Food & Beverage Business Review ( Dec-Jan 2014) by Food & Beverage Business Review

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Publisher cum Editor Rajneesh Sharma rajneeshhammer@gmail.com

Associate Editor Swarnendu Biswas Resident Editor Sharmila Chand (Delhi) Ashok Malkani (Mumbai) Layout & Design Hari Kumar. V Narender Kumar Production Assistant Mamta Sharma Business Co-ordinator Pooja Anand Advertising Sales Delhi: Debabrata Nath, Sumesh Sharma Mumbai: Rajesh Tupsakhre Subscription Sales Dattaram Gangurde Director Sales Sanjay Anand Director Operations & Finance Rajat Taneja Editorial & Advertising Offices: Delhi: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 1202, Pragati Tower, 26, Rajindra Place, New Delhi-110008 Phone: 91-11-45084903, 25854103 Telefax: 91-11-25854105 Mumbai: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 105, 1st Floor, Aarpee Centre, Gufic Compound, 11th Road, MIDC, Near Tunga Paradise, Andheri (E), Mumbai-400093 Ph.: 022-28395833 Telefax: 022-28388947

Website: www.fbrmag.com E-mail: hammerpublishers@vsnl.net ÂŠ 2014 Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. No article can be reproduced in part or as whole without prior permission of the Publisher. Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review is a bi-monthly magazine, printed, owned and published by Rajneesh Sharma from 302, Himgiri Apartments, J-Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi. Printed at Age of Enlightenment Publications, Green Fields Colony, Faridabad, Haryana. Annual Subscription rate within India is Rs. 450 and overseas US $110, for surface mail. Single issue is available for Rs. 90 in India and US $25 overseas. Cheques are payable to Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Editorial Policy: Editorial emphasis in Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review magazine is on educational & informational material specifically designed to assist those responsible for managing institutional food & beverage business. Articles are welcome and will be published on the sole discretion of the editor.

These days fusion food has gained popularity across Indian food service industry. The demand for fusion food or the food products where there is blending of one or more culinary traditions or culinary culture in the Indian restaurant business can be attributed to the greater predilection towards experimentation among the eating out crowd across urban India. This is in turn can be reasoned towards increased impact of globalisation and also to the increased disposable incomes among select but sizeable pockets of urban Indian society. But though the awareness and appreciation towards global tastes and flavours have made us go for food products which not so long before were foreign to mainstream Indian tastes, but at the same time we Indians are looking for our local ingredients and flavours in the burgers, pizzas or smoothies. This has paved the way for the trend of fusion cuisine in the Indian restaurant business. However, strictly speaking, though the idea of fusion cuisine may be only four decades old, its reality dates back to several millennia. In fact, fusion cuisine came into being with the advent of imperialism and travel in the ancient age, which resulted in mutual influencing of different cultural traditions, which of course, also included mutual influencing of divergent culinary traditions. However, in those days, when food of one country or region were getting enriched by the culinary culture of other countries or regions and the amalgamation of two or more gastronomic realms were resulting in creation of myriad hybrid dishes time and again through the course of history, the fancy term of fusion cuisine was unknown. Today the age-old reality has become a new-age trend in the restaurant business of India. In the Cover Story of this issue, we have endeavoured to holistically cover the role of fusion cuisine in the food service business of post-modern twenty-first century India, where globalisation of tastes, that was always a reality, has graduated to be a fashion in terms of food & beverage preferences. The organised retail sector in India, especially, the organised food & grocery retail in India has great potential, which may help the organised retail business in general and the organised food & grocery retail business in particular to overcome their various challenges and script an impressive growth story. The realities, potential and challenges of organised retail in India are being discussed in our Business Story. Besides these highly relevant topics for the industry, we have also covered a gamut of other issues which are expected to garner considerable industry interest, through our regular and additional sections; through a wealth of information, opinions and analysis. We hope that our esteemed readers would find our efforts to be an enriching experience for them in this brand new year, which we believe would unfold with encouraging responses for the Indian food & beverage industry.

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CONTENTS

Cover Story

Departments

India Takes to Fusion Cuisine

Business

News

Report

Industry

Agri

Restaurant Review

Chef Voice

Profile

Product Preview

Business Opportunity

Interview

Groceries to Gross High

Feature

Event

Healthy Eating Gains Weight

Processed Food

Catching Spices

Dairy

Growth Potential and Challenges

Beverage

Waking up to the Aroma

Theme Cuisine

The Parsi Platter

Operations Cover Pix: Crowne Plaza Today Okhla

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Interactive Kitchens

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EVENT

Attracting Global Participation

aximum internationalisation will be the premise of Alimentaria 2014 that, more than ever before, has set its sights on foreign markets. Alimentaria 2014 will be held during 31st March-3rd April 2014, at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via Exhibition Centre in Barcelona, Spain. This leading international trade show will be organised by Alimentaria Exhibitions, a Fira de Barcelona company specialising in events for the food and beverage industry. The show has doubled its efforts for its forthcoming edition to attract buyers from all over the world so that the 3,800 plus participating companies can see an increase in their export opportunities. The forthcoming edition of Alimentaria will again champion innovation and quality of agri-food brands, allying itself with gastronomy and haute cuisine to achieve greater exposure and international recognition of the food and beverages showcased by exhibitors. It is estimated that the event would attract 140,000 visitors; 35 percent of them being international. The event will be spread across 85,000 sq. m net space. The Managing Director of Alimentaria Exhibitions and the Chief Executive of the show, J. Antonio Valls, explained that Alimentaria 2014 had put all its efforts into attracting the best of international demand. “In the fair, foreign operators will find the magnitude, strength, innovative character and export potential of our agri-food industry”, elaborated Valls while stating that “Alimentaria strengthens this industry’s natural foreign market goals, providing an effective platform to help participating companies, above all SEMEs, gain access to new markets.” With a little more than three months to go, 88 percent of available space at Alimentaria has already been booked. The forthcoming edition of this emblematic Barcelona trade fair, which

covers all product families in the confectionery industry and the food & beverage ‘Olive Oil Business Meetings’ for industry, showing the oil manufacturers. interrelations between them The important new feature and their connections with of this edition will be the space the world of gastronomy, is titled ‘The Alimentaria divided into 12 monographic Experience,’ linked to the shows, which are: Restaurama show, which will encompass all the activities • Intervin, Wine and related to restaurants and Spirits gastronomy. There will be live • Intercarn, Meat and Chef Joan Roca culinary demonstrations, Meat Products culinary master classes and • Interlact, Milk and Dairy workshops, tasting sessions and Products conferences among other activities, with • Multiproducto, General Food the aim of showing trends and providing Products inspiration and solutions to restaurateurs. • Olivaria, Olive Oil and Vegetable Oils ‘The Alimentaria Experience’ will also • Mundidulce, Sweets, Biscuits and include a wine tasting space in ‘Vinorum’ Confectionary entitled ‘50 Rompedores’’(Ground • Expobebidas, Water, Soft Drinks and Breakers), which will showcase a series of Beers wines that are breaking the traditional • Expoconser, Preserves and Semimould of the industry in order to attract Preserved Products new consumers, mainly young people. • Interpesca, Seafood, Aquaculture At the Alimentaria 2014, different and Farmed Fish Products manufacturers of pre-prepared products, • Congelexpo, Frozen Foods which usually supply to the Horeca sector, • Alimentación Ecológica, Organic Food will be exhibiting. Here they will show • Restaurama, International Eating Out portions of fresh, clean foodstuffs that There will also be a pavilion for the have a longer shelf life thanks to vacuum different Spanish Autonomous or modified atmosphere packaging Communities (Pabellón de las technology or heat treated cooked food Autonomías) and an international pavilion whose expiry date is extended by weeks, for foreign companies and institutional months or even years. representatives from over 50 countries. The trade fair will again feature the The Alimentaria 2014 will also be Alimentaria Hub in Pavilion 2, which will increasing the number of specific microhost simultaneously multiple initiatives, events, such as the Premium area, for congresses, seminars, business meetings, haute cuisine and delicatessen firms; the themed and product exhibitions, ‘Gluten-Free Isle’ with products presentations of publications, launches, etc. appropriate for coeliacs and solutions for The list of activities that will be taking other food intolerances; the ‘Cocktail & place in the Alimentaria Hub will include Spirits’ space in Intervin, in which the International Mediterranean Diet companies of distilled beverages will Congress; the Innoval Awards and the promote high quality products and new initiative, The Food Factory, which brands and will carry out demonstrations will bring together innovative start-ups of cocktails and mixed drinks; ‘Pizza with high growth potential and business &Pasta Project’ dedicated to these Italian angels willing to invest in them. specialities; the ‘Sweet Business Area’ for

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Aahar 2014 10-14 March 2014 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi www.aaharinternationalfair.com EDT Expo 27-30 March 2014 Istanbul, Turkey www.cnredtexpo.com Alimentaria 2014 31 March -3 April 2014 Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain www.alimentaria-bcn.com HOTELEX 2014 31 March -3 April 2014 Shanghai New International Exhibition Center, Shanghai,China www.hotelex.cn/ FHA 2014 8-11 April 2014 Singapore Expo, Singapore www.foodnhotelasia.com SIAL China 2014 13-15 May 2014 Shanghai New International Exhibition Center, Shanghai,China www.sialchina.com

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HOSTECH by Tusid 12-16 March 2014 Istanbul, Turkey www.hostechbytusid.com

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looking forward to get into the ever growing Indian market,” pointed out Sanjeev Gupta from Kanchan Metals. He urged all the companies to participate in bigger numbers in the next edition of the show. Manoj Paul from Heat & Control appreciated the decision to organise the show in Ahmedabad as many companies were looking forward to tap the huge potential of snack and dairy market in the western region of India, particularly of Gujarat, but were unable to do so due to absence of international class exhibition pertaining to the snack and dairy sectors, in the western region of India. Apart from the number of the visitors, the major highlight of the show was the quality of the visitors, which included top management from companies. This resulted in high conversion ratio of business deals finalised during the exhibition. The event hosted some concurrent seminars too. The National Seminar on ‘Quality Initiatives in Dairy Value Chain – Producer to Consumer’ was organised by Indian Dairy Association (Gujarat State Chapter) & Mansinhbhai Institute of Dairy & Food Technology during 10th – 11th December 2013; on the first and second day of the trade fair. The two day seminar was attended by 350 delegates coming from dairy cooperatives and private dairies from all across the country. The other concurrent seminar was titled ‘Emerging Global Trends in Ice Cream Industry,’ which was organised by Indian Ice Cream Manufacturers Association (IICMA). The seminar was held on 11th December 2013 and was well attended by leading ice cream manufacturers and related industries. Most of the 90 delegates in the conference included the Managing Directors and senior officials of leading ice cream brands from all across the country. The next edition of International FoodTec India, PackEx India, Dairy Universe India and Sweet & SnackTec India together will be organised during 14th-16th November 2014 in Mumbai, India.

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Gulfood 2014 23–27 Feb 2014 Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Dubai www.gulfood.com

Thaifex- World of Food Asia 2014 21-25 May 2014 Impact Exhibition and Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand www.worldoffoodasia.com

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exhibits on display attracted impressive visitors as the event came across as a one stop-solution of all their needs. Out of the total 182 exhibitors, 89 were from India. The exhibition area was spread across 5000 sq.m. Sweet & SnackTec India and Dairy Universe India 2013 attracted individual participation from foreign countries like Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, and USA. The event had 450 delegates. Ashwani Pande, Managing Director, Koelnmesse YA Tradefair Pvt. Ltd. in his welcome speech acknowledged the support and co-operation extended by all the exhibitors for supporting these trade fairs and making them huge success year on year. “This is a very appropriate platform provided by Koelnmesse YA Tradefair, not only to Indian exhibitors to widen their growth potential, but also to the international companies who are

Myanmar Hotels, F&B and Travel Show 2014 17-19 Feb 2014 Yangon, Myanmar Convention Centre www.mhft.sphereconferences.com/

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weet & SnackTec India and Dairy Universe India 2013, which was held during 10thth 12 December 2013, at the Gujarat University Convention & Exhibition Centre, Ahmedabad, received an overwhelming response. 5008 trade visitors across the country witnessed the exhibits displayed by 182 exhibitors from 17 countries. Following the tradition, the exhibition was inaugurated by the leading exhibitors of the show, which included Sanjeev Gupta from Kanchan Metals, Manoj Paul from Heat & Control, Narendra Kochar from Kiron Hydraulics, KK Menon from Menon Technical Services, and Ashwani Pande from Koelnmesse YA Tradefair Pvt Ltd., and other dignitaries. The latest developments in the field of dairy, milking, processing, cooling systems, cold chain management solutions, sweets and snack processing, packaging equipment & material, testing instruments, data management, automation solutions, distribution solutions, etc. were on display during the show. The complete gamut of

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E V E N T S’ C A L E N D E R

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A Mega Exhibition for Snacks and Dairy Industry

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Vinexpo Asia-Pacific: Attracting Exhibitors in Huge Numbers

or the forthcoming sixth edition of Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, which is to be held in Hong Kong during 27th- 29th May 2014, the international wine and spirits exhibition has increased its total area for stands by 50 percent. There is still six months for the exhibition to open, but the sales are brisk. Already 87 percent of the total of 15,000 sq. m (161,500 sq. ft) has been sold and the number of stand sites reserved already exceeds the total floor area of Vinexpo Asia-Pacific 2012, which hosted 1,050 exhibitors from 28 countries. “Our exhibitors know very well that by

being present at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific they are visible at the very heart of the whole Asia-Pacific market. The exhibition is obviously a way of gaining direct access to China, but it also raises exhibitors’ profiles in all the emerging markets of south-east Asia. We need to bear in mind that 40 percent of the wine consumed in Asia is drunk outside China,” pointed out Guillaume Deglise, the Chief Executive of Vinexpo Asia-Pacific. Non-French exhibitors have already reserved nearly 40 percent more stand space than in 2012 (6,500 sq. m – 70,000 sq. ft reserved already compared to 3,810

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sq. m – 41,010 sq. ft in 2012), thereby confirming their interest in the exhibition as a springboard and business accelerator in Asian markets. At this time, Italy and Spain have increased their presence at the coming exhibition the most. There will also be more German exhibitors than participants from Argentina, Chile, Australia, South Africa or China. Uptil now, French exhibitors have only slightly increased their reservations of stand space (5,555 sq. m – 59,793 sq. ft as ompared to 5,150 sq. m – 55,434 sq. ft in 2012: a 9 percent increase). Sales of course continue in the coming weeks. Here it deserves a mention that launched in 1998 in Asia, Vinexpo AsiaPacific has gained maturity and built a significant reputation over the years. A total of 15,800 visitors attended Vinexpo Asia-Pacific 2012.

