Solving For Mid-Mile Logistics: The JustDeliveries Interview
Food brands and QSRs often struggle with mid-mile logistics due to unreliable transporters and unhygienic vehicles. Mansi Mahansaria's JustDeliveries is solving this.
For Jasmit Tibb, owner of Mumbai's legendary Tibb's Frankie, consistency of his product’s taste and quality is everything.
With 56 outlets scattered across the city, his central kitchen had to coordinate dozens of deliveries through unreliable transporters.
Mr Tibb explains:
“We relied on tempos and autos that would often delay or miss deliveries entirely. Food safety was a constant concern, and the coordination burden was overwhelming our team.”
JustDeliveries implemented temperature-controlled deliveries to all 56 outlets, introduced real-time tracking and reporting systems, and took over the entire coordination process.
The result? A 22% reduction in logistics costs and a management team finally free to focus on business growth rather than middle-mile delivery headaches.
“We have been using JD since April 2022 for the daily logistics for our outlets in Mumbai,” says Tibb.
“On behalf of my team, I can say that they are pretty happy with the service and how JD and team is always available for us. That's important and critical for a growing chain like us.”
The transformation was remarkable.
The Woman Behind JustDeliveries
Born and raised in Mumbai in a Marwari business family, Mansi Mahansaria's entrepreneurial journey was shaped by her father's unconventional parenting approach.
“Though my extended family was conservative, luckily for me and my sister, our father was very unconventional,” Mansi recalls. “He instilled in us the fact that we have to always stand on our own feet and earn our own money.”
Her father never allowed his daughters to play with dolls, preferring to give them Lego and building blocks. He emphasized sports, activities, and travel, conditioning them early to break stereotypes.
Tragedy struck when Mansi was 18—her father passed away in an accident at just 42. Despite this devastating loss, the foundation he laid proved crucial.
After completing engineering and an MBA, Mansi joined IDFC Private Equity, gaining valuable insights into what makes businesses investable and learning leadership principles from CEO Luis Miranda.
The First Version And Iteration
Mansi's first entrepreneurial attempt was a cake delivery service in 2014-15. While it addressed a real consumer need, the economics weren't viable.
She admits:
“It was a good problem to solve. Home bakers were very happy that cakes were getting delivered, but there was no money to be made. And the way I was building the business was not in a scalable manner.”
After shutting down this venture and spending three years at the Tata Group, Mansi launched the current version of JustDeliveries in 2018 with a B2B focus.
Her first client was a Mumbai based cafe chain that needed food products delivered to their outlets by 10 a.m. daily.
Mansi noticed that the predictability changed the equation totally:
“I realized that this is a great model because it's every day the same pick, the same drop, and at the same time. So it builds a lot of predictability and the van is free afterwards to take on other works.”
The business grew organically through referrals. Mansi had joined Business Networking International (BNI) in 2016-17, which led to crucial connections.
A key turning point came when Mansi participated in Goldman Sachs' 10K program for women entrepreneurs and met Professor Sunil Handa, who became her mentor.
“He's the one who told me, 'Mansi, what you're making in Mumbai, it's in demand all over the country. Why don't you scale this up?’”
This led to JD raising approximately 15 crores (around $2 million) from investors including Caret Capital, NAB Ventures (NABARD's venture fund), Mansaria family office, and others, enabling expansion to six cities across India.
How Does JustDeliveries Work
JustDeliveries solves a critical problem in India's food and beverage supply chain: the mid-mile logistics connecting central kitchens to outlets or dark stores.
The two main challenges for brands when it comes to mid-mile logistics are—
Temperature Maintenance
On-time pick up and delivery
Operational Efficiency
What makes JD stand out is its focus on predictability and optimization.
This predictability allows for efficient route planning and vehicle utilization, creating sustainable unit economics in an industry notorious for thin margins.
Key Services
“What the big legacy players do, they will not open the case, take out 10 tubs [of ice cream]. They will send the whole case of 24 because they are used to working with very large brands. But we will say, ‘OK, we will case break. We will open the case and we'll take out 10 ice creams. We'll repackage and we'll send it,’” Mansi explains.
The Road Ahead
For Mansi, JustDeliveries fulfills the vision her father instilled: creating employment while building systems that add value.
The company currently employs approximately 40 people (not including drivers) and is rapidly approaching profitability, having reduced losses from 41% to just 2.5% in a year and a half.
“Today we are at only two and a half percent net loss. It's almost breakeven. Actually, by June, JD will be net profitable,” Mansi shares.
“We generate a monthly revenue of Rs 2.5+ crores (~$300,000+) and closed FY 2024-25 at about Rs 19 crores (~$2.3 million), growing at an impressive 20% month-on-month in recent periods,” Mansi notes.
JustDeliveries is now preparing for its next growth phase, with plans to raise a Series A round starting in October.
The company is also developing a fully digitized app that will allow smaller clients to pre-fund a wallet for services, bringing back the advantageous advance payment model that helped during its bootstrap phase.
“By building an end-to-end digitized app, we will be able to onboard even smaller brands. They will get onboarded. They will fill up a payment wallet. And they will start using our service,” Mansi explains.
She estimates there are ‘at least 3000 to 4000 [potential clients] in every city’ when considering all the businesses that could benefit from JD's services.
As quick commerce continues to transform India's food landscape, JustDeliveries is positioned at the center of this revolution—making it possible for brands to expand nationally without the operational complexities of setting up logistics networks in each new city.
But beyond the numbers, Mansi is building a culture that reflects her upbringing. She explains:
“For women living in metros, we don't want preferences or empowerment or any of that. We just want a fair playing ground, an equal playing ground.”
Mansi is not just asking for an equal playing ground, she is making one for herself.
If you are interested in connecting with JustDeliveries for their upcoming Series-A or using the services of the company, write to us at banjan@tal64.com!