Snapshots of Food Industry News
Piveta Estates buys 51 percent stake in Riga Foods
Piveta Estates, the privately owned venture of Max Group founder, Analjit Singh has now acquired a majority state with a purchase of 51 percent shares in Riga Foods. Riga Foods is owned by celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia and operates or owns a number of restaurants in Delhi-NCR that cater Italian cuisine. They also have a catering service by the name of Diva. For Riga Foods this is the first funding round and they hope to utilise these funds for both global and domestic expansion.
Riga Foods was set up by Ritu Dalmia and Gita Bhalla in 2000 but now Piveta Estates will have the controlling stake while Riga Foods will have only management control. Analjit Singh already has life-style related ventures in South Africa and a luxury hotel in UK so Riga Foods is likely to see expansion in these two countries. Piveta Estates have said that as strategic investors they would like to see Riga Foods grow as a brand in India and abroad.
DuPont launches Grindsted JU stabilisers for fruit drinks in South Asia
DuPont Nutrition and Health have launched a range of Grindsted JU stabilisers – JU 543 and JU 4801 – for the South Asia market. These stabilisers will make it possible to fulfil the demand of ready-to-serve fruit beverages that are flavour stable despite the use of trendy ingredients. The stabilisers will be particularly useful in providing consumers with great taste that align with daily needs especially as the FSSAI has permitted the use of hydrocolloids singly or in combination in non-carbonated water-based flavoured drinks, including punches and fruit ades.
Grindsted JU Systems harness the power of synergy between various hydrocolloids so they offer improved mouth- feel, better suspension at low concentrations, natural taste and rich flavour and also an economically viable option for ready-to serve beverages. A large majority of fruit beverages in India are sold as ready-to-serve fruit beverages under the category water-based flavoured drinks (non-carbonated) and since hydrocolloid blends are now allowed it will encourage further innovation without compromising consumer safety.
Mother Dairy to soon provide only fortified milk in NCR
Mother Dairy – a leading milk supplier, is planning to sell only fortified milk in NCR as part of its efforts to address malnutrition. By year end all the milk supplied to consumers in the region will be fortified with vitamin A and D. Mother Dairy sells almost 30 lakh litres of milk daily and the entire quantity will now be fortified. The company has 800 milk booths and 400 ‘Safal’ stores through which it supplies milk through the token system or through poly-packs.
Mother Dairy is already fortifying the token milk with vitamin A but has now decided to add vitamins A and D in both the token milk as well as milk in poly-packs. The company has decided to make this move so as to help consumers fight micronutrient deficiency. The cost of fortification is about 25 paisa per litre but the company will absorb that and not pass it onto the consumers. The fortification of milk will be as per the new standards of fortification prescribed by the FSSAI.
FCL launches Kosh Oats and hopes India adopts oats as third staple
Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) a company with Future Group, recently launched their Kosh brand of oats in Mumbai. FCL has introduced four variants Kosh instant oats, Kosh broken oats, Kosh oats atta and Kosh wheat+ atta oats. The first three variants are priced at Rs.89 for 500kg packs while Kosh wheat + oats atta is priced at Rs.62 for a 1kg pack. Kosh will be distributed through various modern retail stores across India and general trade in 12 key cities before going national. The company says that Indian consumers will soon see a change in the way oats are consumed in the country and is hopeful that Indian consumers will adopt oats as a third staple after wheat and rice.
Kosh is grown and sourced from Australia and processed and packaged in Sri Lanka. FCL has also made a significant investment in Aussie Oats Milling Pvt Ltd. an oats processing plant as a joint venture. FCL has been working on the concept since a couple of years and intends to set a trend with their Kosh oats. In the short term they are expecting business of Rs.200 crore, and in the long term Rs.1, 000 crore. They will also intend to launch the product in the United States, the Middle East and Europe in the coming three months.
Laziz Pizza plans to open 100 outlets across India
Laziz Food & Beverage has 50+ stores across India and plans to open about 100 outlets across the country by 2017 and have several plans to facilitate the expansion. The company gives its franchisees the liberty to club with any other franchisee so the outlet can offer multiple products under one roof. This will help them to capitalise on their business. They also have the option to have pure vegetarian outlets. The Laziz business model is liberal and does not expect franchisees to share their profits with the franchisor and has no royalty fees either.
While the pocket-friendly pizzas, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, remain Laziz Pizza’s most popular offering it also has a wide range of other products on its portfolio. The company hopes to stabilise its business in India and at the same time are looking to expand into Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Presently the company has only one international store in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
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