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Capital has its Monkey Bar Monkey Bar, India’s first gastropub brand owned by Olive Cafés South Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Olive Bar and Kitchen Pvt. Ltd., now expands its footprint to Delhi at a standalone location in Vasant Kunj. Here it deserves a mention that the renowned restaurateur AD Singh, in partnership with award winning Chef Manu Chandra and hospitality operations expert Chetan Rampal, did set up the first Monkey Bar in Bangalore, in April 2012. In a short span of a year-and-a-half, the brand has attracted recognition as a unique F&B destination that is set to revolutionise the concept of dining out in India. The Times Food Guide awarded Monkey Bar, Bangalore as the Best Bar 2012 within a few months of its opening in the city. Having firmly established itself as a quality dining out destination in Bangalore, Monkey Bar now opens its doors to the people of New Delhi. Monkey Bar is a gastro-pub by definition, a F&B trend that has been popular internationally and is finding currency in India lately. Monkey Bar offers the essence of a pub, backed by excellent food and service, at accessible prices. Monkey Bar has set a benchmark for its innovative food and its often irreverent take on the concept of traditional cuisines. In the words of its Partners, Chef Manu Chandra and Chetan Rampal, “We believed there was a gap in the market, specifically for a product that combined great food, a great vibe with affordable prices. Monkey Bar is designed to be a bonafide dining out option when one is looking for a great evening out with friends. Almost any large Indian city with a savvy crowd will not only appreciate but embrace a product like this. Delhi was the logical next move in the expansion story for Monkey Bar.” Olive Cafés South Pvt. Ltd. endeavours to come up with a second Monkey Bar outlet in Bangalore and will also expand in Mumbai, during 2014. ○

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PepsiCo to Plant Huge Investment PepsiCo has announced the setting up of its largest beverage plant in the country. The plant will come up at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. It will be more accurate to say that Sri City, which is a special economic zone in Chittoor district, is located in the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The plant will be spread across 80 acres, and will involve an investment of Rs. 1230 crore. The ambitious plant will be completed in three phases. The first phase of the project entails an investment of Rs.450 crore. The first phase will attain completion by the third or fourth quarter of the financial year 2015. The second phase will have an investment of Rs 400 crore, and it will commence in 2015. In the third phase PepsiCo will inject another Rs.380 crore. The third phase of the project is expected to begin in 2017. This plant will produce the entire range of beverages of the snacks and beverage giant, which will also include the sports drink Gatorade. It is expected that the plant at its full operational capacity will generate approximately 8000 direct and indirect jobs. After completion, the Sri City plant will have eight production lines. According to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, 50,000-60,000 mango farmers in the region will be benefited because of the fact that an estimated 2 lakh metric tonnes of mangoes per year will be acquired by PepsiCo for its juice business. According to the Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo India, D. Shivakumar, the plant at Sri City will give an impetus to PepsiCo India’s production capacity and support the growing demand for beverage products of PepsiCo India. He also informed that the Sri City facility will play a crucial role in the growth plans of PepsiCo in India. This plant is slated to be PepsiCo’s second plant in Andhra Pradesh, its first one being a beverage manufacturing plant at Medak district of the state.

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California Walnut Commission Hosts Trade Seminar In the recent past, California Walnut Commission organised a trade seminar in Delhi to create awareness about the health aspects and benefits of walnuts. In the past two years, California’s walnut industry has made concerted efforts to increase awareness about the health properties of consuming walnuts and how consumption of walnuts helps preventing major illnesses, especially those that happen because of lifestyle issues. The trade seminar was marked by the visit of Michelle McNeil, Senior Marketing Director, California Walnuts Commission who was present amidst leading trade distributors. Here it deserves a mention that California’s walnut industry is made up of more than 4100 growers and more than 90 handlers. The growers and handlers are represented by two entities, the California Walnut Board (CWB) and the California Walnut Commission (CWC). The California Walnut Commission is an agency of the state of California that works in concurrence with the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). The CWC is mainly involved in health research and export market development activities. “India is on our list of priorities. With growing health concerns, our visit to India is very strategic. It is estimated that California walnuts is in high demand in India as the Indian consumers want to experience the quality and taste distinctions that makes California walnuts unique. Furthermore, they have positive impact on the cardiovascular health, which is a leading health concern in India,” explained Michelle McNeil. She also informed that California walnuts were “going to be retailed in

India soon.“ She also discussed on the health benefits of walnuts in general. “Not only are walnuts delicious to eat but are also good for your heart and overall health. They are a healthy snacking option and are considered as a super food. Walnuts are high in protein, vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, trace minerals, lecithin and oils. Compared with other nuts, which typically contain a high amount of monounsaturated fats, walnuts are unique because the fats in them are primarily polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Furthermore, walnuts are the only nut with a significant amount of alpha-linolenic acid. Besides all these, walnuts have insignificant amounts of sodium and are cholesterol free,” elaborated Michelle. Keith Sunderlal, Managing Director, India Representative of California Walnut Commission remarked, “We are on an expansion drive to create awareness about the distinctive qualities and health properties of California walnuts. We are working closely with key players in the dry fruits market to bring quality walnuts for the consumers and delight them.”

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SinQ Beach Club at Candolim, North Goa, is a complete party haven for food, dance, music and leisure lovers. It was launched in December 2012. SinQ Beach Club has now come up with SinQ Brew in the recent past. It is the in-house brewery of SinQ Beach Club. This brewery happens to be the first micro-brewery in Goa. SinQ Brew is serving more than 15 international varieties of beer in exquisite flavours. From American Ale, Canadian Light, Irish Stout, Vienna, Porter to Honey Beer, SinQ Brew has lots of intoxicating options to infuse ecstasy among the beer lovers. Sahil Adwalpalkar, Director, SinQ Hospitality Group, said, “We are happy to announce that Goa now has its first and till now the only micro-brewery. SinQ Brew is an inhouse brewery of SinQ and we have launched it in association with HouseBrew.” Furthermore, according to the company release, SinQ Brew is the first micro brewery in the world that doesn’t require ETP (effluence treatment plant), thereby making it one of the finest breweries in the world. “Here all of the popular beers are being brewed in the HouseBrew system from a premixed package. These packages require only the addition of water and the appropriate brewer’s yeast for the desired style and flavour”, explained Amit Adatia, Brewer, SinQ Brew.

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SinQ Beach Club Introduces SinQ Brew

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GAIA’s Sugar Free Bites Combining the miracles of nature with the wonders of science, GAIA has been producing a range of nutritional supplements and natural substitutes which facilitate the body’s natural regeneration. The portfolio of the Delhibased company includes nutritional supplements, green teas, green ice teas, muesli, cookies, Stevia tablets and sachets as well as health bars. Recently GAIA has come up with GAIA LITE Sugar Free Bites. These bites have no added sugar, are without cholesterol and are made of six nutritious grains. These bites are available at leading harmacies and general stores. They can be healthy snacking options. Parents can even allow their children to binge on them without health apprehensions as they contain no sucralose.

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New Menu at MEGU MEGU, the Japanese restaurant at The Leela Palace New Delhi, recently celebrated two years of its serving of F&B options to the discerning diners across the globe. The menu of the restaurant has recently undergone a makeover. The winter menu at the restaurant presents an array of new delicacies. It presents itself as a stylish confluence of exotic flavours of rare and authentic Japanese ingredients with unique cooking techniques. Heart of each dish remains true to its origin, but the presentation is laced with a touch of European style. It is interesting to note that Chef de Cuisine, Yutaka Saito, has not used any Indian spices in his culinary creations, but has sourced the Japanese ingredients that are closest to the taste and aroma of the popular local produce. At MEGU one can indulge in a variety of meats like duck meat, chicken, pork, etc, a wide-selection of vegetarian options like the appetising rolls with tempura, cheese and avocado, and the interesting additions like a spider roll, which is a unique combination of crab ○

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with Asian salsa. Apart from new delicacies, Chef Saito has also introduced variations to the existing dishes. From the moment you step in at MEGU, the oriental accents, opulent décor and the warm service can together help you to transport your senses to the reigns of Japan. Whether you choose to revel in the fine selection of sakes, combined with sushi & sashimi at the bar, or savour the winter flavours in any one of its dramatic dining spaces including the Buddha Hall, or the intimate origami room and the private dining Kimono, or the M Lounge —the comfortable multi-level alfresco seating amidst the lush green lawns — the dining experience is expected to be memorable one. ○

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Vegit Expands its ‘Mix’ Portfolio Vegit, the agro division of Merino Group, having a pan India presence with a network of over 5000 dealers and outlets, has come out with a new product named Pav Bhaji Mix. This is in addition to its already existing range of ready to cook mixes, thereby strengthening its presence in the Indian market. Vegit offers a range of snacks mixes which are all simple, fast, neat and ready to make. It reaches out to the retail sector and also the industrial catering units, restaurants and hotels, and also exports its products. This mix could be prepared within minutes, without involving much time and effort in cooking, thereby giving a fillip to the convenience factor of the consumers, which is a crucial factor in deciding food product and food ingredient purchases in these timestarved times. One may also add new twist to the mix to create some creative snacking options. Here it deserves a mention Pav Bhaji Mix is a spicy Indian cuisine, which is a dish from Maharashtra. Vegit Pav Bhaaji Mix is available at an affordable price point of Rs.60 and comes in an innovative, refreshed, clutter free packaging. The product has low cholesterol and is spruced with essential vitamins and nutrients. The product is available at general & modern trade outlets, mom and pops shops, hyper and super markets across Delhi, and will be soon available across the country. Speaking on the launch of Vegit Pav Bhaji Mix, Rajneesh Sharma, General Manager, Sales, Vegit, said, “We are delighted to launch the Pav Bhaji Mix. Today’s consumer demands convenience and we are committed to provide healthy, tasty and affordable ready to cook products to the Indian consumers, especially to ease the life of homemakers and offer solutions of convenience to the next generation.” He also added that, “With key growth drivers — quality, consistency and ability to understand Indian consumer preferences, Vegit today is a well entrenched player in the Indian market.”

