepared and just have the passion that you need to build a brand or build your business.
That is something that I learned in this past one year and I think acting for me demands emotional vulnerability and creative discipline and business requires so much patience and financial and other thinking.
It is something completely different from acting but also equally exciting. I look after most of the creative decisions that we take for Bree and that is something that I enjoy the most. I'm constantly thinking about how I can shoot a reel or how our ads should look like. For instance, the brand's introductory ad that we shot where 'Manya Salotra' was interviewing Sanya Malhotra and it was an introduction to matcha for people who have never tried matcha; all of that was so much fun. I believe that, whether it’s acting or business, I approach both with strong creative discipline.
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What sparked the decision to step into entrepreneurship? Did you always see yourself building a consumer brand, or did this evolve organically?
I think it did evolve organically and I never grew up thinking I would start a consumer brand.
The idea grew out of a personal shift—becoming more conscious of what I consume and how I feel in my body. Over time, I realised there was a gap in the Indian market for high-quality, accessible matcha that wasn’t positioned as overly niche.
Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with matcha too. I wanted more and more people around me to experience the amazing benefits that matcha has to offer.
So definitely, it was an organic decision. I told my team about this idea (of building a matcha brand) two and a half years ago and at that time matcha wasn't "matcha". The Japanese tea wasn't trending the way it is trending today. But, I also believe that matcha is not just a trend, it has so many benefits to it. That is exactly what I want people who are consuming or want to consume matcha should know—that it's not just a trend, it can be a lifestyle as well.
So that's when the thought of building something meaningful around wellness started to shape for me. At that time, I felt that I should have my own brand, and that's how Bree Matcha was born.
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Why matcha? Is this a personal passion, a wellness choice you've lived by, or a response to the wellness-based products' boom in India?
It began as a personal choice as I was said earlier, and I was also looking for something more sustainable, without the jitters that coffee sometimes brings.
Years ago, I realised I was drinking coffee almost every morning, and it simply wasn’t suiting my body. It left me feeling jittery, anxious, and bloated. I felt like my cortisol spiked every time I had a cup.
When I switched to matcha, that changed the game completely. I fell in love with matcha. I started experimenting with recipes. I started making all my friends and my family try those recipes and converted most of them into matcha drinkers.
Matcha offers that balance-that calm focus and that steady energy that I really needed and while the wellness boom in India is real I didn't want to ride a trend. As I mentioned earlier, matcha is not just a trend and I wanted to introduce something that I genuinely use and believe in.
Matcha is deeply rooted in Japanese tradition, but its functional benefits make it globally relevant. The intention behind Bree was to build a brand that bridges authenticity with the modern Indian lifestyle. When I switched to matcha, I noticed a huge difference. Thanks to L-theanine, an amino acid naturally present in matcha, the energy feels focused and calm rather than jittery.
According to you, how has matcha's adoption been in India so far? Additionally, matcha is often perceived as premium. How do you plan to reach middle-income consumers who may not yet be familiar with it?
I think matcha's adoption in India is still in its early stages but I would say it is a promising phase. I think metro cities are leading the trend and the curve when it comes to matcha consumption but I also think that the awareness remains in Tier-II and III markets.
Yes, matcha is a premium product largely because of sourcing and quality but I also feel that educating yourself about matcha plays a huge role.
With Bree, we are focusing on explaining its benefits and creating more approachable recipes with matcha. My personal favourite is matcha either whisked in water or paired with any milk. We have many products that are easy to use, along with two new flavours—strawberry and lemongrass. It is for people who want to try matcha but don't want to dive straight into consuming signature, everyday, or the ceremonial blend. These two flavours are very easy to make and bridges that gap for people who want to try but are scared about matcha's taste.
And with the brand, we are creating more awareness about matcha whether it's with our first introduction we did and the ads that we made which I think were really cool and funny. I also believe that over time, as the demand increases, it will become more relevant and accessible. So that is what we are doing with Bree—introducing the new flavours and planning on more matcha related products to make it more accessible.
Prices of Bree Matcha products indicate that it is positioned in a premium wellness segment. Was it intentional to cater to a specific class and how has this translated to revenue and sales growth?
Positioning in the premium segment was intentional because the quality of matcha requires careful sourcing and processing and cutting the cost there would compromise the product's integrity. That said, I think it means that we are a value-driven company.
We've seen encouraging repeat purchases, and that, for me, is the biggest validation for a wellness brand. It tells us people are genuinely enjoying and benefiting from the product. As I mentioned earlier, we’re also introducing more matcha-led offerings to make both the brand and matcha itself more accessible.
Is the brand currently in a growth phase or are you focusing more on consolidation and brand building? If you are planning to expand Bree Matcha, then are you looking at offline retail, cafes, or experiential pop-ups as part of your expansion strategy?
We are very mindful of the growth phase. So right now, So right now, our focus is on building awareness around what matcha truly is and expanding through consumer education.
We want people to understand what they're consuming and why they're consuming it. Overall, our roadmap would definitely be retail partnership. Additionally, we have partnerships with a few cafes already.
Personally, I want to build a community with Bree Matcha, because beyond the product, we stand for an active, wholesome way of living. I want people to experience that firsthand, so the conversation around matcha becomes more natural. Think runs together, wellness meetups, shared experiences—that's the world I want to build around this brand.
What kind of initial investment went into building Bree Matcha—bootstrapped, partner-backed, or externally funded? And are there plans to bring in outside investors, strategic partners, or venture capital as you scale?
Essenzaa Nutrition, our friends and family and I have put in the seed capital to start this venture and grow it to this stage.
We are also very excited with the response received from the initial conversations with investors for raising capital.
There's a growing global tilt toward Asian and South-Asian cultural influences—from food and fashion to mindfulness. Do you think this cultural shift was one of the reasons why you opted to launch a brand like Bree Matcha?
As mentioned earlier, it was purely for the love of matcha. But, this global tilt has made the conversation around our brand easier, and people are more receptive to trying something like matcha without feeling it is unfamiliar or inaccessible. So, that has worked.
But for me, one of the main reasons I wanted to get my own matcha to India is because I love matcha. That's it. And I'm quite passionate about it.
Acting is a demanding career. How hands-on are you in the day-to-day operations of the business?
I'm very hands on in key areas, like branding, product development, taste of the product, the kind of matcha that we are sourcing, long term strategies, packaging, design, colours, ads and activities. And ofcourse, there is a very capable team managing operations daily. I have Siddharth and Kunal, which I'm so grateful to have as Co-founders of Bree Matcha.
While, acting will always remain my first love, this brand has become an extension of my personality. So, whether it's business or acting, it demands authenticity and I try to show up fully in each.