Profile

Ambro Asia: An Innovative Model for India

Over the years we have witnessed many collaborations between Indian and Italian companies, but few of these have been able to sustain for a longer period of time. Often, after an initial impetus of energy and excitement, the interest tends to dwindle due to frustration in results, strategic errors, issues in communication, lack of support and cultural differences. This can lead to frustration between both counterparties and end what could have been a successful collaboration. Sometimes, it would require just a little bit more patience, and better communication, for the brands to take off.

Recently we met with Ambro Asia team, who are planning to introduce few best international brands to Indian market. In an open talk with Chetan Sahai, Director, Ambro Asia, he said through their offices in Italy, London and Delhi they are aiming to connect some of the best Indian and European companies. According to him Ambro Asia caters to multiple verticals of the industry like Retail and Projects Dealers, Consultants, QSRs, Cloud Kitchens, and Corporates, with a wide offering including: convection ovens, combi ovens, modular cooking, salamanders, coffee machines, and dishwashers among others.

What are the propositions Ambro Asia has for Indian market?

We have following offerings for various market segments: 1. OEMs wanting to establish and/or grow their presence in India.

Ambro Asia acts as a local subsidiary at much lower costs and at the same time with increased market reach due to more market touchpoints and wide product offering. 2. Dealers desiring enhanced confidence in OEM through local presence.

Ambro Asia has a local office and sales and technical team, offers sales and after sales support, inventory management and servicing. Crucially, Ambro Asia also builds and manages the Dealer network to ensure optimal growth and margins across the value chain.

Chetan Sahai

3. Corporates, QSRs, Cloud Kitchens desiring strategic advice and a single point of contact.

What is your strategic strength in India?

Until now, Indian corporates have to speak to multiple OEMs or dealers separately. As Ambro Asia has a number of brands under its umbrella, it can act as a one stop shop. Often, an OEM allocates different sub-brands to different dealers, with each dealer promoting their respective sub-brands. Ambro Asia maintains the overview and can act as a strategic advisor to the Indian Corporates, by identify synergies in terms of pricing and cost savings across the product ranges. Ambro Asia also offers the possibility of billing from India in INR and also from Italy in EUR.

Also the founders are Indians who have been based in Italy for over 50 years. They come from an advisory background where they have worked with leading MNCs across the globe, advising on mergers and acquisitions, business development and joint-ventures. As such, they combine the professional approach to internationalization with the capability to bridge the cultural divide and leverage the respective strengths of Indians and Italians. The company has a strong local team which it is building despite the COVID situation.

How do you perceive growth in India?

We strongly believe that the Indian market is poised for growth in the commercial kitchen equipment sector. We believe India offers tremendous potential as there is a growing spending power and attention to quality. The current crisis does not change our long term view, and offers the opportunity to those with a long term view to come out on top once the crisis is over.We are focusing in developing and strengthening our relationships in the market. In terms of growth, markets for combi ovens, coffee machines and dishwashers are still small, but we expect double digit growth, especially for high quality products.

What different criteria you follow in choosing a brand?

As we want to have a long term approach, we choose our brands carefully. We choose the brands if they allow us to meet our mission of offering: • a wide range of products,

• the best products with some unique technological advantage • the best value for moneyin each segment • long term approach and support

We work with OEMs at the owner/CEO level and aim to ensure that we have a good cultural fit and working relationship.

Can you share strategy for brand placement?

We carefully assess the market, identify the appropriate segments and distribution strategy. For example, with our Giorik range of ovens, we target convection ovens (Easyair brand), entry level combi ovens (Easyair and Movair) and high end combi ovens (Kore and Steambox) with different models and brands. In dishwashers and coffee machines, we follow a similar approach. We want to be known for offering the best value for money.