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Meet us at Aahar 2014 Hall No. 12

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MOFPI and Invest India Enter into an Agreement The Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Invest India have entered into an agreement for the setting up of an investors’ ‘Help Desk’ for offering online support to investors; both domestic and foreign, with regard to their queries, and also guide them and provide hand holding services to them, particularly at the initial stage of setting up their units. The help desk will handle online investment related queries from domestic and overseas investors, support investors in locating local partners and consultants and provide hand holding and facilitation services to investors. Invest India is the country’s official agency dedicated to investment promotion and facilitation. Set up as a joint venture between FICCI, DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry) and State Governments of India, its mandate is to become the first reference point for the global investment community. Given its mandate and expertise, Invest India is favourably placed to guide the investors in setting up their food processing units. It was in this background that the Ministry of Food Processing Industries entered in to an agreement with Invest India for online support for the investors in the food processing sector. The agreement was signed by Gajendra Bhujabal, Economic Adviser, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Dr Arbind Prasad, Managing Director, Invest India in the presence of Sharad Pawar, the Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries. Speaking on the occasion, Pawar, observed, “The initiative is first of its kind not only for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, for that matter the Government of India, but also for Invest India. It is a prestigious venture for all of us and we hope that investors in the food processing sector will immensely benefit from this initiative.” It should be noted that the Government has been offering a number of fiscal incentives for promoting the food processing sector in the country. A number of schemes are being implemented for promoting this sector by extending grant in aid. These include setting up of mega food parks, cold chains, abattoirs, and setting up and upgradation of technology of food processing units. Government has also launched a National Mission on Food Processing in April 2012 with a view to ensure active participation of state governments in this endeavour, and has also permitted foreign direct investment up to 100 percent in the food processing sector through automatic route. ○

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Parle Cuts Prices Parle Products has introduced price cuts of some of its popular and mass market brands, which many industry experts claim could pave the way to a price war in the mass-end biscuits segment. Yes, the rivals of Parle Products following price cuts in their mass market biscuit products now seem to be a possibility in the near future. Parle Products’ Parle G brand has been subjected to an indirect price reduction. Earlier a pack of 72 gm of Parle G biscuits used to cost Rs.5, but now for Rs.5, one can get a Parle G biscuits packet of 75 gm. According to Religare report, this makes Parle G 10 percent cheaper than Britannia’s Tiger. Parle Products has also lowered the price of its Bourbon biscuits by 17 percent. Its price has now been reduced from Rs.24 for a pack of 150 gm to Rs.20. This price reduction is despite the fact that the price of wheat has experienced a hike of up to 8 percent during the last six months. These discounts in price can attract more consumers to Parle Products. Many analysts are suggesting that this reduction in prices of some of the Parle Products’ mass-market brands is a reaction to the slow growth in the glucose biscuits segment, and is eyed with the objective to enhance the volumes. Here it deserves a mention that the glucose biscuits market is experiencing a slowing down in the country as compared to its pace of growth witnessed a decade earlier.

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NEWS SCAN

A Festival of Curries Mix by The BrewMaster, a 100-cover multi cuisine restaurant with a classy banquet, located at Moments Mall, Kirti Nagar, Delhi, recently held a two-week-long food festival titled ‘Curries of India.’ The food festival began on 10th January of this year. The festival offering was available both for lunch and dinner with meal for two costing an affordable Rs. 1100 plus taxes. The festivity of culinary senses presented exclusive curries served with wide variety of pulao to the guests. Of course that was not all… According to the Executive Chef of the restaurant, Sanjeev Sharma, ”In our Indian culinary tradition curries play important roles. Each region of the country has its own specialty in terms of spices, taste and curries. In the festival we strived to serve delicacies from each region of India in their authentic form.” Overall, the delicious festival had plenty to offer for both nonvegetarians and vegetarians. For non-vegetarians, curries like Dhabba Jeengha(tiger prawns cooked dhabba style with special spices) and Safed Maas(a Rajasthani fare) and Goustaba (a Kashmiri specialty, it is a dish of minced mutton balls, cooked in curd and spices) could have been among some of the out-ofthe-world treats. Nadri Curry, Rugaan-e-Chaman and Hyderabadi Baigan Mirchi Ka Salan could easily had been the highlights of the vegetarian fare at the recently held food festival. The delectable desserts to culminate the food festival included Anjeer Badam ka Halwa, Chocolate Jamun among others.

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, an event with an award ceremony, will be sponsored by S. Pellegrino & Acqua Panna and will be organised by William Reed Business Media. The mega event will welcome some of the world’s leading Chefs to Singapore to participate in a series of interactive workshops and a forum on global culinary trends. The event will be held during 23rd-24th February 2014. The two-day-long programme will comprise a one-day forum on 23rd February, titled ‘The Future of Food: Back to our Roots’, and a series of ‘Signature Dishes’ workshops on 24th February. As a culmination of the two-day-long event, the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards will be given on 24th February, at Capella, Sentosa Island, Singapore. The Future of Food: Back to our Roots will be presented as an engaging and educational forum which will explore current and future gastronomic trends through a series of talks, discussions, short films and spirited debates. Divided into three sessions, the forum will conclude with a cocktail party where attendees will have the opportunity to network and meet the presenters. The Signature Dishes workshops will be targeted at aspiring Chefs, food lovers or epicurean experts. The workshops, which will be held at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy — Singapore’s leading culinary school.— are expected to present a good opportunity to learn from the culinary masters. Each workshop will be hosted by an international, award-winning guest Chef who will reveal the inspiration, techniques and processes behind some of her/his most prized and beloved dishes. At the ‘Signature Dishes’ workshops attendees will have the chance to interact with the celebrated Chefs, learn their secrets, gain insights into current culinary practices and sample the dishes cooked in the class. Classes will be small and will have a duration ranging from 2 to 2.5 hours. Overall, the forthcoming Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014 is expected to come across a snapshot of opinions and experiences of international restaurant industry experts. Here the attendees will have an opportunity to learn the culinary nuances from celebrated Chefs. Joan Roca, Bjorn Frantzén, Yoshihiro Narisawa and David Thompson will be among some of the celebrated Chefs gracing the event.

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Individual Awards Categories: • The S. Pellegrino Best Restaurant in Asia • The Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award • The Veuve Clicquot Asia’s Best Female Chef • Chefs’ Choice • One to Watch sponsored by Peroni Nastro Azzurro • Best Pastry Chef sponsored by Cacao Barry • Highest Climber sponsored by Zacapa Rum • Highest New Entry sponsored by LesConcierges • Individual country awards

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NEWS SCAN

West Coast Forges Association with Belgium Major Agristo West Coast Fine Foods (India) Pvt. Ltd. has announced the signing of an agreement with Agristo N. V., Belgium, for launch of the latter’s range of high quality and authentic Belgian frozen potato products in the Indian market. Agristo, a leading manufacturer of potato products, has partnered with West Coast, a leading frozen products distribution company based in Mumbai, to bring its products into India. The MoU was signed in Mumbai, in the presence of HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Kris Peeters, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders. Speaking on the occasion, Antoon Wallays, Promoter of Agristo, said, “We are happy to partner with West Coast in bringing our authentic Belgian potato products to India. We see an exponential growth potential in India and are confident of delighting the Indian consumers with our world-class products.” Commenting at the event, Kamlesh Gupta, CMD of West Coast, said “We are extremely delighted to enter into a strong association with Agristo and look forward to promoting authentic Belgian potato products in the Indian market. These quality and innovative products will surely be admired by the discerning end-consumers.” “We aspire to be the brand of choice for the Indian consumers who seek frozen food products of the highest quality, offered and delivered in the most convenient way conceivable. The products from Agristo add a new strategic dimension to our product basket besides complementing our existing offerings across leading retail stores in the country”, added Rahul Kulkarni, Director & Business Head of West Coast group’s India distribution business. The entire range of ‘frish’ potato products from Agristo is going to be made available at leading retail stores across more than 60 cities in India.

Octaga Green Introduces ‘Invincible Vodka’ Octaga Green Power & Sugar Company Ltd. has launched Invincible Vodka, that honours the roots of Russian spirit-making tradition. It is made from fine grains grown in the rich fields of the Himalayas. This is a crisp and intricately distilled vodka. The wonderful combination of handpicked grains from the flourishing Himalayan fields and the pure spring water is what makes ‘Invincible’ a really smooth vodka. One can also say that the superior distillation process of Invincible Vodka makes it an exceptionally smooth vodka; distinct in flavour, and different in style. Micro-oxygenated like fine wines, this vodka has been produced in an 8 column distillation process, through activated carbon and triple Russian filtration (silver, gold and platinum). Speaking of Invincible Vodka, owner of Octaga Green, Basab Paul stated “Invincible Vodka is a trendsetter. We wanted to express a new vision for vodka, something unbelievably pure. Natural ingredients are what we use to create our special spirit, as it is our commitment to serve the people with nothing but the best. “ ‘Invincible Vodka’ is encased in an eye-catching hour-glass shaped bottle with a polished aluminum ABS push cap. ○

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The Signature of Le Cirque at The Leela Mumbai Inspired by the success of its first foray in Asia, the globally-renowned Maccioni Restaurant Group has announced the launch of Le Cirque Signature at The Leela Mumbai. Le Cirque Signature offers the most popular specialties from the brand’s fabled restaurants around the world, along with new creations for Mumbai’s epicures by celebrated Chef Matteo Boglione from the flagship Le Cirque, New York. The gastronomic experience is complemented by a repertoire of exotic wines. Commenting on the occasion, Capt. CP Krishnan Nair, Founder Chairman and Chairman Emeritus, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts said, “We are thrilled with the overwhelming response the first Le Cirque in Delhi has received and undoubtedly Le Cirque Signature at The Leela Mumbai will add a new dimension to dining in the financial capital of India.” Sirio Maccioni, Founder, Maccioni Restaurant Group observed, “India is on the brink of a culinary revolution and bringing the Le Cirque experience to Mumbai is an early tribute to a trend that is here to stay. We aim to surprise the Indian audience with eclectic FrenchItalian cuisine, designed especially for their increasingly discerning palate. The Leela Mumbai with its location and hospitality philosophy is the perfect fit for a Le Cirque experience.” Ashish Kumar Rai, General Manager of The Leela Mumbai concurred, “We are delighted to present the celebrated Le Cirque Group to Mumbai, which is the melting pot of flavours and fragrances. The same classical dishes and exotic ingredients that the discerning palate of Mumbai identifies with Le Cirque will be served, albeit in an ambience that reflects the culture of this vibrant city.” Located on the hotel’s top floor, Le Cirque Signature offers a 65-seat dining space. Here the wine connoisseurs can choose from an impressive list of wines from major wine growing regions around the world. The restaurant will be helmed by Chef Matteo Boglione, who has been much acclaimed by the revered critics of New York City.

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REPORT

Oats are Also for India Bagrry’s, which has been offering a wide range of wholesome and nutritious breakfast cereals & health foods, has recently unveiled Oats for India — which can be construed as a another innovation by the company. Here it deserves a mention that oats helps manage weight and is rich in beta-glucan, a form of soluble fibre, which facilitates to reduce cholesterol. The amount of soluble fibre required in a healthy diet, which may help reduce cholestrol and the risk of heart disease is about 3gm, for which the requisite amount of oats intake is at least 70gm a day (or 2-3 bowls of porridge). However, to most people, eating 2-3 bowls of porridge on a daily basis does not sound very appetising. Bagrry’s new initiative can help to address this health need in an effective manner. Bagrry’s focus on the nutrition needs of the Indian consumer. Consider this, what if you could have oats as a staple grain, using it in the form of rice, poha or suji, to prepare scrumptious traditional Indian dishes like pulao, upma, uttapam, idli or any other preparations? Oats for India comes in four exciting variants, which are Oats for Poha, Oats for Suji, Oats for Rice and Oats for Atta. The Oats for India range comprises healthy oats staples from which one can prepare one’s favourite Indian dishes. According to the company, every product of the Oats for India range is essentially 100 percent whole grain, making it the perfect way to add health to the diet, while at the same time enabling enjoyment of the taste of the Indian dishes. Addressing the media at the launch of Oats for India, Shyam Bagri, Chairman, Bagrrys India Ltd., commented, “Since our inception, we have been driven by our core philosophy to offer food products that are genuinely healthy, natural and of exceptionally high quality. With the help of our innovative milling technology and over 50 years of expertise in grain, we have transformed imported oats from a boring western porridge to a healthy yet sumptuous range of Indian staples. Bagrry’s Oats for India is our latest offering, which is a simple way of

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making your Indian meals healthy, without any compromise on taste.” Aditya Bagri, VP Marketing for Bagrry’s added, “The initial trials have been very encouraging and we are now rolling out the range in select markets in India. Available in four exciting new options — Oats for Suji, Oats for Poha, Oats for Atta and Oats for Rice —the Bagrry’s Oats for India range is available in modern retail format stores such as Big Bazaar, Hypercity and in local supermarkets.” Elaborating on the nutritional benefits of oats, the renowned dietician Dr. Ritika Samaddar, the Chief Dietitian, Max Healthcare, Saket, who was also present at the conference, commented, “Oats are rich in a bulky, viscous type of soluble fibre called beta-glucan. Consuming just 3 gm of soluble oat fiber per day typically lowers total cholesterol by 8-23 percent. Soluble fibers in oats also help to reduce hypertension and consequently reduce the need for anti-hypertensive medication. Lignans in oats have been seen to reduce risk of breast cancer.” While dishing out some wholesome and nutritious oats recipes using Oat for India, the nationally renowned culinary diva Nita Mehta explained, “We are all aware about the nutritional benefits of oats. However, cooking of oats has always been a big challenge for people. But Oats for India is an innovative offering which gives consumers a host of cooking options with oats. It gives ample scope for experimentation to dish out new recipes without compromising on nutrition.”

Dec-Jan ’14

REPORT

Veeba Food Services Emerges on the F&B Space Viraj Bahl of the erstwhile Fun Foods Private Limited, (the company was later taken over by a Germany-based company), has re-entered the processed food space wth Veeba Food Services. Veeba Food Services is now backed by the Bahl family and the company’s plant is up and running in the Neemrana reigon of Rajasthan.

