Snapshots of Food Industry News
Apis India Diversifies to Products like Jam, Tea, and Pickles
Apis India Ltd, a leading producer, distributor and exporter of quality honey, has now added a host of new products to its portfolio. These are Apis Fruitilicious Fruit Blast – the fruitiest mixed fruit jam, Apis Five Senses Green Tea and Apis Spicelicious Mixed Veggies and Mango Pickle. Apis Fruitilicious Fruit Blast comes with a promotional offer of a free sipper with every pack and is available in a 500g pack priced at Rs.120. Apis Five Senses Green Tea is available in two variants – Apis Five Senses Green Tea and Apis Five Senses Green Tea with Tulsi. These are available in the 50g pack (containing 25 tea bags) and are priced at Rs.99. Apis ensures that the tea reaches the consumer in their purest form and is replete with health benefits. Apis Spicelicious consists of Mixed Veggie Pickle as well as Mango Pickle with the brand name Apis Mango Tang! The pickles have been made with fruits and vegetables sourced from across India and are available in 400g packs priced at Rs.90.
Eveready Enters the Confectionery Business
Eveready Industries India (EIIL) has entered the confectionery business with its brand called “Jollies.” Jollies has been launched in the fruit chew section and is priced at Re1. Eveready already has a huge distribution network and it will leverage this in both urban and rural areas for quick profitability. This is being seen as a first step by the company to step up its FMCG portfolio. The Rs.400 crore chew segment is likely to see double growth in the next 3 to 4 years. The company is working on this segment through an asset-light model which includes outsourcing and they feel they can get profitability in this ‘under-penetrated’ category.
GI Tagging for Indian Brews
Baba Budangiri which is 250kms away from Bengaluru is going for Geographical Indication (GI) for its Arabica brew. Baba Budangiri is where coffee was first grown in India and that is the reason that the Coffee Board has filed an application for GI tagging. The application was for GI tagging of Baba Budangiri Arabica, Coorg Arabica, Wayanad Robusta, Chikmagalur Arabic and lastly Araku Valley Arabica –with a Geographical Indication Registry at Chennai.
Besides applying for GI marker, the Coffee Board is also profiling the majorly grown variety in Baba Budangiri called Selection -795. S-795 is considered to be the natural descendant of two of the oldest African cultivars of coffee – Coffea Arabica and Coffea Liberica as well as a third variety called Kent. It is believed that Baba Budan brought this brew from Mocha in Yemen in the 17 Century and introduced it to the uninhabited hills that are now named after him.
Voila F9 Gourmet to expand operations in Bengaluru and Gurugram
Contract catering company, Voila F9 Gourmet is the amalgamated entity of Fusion Hospitality Pvt Ltd and Voila Cuisine LLP. The company largely serves campus-based technology companies, plans to start operations in Bengaluru this year, and in Gurugram in 2019. Voila F9 Gourmet is also exploring the possibility of coming out with an initial public offering (IPO). The initiative to go public is likely to fructify in 2018. The company is open to the idea of diluting a stake to a strategic partner if it adds value to bringing the global brand and global expertise. Presently they have all the capital they require as their internal accruals are strong.
The company recently launched a facility that has a peak capacity to produce 50,000 meals a day and is being touted as India’s largest commercial kitchen. It is in Hyderabad and is spread over 60,000 square feet on a two-acre plot. The company has over 850 employees and produces over 25,000 meals every day for corporate employees in leading multinational companies like Google, Facebook, Deloitte, Qualcomm, and Uber here. The company is also likely to diversify into banqueting space where it sees good growth potential.
Yumlok to open 50 outlets by 2020
Bengaluru’s popular street food restaurant, Yumlok, has planned to set up 50 stores by 2020. Currently, Yumlok has only three outlets and one cloud kitchen. Yumlok is planning to open their fourth store in Bengaluru soon at Harlur Road. Yumlok also plans to branch out of its home market and establish company-owned restaurants and franchises in other parts of the country. Targeted at the youth, Yumlok specializes in serving North Indian Meal combos, Delhi style chaats, and some Indo-Western fusion dishes that are a blend of western recipes with Indian spices.
Yumlok intends to follow two ideas in their menu and the first is to serve Classic food and the second is to continuously innovate and improvise the food in aspects of aesthetic, organoleptic and packaging to bring back customers regularly. Started in 2015, Yumlok has seen tremendous success. It serves 10,000 plus orders per month with an average order value of Rs.325, only with word of mouth publicity. Currently, all of their stores are rated 4 stars plus on all major food search platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, Magic Pin etc. The company is eyeing to grow on average 60 percent year-on-year in terms of stores and establishing 100 stores in about 5 years.
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