Snapshots of Food Industry News
Amazon India and Future Group Sign Long-term Agreement
Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) and Amazon Retail India Private Ltd (ARIPL) signed a long-term agreement for distribution of Future Consumer’s portfolio of brands online through the Amazon India marketplace. The move has come as a way to combat competition from Reliance Industries online retail arm JioMart. Amazon India will become the authorised online sales channel for Future Retail stores and will enable Future Retail expand their stores in 25 cities through the Amazon.in. The agreement focuses on key categories like grocery, which is likely to be a big growth area in 2020, as also general merchandise and fashion and footwear. Future Retail Ltd will list on the ‘Amazon Prime Now’ programme, allowing customers to get food, grocery and general merchandise delivery within two hours in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
This arrangement will allow the companies to build upon each other’s strengths as they will combine the digital power of Amazon’s e-commerce with physical retail’s infrastructure and service capabilities of FRL. Future Retail currently attracts over 35 crore footfalls across its retail network like Big Bazaar and Foodhall. Amazon will list stores like Big Bazaar and Foodhall in more cities on the Amazon India marketplace. Future Consumer’s has a strong brand portfolio with brands like Golden Harvest and Desi Atta for staples, ready to eat food from Tasty Treat and dry fruits from Karmiq.
Café Coffee Day launches Moodelicious
Café Coffee Day (CCD) has launched a first-of-its-kind range of Moodelicious Cappuccinos which are available at all CCD outlets across India. The newly launched cappuccinos are Cappuccino Surprise, Cappuccino Crush, Cappuccino Unwind, Cappuccino Mischief, Cappuccino Recharge and Cappuccino Awsm. Customers will be able to opt for these cappuccinos that contain special ingredients and which CCD has especially created for the evolving needs of its consumers with emphasis on health and wellness.
With winter here the coffee lovers can indulge in these unique options. Cappuccino Surprise, has a sweet and salty flavour with a hint of Himalayan pink salt and black pepper. Cappuccino Awsm has the trending flavour of white chocolate and natural blue pea flower extract and Cappuccino Crush combines tangerines with creamy white chocolate. Cappuccino Unwind on the other hand contains the traditional flavours of ginger and turmeric. Cappuccino Mischief on the other hand contains chocolate, cinnamon, chilli. Cappuccino Recharge contains the classic combination of bananas and rich caramel,
Chennai-based Chai Kings Raises US Dollars One Million
Retail chain Chai Kings has raised around $ 1million mainly from investment by Chennai Angels and The Hyderabad Angels and TiE India Angels. The funding will be used for Chai King’s expansion plans, which is to reach the target of 100 stores in the next five years and enter newer cities. In the current year they hope to enter Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Set up in 2016 Chai Kings currently has 40 retail outlets and offers a range of tea in various flavours. Besides the expansion plan, the funding received would also be utilised to strengthen the company’s operations and supply chain management.
Chicago Pizza Looks for Series-A Funding
Delhi-based Chicago Pizza is looking to raise Series-A funds for faster expansion. The brand plans to dilute 10-20% shares of the company. It has clocked over 150% growth in sales in the current fiscal and looks to increase revenues to Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years. The QSR wants to use the funds to strengthen its market presence. It will open at least 10 cloud kitchens in Mumbai and Bengaluru to keep operations cost low and get maximum sales through the owned delivery website. It wants to set up pizza lounges and logistics centres in South, West and East India.
The company wants to maximize on the pizza delivery revolution which was once captured only by international brands like Dominos or Pizza Hut. In addition, Chicago Pizza has devised a new franchise model, Chicago Pizza Beer and Wine Lounge, offering liquor with pizza. The brand has finalized 10 such lounges in Delhi NCR to further enrich the experience of consuming pizza along with wine or beer. Launched with a single outlet in Delhi-NCR in 2007, Chicago Pizza has spread over 120 locations pan-India. Popularly known for its ‘by the slice pizza’ concept. Another highlight of its services has been the ‘do-it-yourself’ pizza kit that the brand provides to its customers who would like to bake their own pizza with sauces and toppings of their choice.
Rage Coffee Raises Funding from Refex Capital, Keiretsu Forum
Homegrown Rage Coffee brand has closed a round of funding led by Refex Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm with participation from members of angel network Keiretsu Forum Chennai, and a clutch of other prominent investors. Known for its breakthrough products in the coffee category, the funding will be used for the launch of more innovative new products, scale-up production, strengthen the team and expand omni-channel distribution presence. The brand also plans to capture market share of categories like ingredients, formulations, manufacturing techniques, packaging, distribution or use of data to be agile. Rage Coffee products are retailed through its own website as well as all leading online platforms and over 400 touch points offline.
The company was founded in 2018 has already captured consumer mind-space and they wish to build on that. They have a different approach to supply chain, sourcing, consumer segmentation, product R&D, D2C data-driven DNA which are all combined with a hybrid distribution model an this has seen the company capture the targeted audience. Rage Coffee’s unique approach towards blends and flavours, innovative packaging and multichannel distribution will go a long way to give them a place in the market. The company plans to quadruple sales, reach over 2,000 outlets by the end of 2020 and clock a significant chunk of sales from institutional and HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and cafe) business.
Swiggy Raising Commissions from Restaurants
Swiggy is now keen to monetise its food ordering business, and so in regions where it is nearing maturity, it is looking to raise commissions from restaurants. In areas where there is a high density of restaurants the new and even existing restaurants would have to dole out higher commissions. The company, has an 11-month contract with restaurants and on expiry is likely to increase commissions. However, in areas where Swiggy does not have a presence they are likely to continue to charge lower rates but which will still be higher than the commissions Swiggy charged in new regions earlier.
In order to control losses from its food delivery business, that continues to be around $30 million a month, Swiggy has also increased its delivery fee charges from consumers. Swiggy is also asking partners to advertise on its platform and are getting restaurants to fund a bigger share of promotions. The company has already started charging restaurants on a pay-per-click model for advertisements on their platform rather than a fixed fee.
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