This plant is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in one of the best industrial areas on the Indian Golden Quadrilateral (the road connecting all the 4 Indian metros). The size of the plant is reportedly more than 35000 square feet and more than the same size is available for future expansion. The plant is ISO 22000:2005 certified by TUV and is said to be one of the youngest plants to get such a prestegious certification. “The industry has been extremely kind to us. Within a short span of six months we are already key vendors to Domino’s Pizza & Dunkin’ Donuts. It is needless to say that we have passed their extremely stringent quality audits,” explained Viraj Behl. According to him, the new company also has a robust distribution network already in place exclusively catering to the HORECA clientele across the country. The impressive product range of Veeba Viraj Behl Food Services Private Limited include mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, salad dressings, chocolate toppings and other fruit toppings to name a few. Bahl informed that the research and development team is headed by his brother and according to him, it is one of the best in the country. They are equipped to provide a one-stop solution for all clients, whether big or small. Besides sound knowledge about the sauce/ emulsion business, Bahl believes that unwavering passion for food that people at Veeba Food Services have are among the strengths of the company that would strive it ahead towards the path of growth. “This is one business, which one shouldn’t enter if she/he doesn’t have a passion for it,” asserted Bahl with passion.

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REPORT

The Taste of Amritsar in Mumbai By Ashok Malkani

s you drive down the Khar Linking Road you can’t miss the prominent signboard of Amritsari Tadka, a restaurant that gives you a chance to experience authentic dishes from Amritsar, in Mumbai. As you prepare to clamber up the few steps to the restaurant, the bellboy greets you with a warm welcome. On entering the restaurant you find the right ambience, with pictures of Amritsar’s village scene, which can create nostalgia among people hailing from Amritsar or from any Punhab village, but are living in Mumbai for years due to career or business compulsions. The menu has an impressive collection of dishes — of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings. You have an array of starters, from which we ordered for Veg Seekh Kebab and Murg Tikka. The Veg Seekh Kebab was delicious and the Murg Tikka was equally lip smacking. Our trepidations on whether it would be another tall claim about genuine fare from Punjab were put to rest, with these two delicacies. And the true blue taste of Amritsar continued in the rest of the food that followed! Among the Tandoori Chaska you should try the Murgh Achari Tikka and the Ajwaini Fish Tikka. Ajwain, known as carom or bishop’s weed, is an uncommon spice except in certain areas of Asia. It has medicinal values and fish tikka with its ajwaini taste is indeed a dish that you are likely to relish. The Tandoori Prawns, which are priced as per the size of the prawns, are also simply sumptuous. For the main course, you could have the typical Punjabi Sarson da Saag and Makkai di Roti or Methi Mutter Malai. The Paneer Kali Mirchi Masala is also worth trying. Having a peppery taste, it is a delicacy that you are likely to love. There are a variety of other vegetarian dishes, each of them worth a try. Among the other non-vegetarian dishes you could go for the Murgh Lahori Tikka Masala, which can remind a veteran citizen of the aromas which emanated from the streets and by-lanes of Lahore. Amritsari Murgh Tamatar Masala will truly give you the taste of those restaurants serving authentic Amritsar’s fare in the streets of the city of the Golden Temple. Amritsari Boti Bhuna Masala, Amritsari Gurda Kapoora and Amritsari Bheja Masala are also delicacies not to be missed.

Coming to the breads, Amritsari Pudhina Garlic Naan is an Indian bread worth trying at this restaurant. The Rice ki Karamat offers you a variety of rice dishes, each one competing in excellence with the other. And of course, you could drench this rich gastronomic experience with the Punjab di Lassi. For the desserts, Malai Kulfi Falooda (Delhi Style) did satiate my sweet tooth. We also recommend that you try their Jalebis. The novelty about this dish is that it is not dripping with sugar syrup. It is crispy and absolutely dry from the exterior but has syrup within. While there are Punjabi restaurants galore in this metropolis, a food outlet that specifically caters to the Amritsar region is rare. Amritsari Tadka sates the appetite of those seeking genuine Amritsar’s food in this city known for its glamour and commerce. Many food enthusiasts know the delectable tastes of Amritsar’s cuisine. Yummy, flavourful and rich, it is a combination of spicy non-vegetarian palate teemed with healthy and tasty vegetarian dishes. Amritsari Tadka, with its authentic Amritsar cuisine, is expected to become a haven for food lovers, and if you aren’t a foodie, this place is likely to make you one. For those looking to track a different taste, it should be stated that Amritsari Tadka also has a range of Chinese dishes. How have the flavours of Amritsar wafted down to Mumbai? Well, it is not really a surprise, when you find that the Founder/ Director of the place, Anil Singh aka Pappi Singh, is an ardent lover of food from Amritsar. Pappi has had traversed the dhabas of Amritsar to pick out the best of the Amritsar’s cuisine. In fact, Amritsar is supposed to be the unofficial food capital of India. The variety, quality and taste wafting from the streets of Amritsar are unmatched. Pappi Singh avers that though Amritsari kulchas and lassis and Amritsar’s fish and paneer dishes are featured on menus across the country, very few are able to get even close to the real taste of the food, as served in the city of the Golden Temple. “I have endeavoured to bring authentic Amritsar’s food to Mumbai,” he averred. Here it deserves a mention that Pappi Singh has a passion for food and has been a keen cooking enthusiast from childhood. Always looking for something new he came up with the idea of starting an outlet that served only parathas. “Normally parathas are made from 3-4 substances. I selected about 14 basic stuffing and came up with about 150 combinations and connotations.” His other outlet named Only Parathas, today serves nearly 400 varieties of parathas. He has also started Z’non Lounge Bar.

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Dec-Jan ’14

REPORT

For Sumptuous Grills and Buffets Noida has few quality concept dining restaurants, and one of them is the recently opened Legends Grille, a classy 115 cover multi-cuisine grill and buffet dining restaurant. Here the delectably grilled starters whet the appetite for the

a time presumed, not without reason, that food would not be as authentic as you could get in a specialised restaurant. But Legends Grille can help to dispel this belief. Be it Indian grills, or the Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian or even Continental

wonderfully prepared main courses ahead. And the gastronomic fares also are by and large, affordably priced for a concept dining restaurant. The restaurant is open from 12:00 noon to 3:30 pm for lunch and for dinner it remains open from 7:00 pm to 11:30 pm. In a multi-cuisine restaurant, it is many

fare, in each gastronomic journey the restaurant scores high in terms of tastes and flavours. To avoid repetition and thus prevent boredom of tastes to set in, the menu is modified every seven days with Chefs’ special dishes. At Legends Grille, each cuisine is preceded by its range of starters and the main course is followed

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by exotic desserts. The décor of the restaurant complements its exotic and Indian culinary fare. Spread in an area of 3300 sq ft, the restaurant’s décor is bright and luxurious but at the same time it retains the hint of simplicity to make the guests comfortable. The hanging light fixtures, Italian and wooden flooring, glass ceiling and comfortable sofa seating can together facilitate towards enhancing the guests’ experience. The restaurant also has separate lounge area and private dining area to cater to the private group bookings, kitties and birthday parties. At the restaurant, evenings are lit up with live band performances. According to Ravneet Kalra, Promoter, Legends Grille, “We have tried to create a restaurant where the guests can enjoy grilled food just like the way it is meant to be — robust, earthy and delightful. Here we have used the most authentic cooking and grilling techniques from across the world which include the tawa, the pathar, the tandoor, the wok, the frying stations among others. By venturing into this concept we aim to pamper our guests with choice and perfection.” ○

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Omega 3s in Dairy Sector As might perhaps be expected, the higher level of interest in functional and healthy products in North America is reflected in the relative popularity of omega 3 products in the dairy sector there. The region has the largest number of dairy launches using omega 3 claims, accounting for nearly 35 percent of the global total. The dairy sector has been one of those sectors where omega 3 claims have featured fairly strongly in the recent years, particularly for yellow fats and milks. “While awareness of the potential health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids has risen over the years, recent tightening up of claims legislation has tended to decrease the use of this type of claim in relation to specific benefits,” reported Lu

Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. “Terms such as ‘high in omega 3s,’ ‘contains omega 3s,’ ‘rich in omega 3s,’ have continued to be used, but links to heart health, brain and cognitive health, eye health, etc. have been much less in evidence, with companies relying more on existing consumer knowledge about potential benefits,” he pointed out. The key dairy sectors in terms of omega 3 claims are yellow fats and milks, accounting for just over 80 percent of global launches using either omega 3 or DHA claims (or both) in the 12 months to the end of October 2013. While the actual number of launches featuring omega 3 claims is not vastly dissimilar in each of the two categories, the significance is very different. Omega 3 claims featured

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in just over 10 percent of yellow fats introductions, compared with a more modest 3 percent of the far more numerous milk and milk drink introductions over the same period. Spain is the European leader in omega 3 milks, while across the Atlantic, the US is also seeing rising interest in omega 3 fortified milks with Innova Market Insights data indicating that nearly 8 percent of the US milk launches in the 12 months to the end of October 2013 featured omega 3 claims. “Although product activity in omega 3 fortified dairy products has been rather less in evidence in recent years,” Williams concluded while adding, “clearly there is still interest in the sector and potential for further development, particularly considering the wide range of different health benefits associated with it.”

Dec-Jan ’14

INDUSTRY

Rise of Trans Free Fats and Oils in India By Prakash Chawla

onventional cooking in India is highly influenced by the type of fats and oils used. With the alarming rise in lifestyle diseases and the high levels of stress Indians face these days, consumers have become health conscious and expect the same from their cooking oil and fats. This market trend has given rise to trans-free oils and fats in India.

Baneful Effects of Trans Fat Trans fat has been a buzz word for decades and for all the wrong reasons. They have their presence in an estimated 40 percent of products on the shelves, which include baked goods like donuts and muffins, and also French fries and frozen food products. There is also a small amount of trans fat that naturally occurs in food products like meat and cheese, but the manmade version of trans fat is what we should be worrying about, for they are not safe for health. Trans fats are a type of unsaturated fat, which are scarce in nature but can be produced through artificial methods. Man-made trans fats (or trans fatty acids — TFAs) are basically created in industrial process of hydrogenation where the cis form of the fatty acids are converted into a trans form. According to WHO, the prime health risk associated with TFA is that it tends to increase the bad cholesterol (Low Density Lipoprotein or LDL) and decreases the good cholesterol (High Density Lipoprotein or HDL), which may lead to cardio-vascular diseases and other health problems like diabetes, obesity and immune system dysfunction. * High intake of food rich in trans fats accompanied by a sedentary lifestyle has become a major health and lifestyle

concern among the urban Indian population.

A Trans Fat Free World Paying heed to the alarming increase in lifestyle diseases in the country, FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and WHO have put together a detailed report and analysis to reduce the consumption of trans fats/oils in the country. FSSAI has put a maximum limit of 10 percent of trans fat content in vanaspati, shortenings and margarine, while WHO states that less than 1 percent of total energy should come from trans fatty acids in the daily diet. It has also become mandatory in India to mention the trans fats’ and saturated fats’ content on the labels of packaged food products, along with other nutritional information. Thankfully, the growing interest and awareness about the impact of nutrition and diet on one’s health has been leading to a perceptible transition to trans-free products, across the globe. The elimination of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils containing industrially produced TFAs from the food supply has been described as one of the most straightforward public health interventions for improving diet and arresting the advance of myriad lifestyle diseases.

companies are now gearing up to market low trans or trans-free products. Nowadays, many food manufacturers have undertaken extensive developmental efforts to reduce or even eliminate trans fats in food products However, extensive research and modern technology are extremely necessary in the manufacturing of trans-free fats and oils. In order to cater to the needs of the modern consumers and promote healthy eating habits, Kamani Oil Industries Pvt. Ltd. has established itself as an important player in developing trans-free products for the food industry, thereby providing a wide range of trans-free fats and oils for all applications in the food industry. Ref: *Uauy et, al (2009) WHO Scientific Update on Trans fatty acids: summary and conclusions. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. ; 63: S68–S75.

But What About the Taste? And having trans-free oils and fats doesn’t compromise on the tastes of food. Not many people are aware of the fact that hydrogenated oils create a barrier that masks the true flavour of food. Many fast food chains already have made the switch to trans free fats and oils, without any customer backlash. Oils and fats manufacturing

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The writer is the Director of Kamani Oil Industries Pvt. Ltd.

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COVER STORY

India Takes to

Fusion Cuisine Fusion food has become popular across urban India. Fusion cuisine blends the culinary traditions of two or more nations, cultures or regions and comes up with completely new and innovative dishes. Its presence and thriving is common in metropolitan India where there are now a large number of guests for such type of food, across the food service business. In Mumbai, you can find this culinary trend assuming novel dimensions with even the roadside vendors concocting new dishes like Chinese bhel and Chinese dosa. Innovations have been made in several contemporary restaurant cuisines in urban India, since quite a long time, to satiate the diners’ craving for ‘something new’. Fusion cuisine in India, at times, is also called as Indovation, due to Indianisation of the international dish. This is quite often the case in the QSR segment, as is seen across McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc. in dishes like McAloo Tikki and Alphonso Mango Smoothie among others. Ashok Malkani finds that several international cuisines are being adapted to Indian tastes, whose reflections are delectable creations like Paneer Schezwan. Risottos, enchiladas, tortillas are all having new culinary connotations in the country. It seems fusion cuisine in its modern avatar has a bright future in the Indian food service business.

