Sugar & Spice, and Success

With her disarming smile, Mini Yadav comes across as a savvy businesswoman. She is the Managing Director of the Gurugram-based Sugar & Spice India Pvt. Ltd., the 28-year-old company which deals in manufacturing and retailing of quality bakery & confectionary products.

”We began our journey of Sugar & Spice way back in 1989, with the launch of our Vasant Vihar outlet,” informed Mini. The expansion began with the take away outlet of Sugar & Spice at Khan Market, in 1991, which was followed by another outlet of the chain, at the M Block of GK-I, in 1992. Soon, Sugar & Spice found itself in the midst of a sweet success story. Here it deserves a mention that all of these above-mentioned upmarket localities are in Delhi.

The Growth Story

“Today, we have nine exclusive outlets of Sugar & Spice. We also have five shop in shop outlets of the same brand, housed

within Le Marche retail chain,” informed the dynamic lady. All the Sugar & Spice stores are located in either Delhi or Gurugram. Out of these above-mentioned nine outlets, three serve as casual dining cafes. The casual dining cafes under the ambit of Sugar & Spice brand are located in SDA, Vasant Vihar, and within Vatika at Gurugram. Others are take away outlets.

“The short-term vision of the company is to open 40 outlets across Delhi-NCR over the next three years,” proffered Mini. It is slightly surprising that in these close to three decades, the expansion of Sugar & Spice has not extended beyond Delhi and Gurugram. “We have not ventured beyond Delhi-NCR because of logistic limitations. We will have to set up an entire base kitchen all over again to serve beyond Delhi-NCR,” Mini reasoned. However, she maintains that her company would be eventually considering expansion beyond Delhi-NCR, “once we have further established our operations in Delhi NCR.”

During 1989-1994 Sugar &Spice India Pvt. Ltd. had a tie-up with Oberoi, and the latter used to supply products to Sugar & Spice. “But since 1994, we are having our own production of bakery and confectionery products,” informed Mini.

She informs that her company is having a state-of-the-art factory in Gurugram, which is spread across 10,000 sq.ft. There the production of Sugar & Spice takes place. “All our equipments in the factory are imported from Italy,” she asserted.

Quality with Affordability

The products of Sugar & Spice not only taste great, but the bakery and confectionery outlets of Sugar & Spice have a good many healthy bakery products. “Rye bread, ragi bread, multigrain bread, gluten-free bread, oat bran bread and high fibre bread are some of the healthy bread options with us,” averred Mini while adding

that their cakes are made with fresh cream and not with butter cream.

I could gather that premium quality with affordability, and continual evolution are the USPs of Sugar & Spice. “Sugar & Spice has a very loyal customer base. We keep introducing new products in our ranges according to our customers’ and potential customers’ needs and preferences. The quality of our products is high but we have an affordable price range. We keep a very strict check on quality control, ensuring best possible quality is delivered at affordable prices.” averred Mini.

“Chocolate donuts, moist chocolate cakes, black forest cakes, multi-grain breads, and tea time cakes are some of our many popular products on our inventory,” Mini affirmed. Presently, Sugar & Spice has 300 different products within its purview.

Prevailing Trends

While discussing trends pervading through the fast evolving India’s bakery and confectionery industry, Mini opined that “International concepts are making a huge difference in India’s bakery and confectionery market.” This is perhaps because nowadays there are a great many people in our country who travel overseas and are exposed to global tastes and flavours.

“Particularly, many of our upwardly mobile English educated segments of young generation are demanding international deserts like macron, cupcake, and cheesecake. Moreover, nowadays there are sizeable numbers of people who don’t like to indulge in traditional bakery products anymore. They expect different and innovative bakery and confectionery products,” she observed.

Moreover, she rightly analysed that there is a growing wave of health consciousness in the Indian society, which is reflected in the impressive demand for healthy bakery and confectionery products; products whose taste is not compromised.

Need Awareness and Innovation

When asked to suggest some factors influencing the success for entrepreneurs entering or thinking of entering India’s bakery and confectionery market, she asserted that “Being abreast with the global trends prevailing in the bakery and confectionery industry, and being experimental and innovative will facilitate the entrepreneurs in this industry to succeed.”

The paucity of requisite raw materials is, according to her, one of the challenges for the players in India’s bakery and confectionery industry.

While talking of her future projects, Mini disclosed that Sugar & Spice was thinking of starting in-house baking facility at its Khan Market outlet. This measure is likely to generate further interest among her clientele and potential clientele, which in turn can enhance the footfall at and revenues of the concerned outlet.