Snapshots of Weekly Food Business News
Yuvraj’s YouWeCan Ventures invests in Carl’s Jr Fast Food Chain
YouWeCan Ventures is the investment firm of Yuvraj Singh, the former India Team cricket player. There is speculation that through the firm Yuvraj has invested close to Rs.4crore in Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants, the Indian Master Franchisee of Carl’s Jr, the US fast food chain. CybizCorp is planning to open about five restaurants in the current calendar year. By the end of the fiscal year they hope to have anywhere between 7 to 10 Carl’s Jr restaurants running.
This is Yuvraj’s first foray in this direction and it is the fast food chain’s burgers that have prompted Yuvraj to invest in Carl’s Jr. The burgers have proven to be quite popular with consumers in India. CybizCorp is looking to raise anywhere between Rs.180 to Rs.200crore. The brand also has franchisee tie ups with other fine dining and quick service restaurants in India.
Devyani International and Samara Capital to share Yum! Brands Operations
Yum! Brands the largest restaurant company, has been operating in India since the past 20 years. It operates more than 800 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell stores in India through franchise partners. Now it wants to split its operations between Ravi Jaipuria’s, Devyani International and PE fund Samara Capital. Yum would like Devyani to operate KFC and Pizza Hut franchisees in the North and Samara to operate the brands in the South and West. Samara will also be buying out CK Jaipuria’s franchisee in Sri Lanka. Devyani runs more than 60% of the stores for Yum and is also its largest partner.
Wagh Bakri Tea to Buy Tea Gardens in Assam
The Gujarat based Wagh Bakri is owned by Gujarat Tea Processors and Packers.
The company has a market share of 65% in Gujarat while they also operate in western and north India and export tea to USA, Canada, Gulf and the CIS nations.
They are now planning to buy 10 tea gardens in Assam for which they are creating a corpus of Rs.250crore from private equity and bank finance. The company has an annual turnover of around Rs.950crore and the acquisitions, they feel, will help see a revenue growth of another 10 to 15 per cent.
Presently they blend and package tea. The foray into plantations is part of their growth plans as they wish to grow premium CTC tea and sell it in branded packets. They hope to get a production of one million kilograms from each plantation. As of now the company is sourcing tea from Colombo and Mombasa auctions. In the future Wagh Bakri is also planning to set up tea lounges for which they will form a separate company.
Mega Food Park Inaugurated in Bihar
Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the mega food park at Mansi in District Khagaria, Bihar which is spread across 70 acres. The project will cost of Rs.127.60crore and will have 30 to 35 units that will set up with an investment of about Rs.250crore annually. About 30,000 farmers in the catchment area will benefit from the Food Park which is likely to generate a turnover of Rs.500crore. The Minister said that the Food Park has a modern infrastructure and will help to develop the food processing sector in the region.
The Food Park is also being seen as providing an opportunity for entrepreneurs and creating employment for others. Once completed, the park will have dry warehouse of 40,000 tonnes, grain silos with 10,000 tonnes facility and a 5,000 multi-products cold storage. Besides this, there is likely to be 10 tonnes per hour pack house, 2 tonnes per hour IQF, 1,500 tonne deep fridge, a modern testing lab and reefer vans.
Food processing market highly diversified; says FAD report
ASSOCHAM recently organised the seventh International Summit on Food Processing, Agribusiness and Dairy (FAD) at Ahmedabad. The Minister of state for food processing industries, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, released a report at the event which pointed to the fact that the industry is highly diverse. It is segmented into a number of markets like grain and oil seeds on the one hand and packaged food, meat and marine products on the other. Then there are markets for fruit and vegetables, beverages and dairy products also.
The food processing market is dominated by oil seeds and grain which reflects the consumption pattern of Indian consumers. The rise in the use of GM crops has also helped to have better yields. On the other hand the meat and marine products segment is also showing promising growth a CAGR of 16.29% during 2010-2014. Both these segments are going to continue to see growth during 2015-2020. The government policy of 100% FDI under the automatic route and the development of mega food parks will continue boost processed food products.
Best Foodworks’ Founder to join Board of iOrderFresh for mobile marketing
IOrderFresh is a Delhi based online fresh foods and grocery store which was launched in December 2014. Customers can order fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, bakery products, pulses and organic food through its Android and iOS app. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of funds with Best Foodworks Pvt. Ltd. making a leading contribution. This is why Best Foodworks Pvt. Ltd. founder, Alkesh Tandon will be joining the Board of iOrderFresh. Since the company is online based the funds will be used for technological development, increasing supply-chain, customer acquisition and services. iOrderFresh is also planning to offer increased customer touch points like website, order-by-phone and order by message.
Best Foodworks is excited to partner iOrderFresh because they feel that mobile marketing is going to be the next big change to sweep the country with grocery shopping and topping the list in mobile commerce. iOrderFresh says that their customer base has surged from 25, 000 to 50,000 in just four months of the launch. The company procures products directly from wholesale markets (‘mandis’) and offers customers a variety of payment options, including, COD, Mobile Wallet, Credit or Debit Cards as well as through online payment gateways. Customers can also opt for one-time delivery and can even pre-schedule their order for next 30 days. It is also planning to make ‘fresh milk’ delivery to customers directly from farmers.
New Appointment
Chacko Thomas as Executive Director and Deputy CEO for Tata Coffee
Chacko Purackal Thomas has been appointed as the deputy CEO and executive director of Tata Coffee at the Board Meeting held on 3rd August 2015. Chacko Thomas has been the Managing Director of Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Private (KDHP) which is an associate company of Tata Global Beverages Limited. Chacko Thomas has been with KDHP since its inception and has vast experience in the plantation industry. Tata Coffee is Asia’s largest coffee plantation company and the 3rd largest exporter of instant coffee in the country. It also exports green coffee to Europe, Asia, Middle East and North America. It is a subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages Limited.
Leave a Reply