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COVER STORY but it has been playing part in the global restaurant business since the 1970s. “What is fusion food?” asks food writer Rushina Munshaw Ghildyal rather rhetorically, before answering the question herself. “Because of the past, it has got a negative connotation, but it literally means to infuse distinct flavours or techniques from more than one cuisine in a measured manner, into a new dish. Years ago, the mighty Italians did not have access to spices. But after some of their explorers travelled to India and China, they embraced spices into their age-old recipes, without recognising the act of fusion,” she added, explaining that however scary or vague the term may be, the results of fusion can bring landmark changes in food history. Tex-Mex cuisine, Italian-American cuisine and of course, Indian-Chinese cuisine are examples of fusion cuisines.

ith globalisation and increasing disposable incomes among sizeable number of Indians during the recent years, eating out has become an extension of one’s lifestyle. These trends have also contributed to making a section of people in urban India quite experimental about their food & beverage preferences. This in turn has given an impetus to the trend of fusion cuisine in India, which seems to become mainstream in the Indian restaurant business, in the years to come. Globe trotting Indians now want a taste of international cuisine. But their taste buds have not adopted themselves to original versions of international food. Urban India is seen enjoying Italian pastas, Mexican enchiladas, burgers and pizzas but with a desi touch in terms of contents and flavours. That is one of the main reasons why McDonald’s had to Indianise its McBurger to McAloo Tikki, Subway has also undergone change, after sticking to the original recipes for some time. But it is not just Indianisation of international dishes. Our inventive Chefs have even blended dishes from different Indian regions to conjure innovative tastes and flavours. This is giving maturity to the trend of fusion cuisine.

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Dispelling the Confusion One can say that fusion cuisine, which combines the elements of diverse culinary traditions, embodies not only marriage of flavours, but also a marriage of diverse cultures, which is one of the positive outcomes of globalisation. Food based on one culture, but prepared using ingredients and flavours germane to another culture, is also considered forms of fusion cuisine. Succinctly, fusion cuisine does not adhere to any particular culinary tradition or style,

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Tex-Mex is a cuisine that is quite often passed off as Mexican cuisine in India. This is actually a combination of Southwestern United States cuisine and Mexican cuisines. However, fusion food is not only limited to combining culinary styles, ingredients and/or flavours of two different countries. It can also be a combination of cuisines of various regions or sub-regions of a given country into a single eating experience. Fusion food is very much popular outside India too. Asian fusion

COVER STORY not seem to be authentic, but they can come across as best of both worlds in terms of taste for a great section of the Indian populace.

Experimental Fine Dining QSRs and stand-alone fast food outlets are not the only ones that have changed their menus to cater to the Indian tastes. The fine dine restaurants are also coming up with new Indianised options for their Indian diners. Chefs and restaurateurs across the country are letting loose their creative side. The result is a brand new culture of fusion cuisine that is a delectable mix of Indian and international tastes and flavours. Take the example of Zorawar Kalra’s new restaurant at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), named Masala

restaurants, which combine the various cuisines of different Asian countries, have become popular in many parts of the United States and United Kingdom. In Australia, due to the continuing or rather increasing inflow of migrants, fusion cuisine is gaining currency and it is found at a plethora of cafes and restaurants. Melbourne and Sydney are now being considered among some of the best places in the planet for finding quality Asian-fusion restaurants.

Fusion Food and India Yes, with the maturation of globalisation, fusion food has made a huge impact on the Indian food service industry too, of late. In fact, it has become so popular that even one of our Bollywood lyricists has taken note of it in a popular number known as ‘Lungi Dance’ where the singer chimes “Coconut mein lassi mila ke” (which translates into a blend of South Indian and North Indian tastes). The street food vendors are also dishing out fusion cuisine to those seeking ‘something new.’ Chinese Bhel which was invented in Khau Galli in Mumbai has now made its journey to a plethora of vendors of Mumbai. Its taste can be traced even at Churchgate underground walkway. Chinese Dosa is another favourite among the people of Mumbai. It is the Indian dosa with the Chinese stir-fried style filling. And of

course you have Paneer Schezwan, Chicken Schezwan, etc. The new buzzword in the world of Indian food service industry seems to be Indovation. Many foreign food service brands have also taken into this trend. From McDonald’s ubiquitous McAloo Tikki Burger to Dunkin Donuts’ nod to the Alphonso (they have started Alphonso Mango Smoothie, something that doesn’t appear on their American menu), international brands in the quick service restaurant (QSR) space are catering to the local tastes and flavours to reach their Indian consumers. Not only Indianisation but localisation has now become the mantra for most international brands operating in the Indian food service market. Even though the practice of Indianising western cuisines might run counter to the very principles of ‘international’ food chains, experts say the shift is worth it. Indians might have a craze for a foreign label on everything from food to clothes and accessories, but they eventually settle for something they are comfortable or familiar in. Thus fusion cuisine may

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Library, which can change our perception of Indian food in these post-modern times. “Indian food has come to a dead end, and there seems no possibility to progress with the traditional Indian recipes. That is why it is time to bring in the second version of the progressive Indian food,” informed Kalra. However, in all fairness we can say that the Indianisation of international cuisines is not an altogether recent trend. Its origins can be traced to two to three decades back. Gourmet author Esther David noticed this shift at weddings in the 1990s. “I was surprised to see karela (bitter gourd) with a stuffing of tutti-fruity. It was the perfect example of fusion food,” he stated. Gujaratis in Ahmedabad have been busy tossing up pure vegetarian Jain pizza, Jain tacos and enchiladas for more than three decades. However,

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COVER STORY now this trend has matured and is showing signs of going mainstream. Moreover, Chefs indulging in fusion cuisine are now happy that diners are placing greater faith on them. Kalra says guests are now giving Chefs absolute culinary freedom to churn out dishes which is enabling the Chefs to showcase their knowledge, understanding and nuances of food. “Diners are now happy to try something created by Chefs who usually have and is expected to have more knowledge of food than the average diners. At Masala Library, for example, we are serving Pesto Kebabs with Parmesan Papad, Quinoa Biryani, Rissoto Khichdi and Poha Paella —the last one an Indian version of the Spanish Valencian rice dish with Calamari, clams and sea food. Would such a culinary fusion have attracted demand a decade back?” asked Kalra, He added that the look and taste of all these dishes are Indian. Now the fusion food has evolved into an independent culinary genre of its own in the post-modern twenty first century India, and it is having its influence from fine dining to QSRs to street outlets. The new mood has also made the Chefs enthusiastic to come up with new expressions of culinary creativity like Gulkand Cheesecake and Khubani ka Crème Brule. An eatery in Kolkata serves local fish varieties – padda in an Indonesian sauce, deboned tangra in Thai curry and tiny mourola deep-fried and dipped into a Schezwan sauce. Those not in the know padda, tangra, and mourola are all varieties of fish, which are quite popular in Bengal.

Fus e d History

n the history of fusion food a prominent name is Wolfgang Puck, a famous Austrian Chef and restaurateur. He actually laid down the foundation for this technique, in the modern times. An example of which is the fusion of European cuisine with Asian cuisine, commonly referred to as Eurasian cuisine. This was easy for Chef Puck because of his knowledge of both cuisines. He was originally trained in Europe, but he is thoroughly familiar with the Asian dishes. Eurasian cuisine basically combines two cooking techniques and dishes, so you can end up with poached tofu, for example, which generally mixes European and Asian method of poaching. His restaurant, Chinois, is considered to be one of the best restaurants for having fusion food. It is believed that formally fusion cuisine made its entry in the restaurant business in 1970s when some of the contemporary restaurants of the age introduced it. During the 1970s, some fusion cuisine recipes were introduced by the French Chefs. The concept originated in Europe and then spread to America, and then to other parts of the world. But, according to many food connoisseurs, fusion food in its strict sense is not a creation of the 1970s, but from the time immemorial, though in the food service business this trend may be barely four decade old. The amalgamation of two or more culinary realms to create hybrid dishes is not a twentieth century phenomenon. In fact, they argue that since civilsations began trade, or since the idea of imperialism got translated into invasions, the influence of culinary culture or traits of one region on the culinary culture of another region had been evident in the history, whose products have been various food products reflecting a fusion of gastronomic traditions. Rachel Laudan, food historian and author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History, stated, “It’s really hard to invent new dishes, and even harder to invent new techniques.” She adds, “Almost all foods are fusion dishes.” She probably meant food prepared by humankind and not natural food products like fruits. The only difference is that in some prepared food products we recognise the apparent fusion and term it as fusion food, and in many other prepared food products we cannot recognise the implicit fusion of hidden culinary cultures or legacies of past centuries, and thus mistake them as authentic food. For example, vindaloo is a product of Goan and Portuguese cuisine, ramen of Japan is a product of influence from Chinese noodles.

Popular Fusion Food in India Fusion food in India, generally speaking, can be classified into three main categories. They are: Indian-Chinese cuisine — This is an adoption of the Chinese seasonings and spices in Indian cuisine. This is most popular in India as this cuisine is considered to be spicy. It was introduced originally by a small Chinese community living in Kolkata. Tex-Mex cuisine — It is a cuisine popular in Texas in the US, and Mexico. Mexican cuisine is one of the popular cuisines across the globe and when its culinary traits are amalgamated with Texas cuisine, the

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COVER STORY

delicious result came to be known as Tex-Mex cuisine. Most of the restaurants claiming to serve Mexican food in India pass of Tex-Mex as original Mexican cuisine. Italian-Indian cuisine — It is Italian fare modified according to Indian tastes, like the Masala Pasta. Spaghetti is that classic Italian dish that is not only quick and easy to make, it is delicious too. But spaghetti can be prepared in an Indian way too. You have to just infuse spices like cumin, ginger and/or garam masala instead of basil and oregano in the sauce. Instead of olive oil you can use plain yogurt. And your spaghetti gets imbued with Indian gastronomic influence. Regional Fusion — In India, different regions have different cuisines. Indian cooking, in all its glory and variety, can’t be considered a single cuisine. There are more than 35 different cuisines in India, each influenced and shaped by geography, religion, politics, environment, climate, and other factors. Indian cooking has always reflected an amalgam of culinary characteristics from the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Moghuls, Portuguese, British, and other cultures that left their mark on the country’s culinary character, and thus became a part of the country’s diverse gastronomic legacy. At the Indian table, the past and present are inextricably merged. There are several restaurants that feature a wide variety of dishes inspired by a combination of various regional cuisines; peppered with new ideas. Combination of different regional cuisines on the guests’ platter does have wonderful potential in the Indian restaurant business. However, for restaurants going for fusion cuisines it must be remembered that while novelty is certainly commendable, some amount of restraint should also be adhered to. It should also be remembered that good culinary fusion combines ingredients and cooking techniques from two or more cultures in a way which pulls together well, creating a seamless and fresh dish. Confusion cuisine, on the other hand, throws ingredients together like confetti and sometimes causes an inevitable clash. With healthy eating gaining momentum, the trend of fusion cuisine in Indian restaurants is expected to take ■ healthy directions in the near future.

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BUSINESS

Groceries to Gross High

Today, about 60 percent of the retail trade in the country comprises food and grocery segment. With the purchasing power of the youth showing enhancement over the years, the choice of groceries and other retail purchasing characteristics of urban India have undergone a change. It is no longer only the lady of the house who purchases the groceries. Today, many of the working couples shop together, in supermarkets and hypermarkets. This is particularly true in the urban areas. Here, in the supermarkets and hypermarkets, with the goods lined up systematically, they can pick and choose from a wide array of products. The scope for growth in the food and grocery retail segment in the country seems to be brimming with potential. This provides ample opportunities not only for the foreign investors but also for the domestic entrepreneurs to make foray in the realm of retail business in India. Ashok Malkani examines the scenario of the Indian retail trade and finds that there are challenges and opportunities for the investors though the later outweigh the former.

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ndia’s retail landscape has undergone a huge shift over the past decade. Once dominated by small neighbourhood stores that serviced the needs of millions across the country, the market now has a fair share, especially in large cities, of supermarkets, department stores, and hypermarkets. Indian retail sector can be demarcated into various setups based on factors like the outlet size, pricing strategy, kind of commodities sold, and location. Overall, there have been several changes in India’s retail trade over the years, particularly since the entry of the organised retail in a big way. Some of the noticeable changes are given in the table. One of the major factors for the growth in organised retail sector in India has been the increase in disposable incomes of Indian middle class across select but sizeable pockets of urban India , over the last decade. The contributions of middle class to the country’s disposal income has increased sharply over the last ten years, with prospects of this share growing even higher in the years to come.

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Indian Retail Trend Then

Indian Retail Trend Now

Not stacked 200 sq. ft. location on an average Only dry items Discount on total cost No Parking No loyalty programs No use of technology

Well stacked items Clean, spacious environment Fresh stock Less price Parking facility Loyalty programs Barcode system

Another reason that consumers are attracted to organised retail stores is because they offer various brands, reflecting varying prices and choices, under one roof, thereby saving the urban consumers’ precious time. In this regard, one can say that increase in the working population and urbanisation are other reasons for the growth in organised retail in India, as both these factors contributes towards leaving less time and more disposable incomes on people’s hand. The fact that India has a predominantly young population, many of whom with decent purchasing power and a predilection towards consumerism, also weighs in the country’s favour as a lucrative destination for organised retail.

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One can say that the retail trade in the food & grocery sector of the country is attracting more players – both domestic and international – due to the fact that the country’s 500 million people under the age of 25, have access to more money than they had a decade before, which has translated not only in their purchasing independence, but also aspirations and demand for new products.

The Business of Retail The role of retail in the growth and development of the economy cannot be overemphasised. The Indian retail sector accounts for over 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and contributes 8 percent to its

BUSINESS total employment. According to D.Essence, India is 6th largest grocery market in the world. GRDI (Global Report Development Index) has stated that in 2012 India ranked 5th among the top thirty countries in retail marketing sector. The retail trade in India is expected to grow at the rate of 30 percent to reach $150 billion by 2025, thus providing ample opportunities for new entrepreneurs. But organised retail forms a small fraction of this. The audit and advisory firm Deloitte’s Indian arm reports that organised retail market accounts for just 8 percent of total retail market in the country. “Organised retail, which constitutes 8 percent of the total retail market, will grow much faster than traditional retail,” Deloitte noted in its report titled Indian Retail Market: Opening More Doors, while

adding that “Various estimates put the share of organised retail as 20 percent by 2020.” The same report observed that the Indian retail industry had experienced growth of 10.6 percent during 2010 and 2012 and is expected to increase to 750-850 billion USD by 2015. According to the above-mentioned Deloitte’s report, food and grocery is the largest category within the Indian retail sector with 60 percent share. The Indian retail sector is likely to touch $1.3 trillion by 2020, ranking it among the top retail markets in the world. With a penetration level of only 5 percent, there is significant room for modern retail in the country to grow. According to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in single-brand retail trading, during April 2000 to June 2011, was $69.26 million. However, all

said and done, the estimated value of the Indian retail market is only 500 million USD at present, and the market, despite having much widespread presence of the organised sector, is still largely dominated by mom and pop stores. However, unlike in the past, the debate today is no longer on whether food and grocery retail in India would grow, but rather how fast can it grow and what challenges are to be overcome in the passage of the growth of organised food & grocery retail. Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG) has projected that organised F&G retail in India could grow to Rs.1750 billion (at current prices) by 2015 representing an 11 percent of overall F&G sales.

The State and the Players Through the first decade of the twentyfirst century, several Indian players entered the organised retail business, perhaps bolstered with the hope of

tapping the growing middle class population of the country. Many foreign brands have also entered India’s retail sector after the 1991 liberalisation of the economy, which had appealed to the foreign participants in India’s retail. The cash & carry business was the easiest mode for foreign retailers to gain foothold into the promising Indian retail market. Carrefour launched its first cash & carry store in India’s capital city, New Delhi. Germany-based Metro Cash & Carry did open six wholesale centres in the country The Union Government has also tried to give a boost to the retail trade. Last year, the Union Government permitted 51 percent FDI in multibrand retail trading, which can give a much needed fillip to the sentiments in the retail business in the country. However, the implementation of this policy is the discretion of the states. In fact, opposition of many states to this healthy investment concept can

The Key Players At present the important players in the Indian grocery retail market are as follows: Spencer’s Retail Retail footage of close to 1 million sq. ft. across 45 cities with 200 stores Bharti Retail 74 Easyday stores with plans to invest about 2.5 billion USD over the next five years. To add about 10 million sq ft of retail space in the country Reliance Retail 700 stores with a revenue of Rs. 7600 crore Aditya Birla ‘More’ 575 stores with approximate revenues of Rs.2,000 crore. Source: Media reports, company websites

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create a feeling of apprehension among prospective foreign investors thinking of entering India’s vibrant retail market. The British retailer Tesco Plc will become the first foreign player to set up a chain of supermarkets in the country, which can perhaps offset the bad news of Bharti and Wal-Mart ending their Indian joint venture named Bharti-Walmart. Tesco’s decision was influenced by lots of persuasion and assurances by New Delhi. Tesco Plc., the world’s third largest retailier, had made an announcement that it had applied to buy a 50 percent stake in Tata Group’s Trent Hypermarket Ltd. Tesco and Trent Hypermarkets has had a franchise agreement since 2008. Trent Hypermarkets runs the Star Bazaar chain of stores. Tesco Plc. has made an application to India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board and envisages to make an investment of $110 million, informed an official at the Indian trade ministry. Tesco has plans to invest in Star Bazaar’s stores in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Presently, Star Bazaar operates16 stores in southern and western India. Several other international retailers do have partnerships including Dairy Farm with RPG while Auchan operates 13 hypermarkets under a franchise agreement with Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd of the Landmark Group. Meanwhile Metro and Carrefour operate wholesale operations, which are unimpeded by

FDI legislation.

Growth and Challenges But besides demographics (a predominantly young population), increased disposable incomes in select but sizeable pockets of urban India over the years, a growing middle class population and possibilities of foreign investment, what are the other opportunities for Indian investors thinking of entering the organised food & grocery retail business? The Indian economy is predicted to add extra trillion dollars to its Gross Domestic Product in the ensuing 5 to 6 years, enabling Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12 percent. This impressive GDP and CAGR of the near future can give an impetus to our retail market. Moreover, the fact that Union government is backing organised retail as this can derive better agricultural practices and provide quality agricultural products at affordable price, can also give a boost to the sentiments of the country’s retail sector. These factors in turn can strengthen the food & grocery retail in India, in the organized sector. Government also came up with APMC Act (2003), where farmers and private players can openly trade their product/s. The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) act now enables farmers to sell their produce to the market without the often exploitative actions of middlemen, thus offering consumers farm goods at more

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economical prices. This is a right step in forwarding the organised food & grocery retail revolution in the country. However, the challenges towards the growth of organised food & grocery retail in India are also many. One of them is the escalating real estate costs, the other is the MRP constraints, which forces retailers to operate on thin margins. The poor supply chain infrastructure, which contributes towards huge wastage of food products and impedes the timely delivery of food products, and of course, the competition from the mom and pop grocery stores are other challenges that the organised retail in food & grocery need to contend with. Of course, tackling the unfriendly rigmarole of regulations and finding the right location for setting up of supermarkets and hypermarkets are other challenges which the players in organised food & grocery retail have to deal with. But all said and done, it seems that opportunities outweigh the challenges for the India’s retail sector. One can safely say that the signs of groceries grossing high in the purview of organised retail seem to be an emerging possibility in the near future. The IGD forecasts that by 2016 India will overtake Japan to become the world’s third largest grocery market can easily be translated from a forecast to reality, only if the infrastructural and real estate bottlenecks, red tapism and unfriendly regulations are being done ■ way with.

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F E AT U R E

Healthy Eating Gains Weight By Swarnendu Biswas

ifestyle diseases have become rampant in urban India, with the country having the distinction of being the diabetes capital of the world. India has more than 50 million people afflicted with diabetes. And according to the World Congress of Cardiology, it is estimated that by 2020 heart diseases will account for over 40 percent deaths in India, whereas in 1990, it was accounting for only 24 percent deaths in the country. The obesity is also a nagging health problem among urban Indians, which in turn can pave in various other diseases. Hypertension is also a serious health issue of our times. Predominantly sedentary lifestyle with less time or opportunity for physical exercise, tension-filled life, and faulty food habits can be together held responsible for the

profusion of a spate of lifestyle diseases in urban India. Thankfully, during the recent years, more and more people are showing a rising consciousness to combat these lifestyle ailments, which have been plaguing many of our lives for more than two decades. This rising health consciousness is influencing healthy eating habits among more Indians than was seen before during the last hundred years or so. According to the report by Renub Reserch titled ‘India Probiotic Dairy Products (Yogurt, Drink, Ice-Cream) Market, Volume & Forecast to 2015,’ which was published in

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November 2012, the Indian pro-biotic industry is expected to be more than double by 2015 from its size in 2011. The report further noted that the Indian pro-biotic dairy industry was evolving at a steady pace with opportunities for tremendous growth in the near future. The report also stated that it was expected that pro-biotic yogurt sales will cross 100,000 thousand packets by 2015. This indicates that healthy eating as a concept is gaining currency in the Indian market. Moreover, according to the Netscribes’ latest market research report titled ‘Juice Market in India 2013,’ during the recent years,

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F E AT U R E Indians have displayed a marked preference for juices over carbonated drinks. While non-packaged fruit juices are already popular in India, it is the packaged fruit juice segment that has witnessed tremendous growth of late. Besides that there is the emerging concept of juice bars in India, which has contributed towards making the consumption of juices much more popular than before in India. This is another indication towards growing trend towards consumption of healthy food & beverages in the post-modern India. Dr. Ishi Khosla

Behind the Trend “People, especially the people with global exposure through television, travel and Internet, are getting more and more conscious about lifestyle diseases. Furthermore, pockets of corporate sector are also taking proactive stance towards healthcare by undertaking regular health check-ups of their employees, which again is playing a facilitative role in enhancing health awareness in the Indian society. And this rising health consciousness is inducing healthy eating

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among more and more people, thereby giving rise to a healthy trend across urban India,” explained Dr. Ritika Samaddar, the Chief Dietitian, Max Healthcare, Saket, New Delhi. Dr. Ishi Khosla, the Clinical Nutritionist of theweightmonitor.com & Centre For Dietary Counselling, Founder, Whole Foods (the enterprise is engaged in producing and retailing health foods and operating health food cafes), and the Founder President—

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Celiac Society for Delhi, and one of the greatest nutritionists of the present day India, views that the trend towards healthy eating is guided by the need factor, which is the need to safeguard against the rising incidences of lifestyle diseases, the awareness factor, which is the rising health consciousness through sustained exposure to travel, television, and Internet, and the lifestyle factor, which is the growing craze to look slim and appealing to the people, or to have a tough body with more abs and less flabs. “The combination of all these three factors have together played a role in giving rise to the trend towards healthy eating,” pointed out Ishi. The nationally renowned nutritionist Naini Setalvad believes that rising health consciousness and the shift towards healthy eating has deep socio-economic roots. “The breakdown of the joint family structure is making people more worried than ever before about the adverse economic impact on their spouse, their child/children and themselves as a result of failing health and high medical bills. This fear induces them to keep their health at optimum

F E AT U R E levels and a little more of their budget is being moved towards health, which includes healthy eating,” she analysed.

Myth and Reality One can say that the growing trend towards healthy eating, coupled with rise in disposable incomes in select pockets of urban Indian society in the recent years (whose numbers are in no way negligible as a market force) has perhaps resulted in good for heart cooking oil, pro-biotic yogurts and curds, and other healthy dairy products, sugarless cakes, dry fruitsprinkled muesli, healthy wholegrain breads, oat cookies, a wide variety of fruit juices, etc. adorning the supermarket shelves with much greater abundance than say a decade before. However, how many of these so called healthy products are genuinely healthy is a matter of scientific study. But one cannot say that the entire food & beverage industry of the country is riding a healthy wave. Naini believes that the “The trend towards healthy eating in India is still very slow. There is more talk and confusion about what is healthy food. So people land up not really eating healthy.” While conversing, she debunks many so called healthy eating myths. “It is a myth that nuts are bad for cholesterol, rice needs to be avoided, and milk is a good source of calcium; myths which we must not adhere to,” she firmly asserted. Her healthy eating tips include “Eating seasonal, having plenty of vegetables in

Naini Setalvad

diet, liberal use of Indian spices, snacking on fruit, dry fruit and nuts instead of fried products, sweets and savouries, eating good quality fats found in cows’ ghee and seeds, and controlling caffeine content and increasing water intake.”

Progress but Slow According to Ritika, the F&B industry is adopting to the growing consciousness towards healthy eating, but still it has a long way to go. The Indian F&B industry’s response towards healthy eating is still in its nascent stage with lots of potential and one can also say that the response towards healthy eating in the industry engaged in the production of food and beverages is also not adequately complemented by the

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restaurant business in India. “Food & beverage industry in India is not offering adequate number of affordable healthy eating and drinking choices in the market. For example, most of the breads and biscuits available in the Indian market are far from healthy. Moreover, most of the restaurants in India still do not dish out healthy food choices before the consumers’ palate,” Ritika lamented. She added that most of the restaurants in India were using refined carbohydrates such as corn flour, white bread, maida, etc., which are not healthy options. Many of the refined carbohydrate options like white bread and pasta, which can increase blood sugar levels, are one of the reasons behind obesity. However, Naini concedes that there is a definite shift in buying healthier food & beverage products in the Indian society, during the recent years. “The trend to eat healthy at home or restaurants is picking up,” Naini observed, while adding that “Nowadays people are demanding whole grain products over white flour and sugar free options in their sweets, which are a huge part of our Indian diet.”

Ancient Indian Culinary Wisdom Naini is all for simple Indian diet without junk food. “The consumption of pulses and vegetables with whole grains will definitely keep you full for a longer time. This prevents overeating and binging, thus keeping weight and health parameters excellent,” she affirmed. Ancient Indian culinary wisdom is the cornerstone of Naini’s nutrition theory. “Ancient Indian culinary wisdom is a very scientific and balanced way of eating. It involves lots of vegetables, whole grains, good quality fats, vegetarian proteins, dairy products like milk and curd as staple. The balanced diet can be further enhanced with the infusion of healing properties of herbs and spices,” averred Naini. One can say that Naini’s passion is to spread the ancient Indian wisdom of nutrition and its healing as well as nourishing properties. It is about time the restaurant business in India stress more on Indian culinary wisdom while tailoring their menu, rather than unheedingly go for high fat, high oil and high cholesterol diets, for the day is

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F E AT U R E Furthermore, we have always endeavoured to make our products easily available, convenient to use and affordable,” affirmed Ishi.

not far when thanks to visionary nutritionists like Naini, awareness about healthy eating would spread far and wide among the varied sections of the eating out crowd across the country, and they in turn would demand healthy offerings in their eating out entertainments.

Oil, Salt and Sugar

Healthy Food Service Ritika expertly opines that fibre and nutrition content should be high in daily diet, and our diet should ideally be spruced with whole wheat flour, brown rice, oats, ragi, dalia and lentils, which are source of complex carbohydrates, and hence being beneficial for health. “Some of the cheaper sources of complex carbohydrates like dalia, bajra, ragi, soyabean can be creatively used by restaurants and as well as the food & beverage manufacturing industry in a much more widespread manner to provide a flood of tasty and healthy food products in the market,” Ritika proffered. Ishi opines that food with zero trans fat, with no artificial colours and as well as gluten-free food should be used as options with increasing instances by the restaurants in India, so that guests can have a wider choice than before to eat healthy. “Removing toxic fats, reducing sugar intake and reducing the intake of refined carbohydrates are three cardinal principles of healthy food, which the industry at large should adhere to,” pointed out the diet maven.

Case of Whole Foods Ishi informed me that even persons not afflicted with celiac disease can be benefited with gluten-free food products. She also believes that there are only a few restaurants who are managing

Dr. Ritika Samaddar

to intelligently cash in on the trend of healthy eating in the urban Indian society. The nutritionist-cumentrepreneur aired that in order to cater to the growing demand for healthy eating in the country, the Indian restaurants should also consult dieticians while developing or upgrading their menu. Ishi’s Whole Foods has been coming up with many innovative healthy eating out options through its chain of 17 cafes across Apollo, Max and Fortis hospitals, and also through the Whole Foods’ maiden and stand-alone outlet in New Friends Colony, New Delhi, which has been operating since 2001. “One of our healthy ready to eat options is our baked samosas, which involve multigrain flour and rice bran oil in their preparation. They are being baked rather than fried, and their exposure to rice bran oil is only for a few seconds. Moreover, they are abundant with vegetables like peas,” stated Ishi. Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and gluten-free lemon cookies are only some of the many healthy options of popular snacking with Whole Foods. The repertoire of Whole Foods includes chocolate cakes, cookies, whole grain breads and many other sumptuous snacks, prepared with healthy ingredient combinations. Today, Whole Foods is synonymous with food that nourishes, heals and strives to meet the specific health needs of its growing clientele. “We produce food that is minimally processed, nutrient dense and free of toxic transfats, preservatives and artificial colours.

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Ritika also cautioned the restaurants concerned about health issues on stringently regulating their oil, sugar and salt infusions. High sugar and salt intake may lead to diabetes and hypertension respectively, and high calories and high oil content can be the source of cardiac ailments. “The daily oil intake of an average human being should be around 4-5 tea spoons a day, similarly, salt content should be 4 gm per day, on an average, and the restaurants and as well as household kitchens should ensure that one single meal doesn’t cover this daily dosages,” voiced the renowned dietician. Similarly, Ritika also called for a greater role for natural source of sweetness like fruit extracts and honey and lesser role for sugar in food service establishments through the country. Ritika doesn’t believe in the simplistic solution of using one particular type of commonly perceived healthy oil along with the exclusion of the usage of other oils. “The healthy diet requires the infusion of a combination of various oils, as the body requires both monounsaturated fatty acids as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can be had from a combination of oils,” she reasoned. Oilve oils are good source for monounsaturated fatty acids, as are canola oil and peanut oil. Similarly some of the good sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids are sunflower oil, safflower oil and corn oil. Ishi informed that rice bran oil,

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F E AT U R E The Cost Factor

canola oil, mustard oil, and olive oil can help enhance the HDL or the good cholesterol. Ritika pointed out that with trend towards healthy eating gaining currency in urban India the day is not far when restaurants in urban India would need to have more healthy offerings in their menu, in order to remain competitive.

The Right Advise With healthy eating gaining currency in urban India, the nutritionists and dieticians are mushrooming by the day. It is likely that in the near future their role in the F&B manufacturing process and food service sector would be more pronounced. However, this aspect of the food & beverage industry also needs stringent quality control, like the restaurant and the F&B manufacturing business. “There can be no single diet plan for different sets of individuals having differing health needs. The pragmatic diet plan needs to be tailor made according to the body constitution, while taking into account of the client’s medical history, age, and several other considerations,” elaborated Ritika.

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“In our nutritional programme, we use ancient Indian culinary wisdom which has been used for centuries. We use food combinations to solve health problems, with no role for medicines,” Naini expressed while discussing her nutrition programmes. “We strongly advocate that food is your medicine and medicine is your food. Moreover, our programme is very personalised to suit each individual,” she added.

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Overall, we can conclude that the maturation of the trend of healthy eating may lead to greater cost per head for the guests in restaurants, as healthy cooking without compromising on the taste factor may involve comparatively greater cost of ingredients and also greater culinary skills, which in any way are scarce. At the same time, curtailing the profit to some extent by the food service ventures can also be a good option for them to serve healthy F&B options to their guests, without dispensing on the affordability factor. This in long-run can enhance their revenues by way of volumes of sales of the restaurant business, in this increasingly health conscious times. The enhanced cost of serving healthy food can also offset if the central and the state governments step in with reduced taxes (service tax and VAT) for restaurant establishments. The lower taxation can help restaurants in India to serve healthy food with healthy ingredients at a reasonable price, in a much more widespread manner. ■

F E AT U R E

The Recipe for Enduring Growth By Swarnendu Biswas

he three-decade-old and the continuing success story of Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialties Ltd. is an amazing one. It reflects the unflagging spirit of entrepreneurship and a stringent commitment towards quality over the years. Today the company is renowned across the country for its lip smacking range of sauces, mayonnaise, toppings, syrups, biscuits, bread spreads, Indian snack

foods, stabiliser blends and ice creams, and its annual turnover is beyond Rs.650 crore. Like most great journeys, the journey of Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialties Ltd. too began on a humble footing. This huge food empire was created and developed by the dynamic entrepreneurial vision, out-of-theworld culinary skills, and uncompromising grit of a truly remarkable lady named Rajni Bector. No wonder today her brand is named and known across India as Mrs. Bector’s Cremica.

The Beginning and the Growing The story began in 1983 when Rajni Bector invested Rs.20,000 in some basic ice cream making equipment, and converted the backyard of her home in Ludhiana’s Sarabha Nagar into a baking facility. This was a creative outlet for her to fight boredom. “I started the business as a hobby for cooking and sold kitchen-made ice creams at a very small scale. The thought of converting my hobby into

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Rajni Bector

a profession came into my mind when I saw the liking of my ice creams at a stall I had put for a Diwali Mela in the late 1970s,” said the enterprising lady. Initially, the huge enterprise began as a catering company catering to weddings and parties. “We

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F E AT U R E produced only ice creams and puddings in the first year. Later the company went into the biscuits, breads and condiment businesses,” she added. Rajni Bector did establish her first bread-making unit outside Ludhiana way back in 1988, and by 1991, she had diversified her entrepreneurship skills into the area of biscuit manufacturing with an impressive daily capacity of 15 tonnes. Presently, the group’s biscuits and other bakery products’ constitute 65 percent of the group’s revenues. The remaining part is accounted by the company’s condiments business. Though her enterprise was a success story from the very first year, but the high point of this unique story scripted by Rajni Bector came in 1996 when her company entered into a partnership with McDonald’s. After that partnership, the growth process of Mrs. Bector’s Cremica received a huge momentum. The Cremica Group supplies buns and assorted liquid products to McDonald’s, which are

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lapped up by the thronging crowd across India. However, developing an empire doesn’t ensure its continued success

through the passage of decades. The enduring success of the Mrs. Bector’s Cremica brand through three decades is perhaps manifested by a unique combination of continued creativity and high production values. “Our group is today nationally renowned for its unique recipes, health oriented ingredients and state-of- the-art production process,” asserted the visionary lady, who believes that “diversification and specialisation go side by side in a successful enterprise.” The company derives its revenues from both retail and institutional sales. The impressive clientele of the company includes McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Barista Lavazza, Café Coffee Day among others. The food business empire set up by Rajni Bector now has foreign presence too, as the company exports its products to 50 countries. Creating makhni gravy for Pizza Hut, developing tamarind and mint chutney, vegetarian burgers and vegetarian mayonise for McDonald’s are some of the feathers in the cap of Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialties Ltd.

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Akshay Bector

F E AT U R E New Developments In the recent past, the company introduced Opera Chips, which caters to the premium segment of the snacks market. They are cottage style potato crisps. Opera offers a scrumptious gourmet experience of chips with its distinct thinness, great taste of inimitable flavours and added crunchiness. Opera Chips comes in four distinct flavours, which are Peri Peri, Cheese Jalapeno, Italian Herbs and Salt & Black Pepper. “For Opera Chips, the potatoes are hand-picked from farms and prepared with extra care in small batches to see that every chip is cooked to perfection and is bursting with flavour,” proffered Akshay Bector, the MD of Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialties Ltd. Besides this, the

company is re-launching salad dressings, and has introduced jams and marmalade in 15 gm sashay tubs. They come in four varieties, namely strawberry, marmalade, black currant and mixed fruit. Presently, this jams and marmalades are catering to institutional segment; to the food service industry, whereas the Opera Chips are being targetted for the retail market. According to Akshay, “Besides continued creativity and high production values through stringent adherence to R&D, another of the reasons behind the enduring success of the company in the retail as well as institutional space is the fact that we do

not believe in diluting our recipes in order to cater to the cost considerations, and if at all a change in recipe needs to be done, we do prior consultation with our customers and take their feedback regarding this before undertaking any alteration in the recipes.”

Processing the Potential Akshay thinks the potential for condiments’ business is very high in the country. “The company’s condiment business accounts for an annual turnover of Rs.200 crore and it is growing by an impressive growth rate of 25 percent,” Akshay asserts, while pointing out that through their condiments they reach two million consumers on a daily basis. Akshay opines that in the backdrop of growing incidences of nuclear families and working couples which leaves many of today’s urban housewives with little time to cook, the processed food market in India has huge potential. “However, the market has not risen up to its full potential,” he stated, while elaborating that “In order to harness the growth potential of the food processing sector in the country in a better manner, more government encouragement and support is needed by way of infrastructure and lowering of import duties on agricultural products.” Among the infrastructural developments to strengthen the Indian food processing industry he emphasised on greater investments towards aseptic packaging, cold chain infrastructure, and food parks. He lamented that so many proposed food parks are still on paper, yet to be translated into reality. In this regard, it deserves a mention that last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the setting up of 12 new mega food processing parks, which involved an investment of Rs.1714 crore. “The growth of the perishable agricultural

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and dairy commodities is the need of the hour in India, if our food processing sector is to get its desired momentum,” Akshay emphasised.

Quality is More Affordable He also gave much importance on not succumbing to the pressure of dilution of quality as a result of rising input costs and other financial constraints and/or competitive pricing. Recently, there has been decrease in tomato paste content in ketchups by major FMCG players Hindustan Unilver and Nestle, which was reported by a leading daily. According to the report, the quantity of tomato paste in Kissan Fresh Tomato Ketchup made by HUL has plummeted from 28 percent to 22.5 percent, whereas in Nestle India’s Maggi Rich Tomato Ketchup, the content of tomato paste has shown a slight decrease from 28.1 percent to 26.7 percent. However, according to the same report by the leading daily, the tomato paste content for Cremica is 34.5 percent and neither its content has shown any dilution for the company. “The food processing industry should focus on supplying quality products to the consumers, which can match or exceed their fast evolving tastes. For example, in the long-run, a ketchup with good tomato content becomes cheaper to the consumers than a ketchup with less tomato content, as the latter requires much more frequent dipping to get the desired taste for the food,” Akshay explained. This continual adherence to quality can help prevent the revenues of a company to suffer setbacks despite economic vicissitudes or recession, and facilitate the company to stay ahead of ■ competition.

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AGRI

Checking Pests in

Agriculture P

ests are one of the major impediments towards agricultural production in India. In the country, approximately 18 percent of crop yield is lost to pest attacks every year. Therefore, introducing effective pest control measures in agriculture as well as in the warehouses is the need of the hour. In fact, it would not be an overstatement to say that effective and exhaustive pest control measures (together with great distribution network of food products, of course) can greatly facilitate in eliminating the scourge of hunger from our country. The conventional view of modern agriculture is that the application of the right dosage of chemical pesticides (which we would refer to as pesticides

from now on) can facilitate to prevent crop losses and thereby help to safeguard the economic security of the farmers. Pesticides are also used to protect the livestock from illnesses, which are caused by parasites. Pesticides are frequently used in grocery stores and food storage facilities to control the attack by rodents and insects that infest stored food products such as grain.

The Baneful Possibilities However, indiscriminate and unscientific usage of pesticides can not only lead to pests developing pesticide resistance, thereby making a minor pest assume a huge challenge for the farmers, but can also lead to a series of environmental and health problems. Excessive use of

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pesticides can also leave their harmful residues in soil, water and air. There is absolutely no guarantee that a pesticide intended for pests would not cast its toxic influence on the surrounding human life and the environment. According to some research, more than 98 percent of sprayed insecticides and 95 percent of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species. Pesticides leave their influence on human beings, air, water, bottom sediments and food, which are not always healthy. For quite some time, the rampant use of pesticides in the Indian agriculture has made it a possibility that your grapes, apples, pineapples or pomegranates or for that matter the so

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AGRI called fresh vegetables to contain harmful pesticides for your consumption. Nowadays even pulses, rice, milk, egg, meat and fish show a considerable pesticide residue in them. Succinctly, the legacy of excessive and unregulated use of pesticides has led to pesticide residues in our food chain and environment. Some years back, the World Health Organization and the UN Environment Programme had estimated that every year, 3 million workers in agriculture in the developing world suffer from severe pesticides poisoning, out of which 18,000 succumb to their deaths. Some of the lethal chemicals present in some of the pesticides can lead to cancer, hepatic disorders, blindness, nervous disabilities and infertility among others. Besides that, the unchecked and unwarranted use of pesticides can even result in destroying of those insects and bacteria which have beneficial effects on human beings, which in turn could have adverse fallout on the delicate ecological balance. The excessive use of pesticides does have adverse effects on their non target organisms such as pollinators, parasitoids, and wild animals. Vandana Shiva, one of the greatest environmentalists of our times, rightly opines that agriculture which is excessively dependent on manufactured pesticides, â&#x20AC;&#x153;destroys the beneficial living organisms in the soil, which include beneficial bacteria and earthworms.â&#x20AC;? Earthworms greatly facilitate soil fertility and Indian agriculture cannot afford their fast elimination through rampant application of pesticides. From the above analysis, we can see that the pesticides are not without their ill effects on environment and health, and therefore indiscriminate use of pesticides is not at all justified. Prudent usage of pesticides in right dosages is needed to address this problem of food wastage, but that alone is not sufficient. Prevention of the entry of pests in warehouses should also be focused upon. An integrated pest management programme to address the huge food grain loss in India is the need of the hour.

Biological Pest Control The growing concern towards potential health hazards that can stem from the unscientific and uncontrolled use of synthetic pesticides has given an impetus to the integrated pest management exercise. Integrated pest management is potentially eco-friendly, unlike the administering of many of the conventional pesticides. IPM emphasises on the prevention of pest invasion through combining various

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AGRI

methods of pest control in a harmonious blend, depending on their necessity in the given situation, which includes the use of non-chemical methods of pest control too such as biological, cultural, and mechanical pest control. Biological pest control can be an important part of integrated pest management. The use of biological method of pest control involves using other living organisms, which are natural predators of the given pests to prevent the spread of those targetted pests. It is much more environmentally friendly method of controlling pests than of using chemical pesticides as these living organisms are not prone to leave an environmentally baneful residue. These living organisms, which can intervene the life cycle of pests in a way so that crop damage is greatly reduced, are also called bio-pesticides. Some forms of fungi, bacteria and viruses can be good bio-pesticides. Biopesticides are typically microbial biological pest control agents whose manner of application is similar to that of chemical pesticides. They can be preserved and nurtured in laboratories and then can be infused into the field for facilitating pest control. There are also many beneficial insects which target and help eliminating pests from crops. Even birds like owls and sparrows can be a good bio-pesticide but though many birds can eat away pests, they themselves can cause damage to crops.

But using owls and other birds of prey for tackling rodent population can be an intelligent way of biological pest control. Sparrows can eat insect pests. Besides leaving no harmful residues on the environment, bio-pesticides are more focused on their target pests and do not cause harm to beneficial pollinators like butterflies and bees. The role of bees and butterflies in our eco-system cannot be overemphasised. Bees and butterflies with their pollinating potential are responsible for the survival of the flowering plants and without them the agriculture, the food & beverage industry and in fact, the entire eco-system may collapse. Besides these advantages, biopesticides are more cost-effective than chemical pesticides too, on an average.

Cultural and Mechanical Options The cultural pest control in agriculture involves employing agricultural practices that make the environment unfriendly to the pests. Crop rotation and planting of trap crops are effective ways of cultural pest control in agriculture. Crop rotation can prevent pests because pests which attack certain types of crops or vegetables do not attack others. The changing of crops in a sequence tends to decrease the population level of pests, as their environment becomes unfriendly. For example, growing a crop that is not a host to a given type of pest for one season can significantly reduce the extent of that given pest in the soil, thereby

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enabling the farmers to grow a crop susceptible to that given pest in the following season without resorting to soil fumigation. Trap crops help in attracting and capturing pest insects, where they can be managed and controlled effectively, and thus preventing or curtailing their movement to other beneficial crops. Adjusting the timing of planting or harvest is another cultural control method that can yield dividends. The mechanical control includes using physical barriers and/or various mechanical trapping techniques which can prevent pests from attacking the crop. They range from simple handpicking of pests to erecting insect barriers, to vacuuming, and tillage to prevent the pests’ breeding. Cold storage is an important form of mechanical pest control. Though it doesn’t capture pests, it prevents their development. Integrated pest management has scope for usage of all these above-mentioned methods of pest control. IPM can be construed as the appropriate combination of cultural, biological, chemical and mechanical methods of pest control, depending on their necessity in the given situation, to address the problem of pests in an economical, effective and environmentally-friendly way. In fact, in IPM, chemical method of pest control through the application of conventional chemical pesticides is often used as a last resort. ■

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

PROCESSED FOOD

Catching Spices By Swarnendu Biswas

harampal Satyapal Group is a rapidly growing multidiversified conglomerate. It has notched an impressive turnover of more than Rs.3300 crore in the financial year ending March 2013. Founded in 1929, the group has a eight-decadelong journey, which is continuing with success. The group has strong presence in F&B, hospitality, mouth fresheners, tobacco, packaging, agro forestry, rubber thread, steel, cement and power. The most recent forays of the group are in the realm of dairy, confectionary and powdered beverages.

It Began as a Sprinkle One of the group’s many renowned brands is Catch, which has caught the attraction of millions of Indian households and as well as the Indian food service industry. Catch was launched in 1987 with the revolutionary tabletop salt & pepper sprinklers. With Catch salt & pepper sprinklers, the dull looking table salt that had the tendency to become soggy & clogged in humid conditions went under a complete metamorphosis and reclaimed its place on the table top with all new

attractive looks and easy to dispense packaging. This makeover owes itself to the company’s unique production process and an advanced dispensing unit that neutralised moisture and kept salt free flowing to ensure a clean and trouble free sprinkling.

Adding to the Tastes It has since then massively expanded its range. The response to its salt & pepper sprinklers encouraged the company to extend the table top taste-makers to a wide variety of add-ons like black pepper, black salt, chat masala, etc. which was then followed by a wide range of other spices used extensively in Indian households. Today, the brand ‘Catch’ offers a wide range of spices and seasonings under its purview that lend exquisite flavours and tantalising aromas to cuisines across the country. Succinctly, the brand adds value and style to the kitchens across households and food service establishments. Catch spices has an export market too. The complete assortment of Catch masala comprises of a variety of sprinklers and a diverse range of whole,

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ground and blended spices. With more than 163 variants across 6 product categories — Sprinklers, Straight Spices, Blended Spices, Straight Premium Spices, Whole Spices and Hing, the Catch spices have been catering to the diverse Indian palate. Recently, DS Group had roped in the Bollywood screen diva Vidya Balan as the brand ambassador of the Catch brand, with a view to target the contemporary women of the country.

High-end R&D R&D and hygiene have been important edifices of the brand. Going through a series of rigorous quality tests throughout the process of manufacturing, Catch spices ensure impeccable hygiene with every pinch. “Catch spices are ground using the unique state-of-the-art Low Temperature Grinding (LTG) technology, which prevents the evaporation of volatile & delicate oils from spices, which in turn enables to retain the original aroma and wholesome flavour of authentic spices,” explained DS Group’s Associate Business Head (Foods Division), OP Khanduja. Here it deserves a mention that about

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PROCESSED FOOD near future” Khanduja pointed out. One can say that Catch Miniz is expected to garner huge popularity among the growing number of urban Indians with busy lifestyles and frequent travel schedules. The brand of Catch is extended to other products of the group too. Catch Beverages and Catch Natural Spring Water reflects the marketing popularity and intrinsic vitality of the brand.

12 percent of the revenue of this more than two decade old brand is catered by the institutional sales and through exports across worldwide.

Travelling Spices In the very recent past, DS Group has expanded its product offering by introducing an international range of seasonings and flavoured salts which are together branded as Catch Miniz. The Catch Miniz is available in an assorted pack of 9 in 1 with a recipe booklet and is priced at Rs. 200. It encompasses nine flavours. “All the products clubbed under Catch Miniz packaging have been developed with superior quality ingredients and special recipes to ensure that the consumers get desired results as per their tastes, ” elaborated Khanduja. The product range of Catch Miniz comes in an innovative compact packaging and offers the luxury to customise your food in accordance to your tastes. According to Khanduja, “Catch Miniz’s sleek packaging reflects its premium positioning. Its portable packaging can easily facilitate the usage

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Innovation is the Catch

OP Khanduja

of the products coming under the ambit of Catch Miniz at home, office, outings and during travels.” This new-age product places emphasis on personalisation and mobility. “Through this brand extension we are targeting the growing market for premium seasonings and spices, a market of which we are planning to be a part of in the

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“Catch is an innovative brand, not only in terms of our products but also in terms of our marketing and packaging solutions,” noted the corporate honcho, who happens to be a marketing veteran with an illustrious career spanning over 30 years with various global FMCG majors like Dabur, Pepsi and Baidyanath among others. Over the years, Khanduja has successfully launched more than 50 products across various companies. During his tenure with Dabur, the seasoned marketing professional played a crucial role in the launching of the Real fruit juices. ■

DAIRY

Indian Dairy Industry

Growth Potential and Challenges By Swarnendu Biswas several impediments, India represents one of the world’s most lucrative dairy markets in the world.

Dairy Shows Promise

s a result of the government initiative named Operation Flood, India managed to transform itself to the world’s leading producer of milk from a country facing severe milk shortages, within barely three decades. Presently, India happens to be the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk and dairy products. India’s milk production comprises 1/ 6th of the total global milk output. The estimated milk production in India during 2011-12 was 127.9 million tonnes. During 2001-02 to 2011-12, the annual average growth rate in milk production was 4.29 percent in the country. According to an USDA report, the estimated milk production in 2013

was 134.5 million tonnes. What is more important that according to Dr. Amrita Patel, the Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the milk production in India has enhanced by about 25 million tonnes during the last five years. Dr. Patel informed that over the last five years, India’s milk production has increased by about 25 million tonnes, as compared to an increase of about 6.6 million tonnes in the United States, 5.4 million tonnes in China, 2.7 million tonnes in New Zealand and 1.6 million tonnes in EU. These impressive statistics is complemented by a huge untapped potential, which the Indian dairy industry needs to collectively harness. Despite its

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In its recent report titled ‘Indian Dairy Market Report & Forecasts 2012-2017,’ International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group (IMARC) found that driven by a strong growth in both urban and rural demands, the market for milk products in India is expected to surpass $163 billion USD by 2017. Here it deserves a mention that IMARC is one of the leading research and advisory firms in the world. In 2011, ASSOCHAM had also stated that the value of the Indian dairy industry was expected to reach Rs.5 lakh crore in 2015. The industry body also said that the milk production in India was expected to reach 190 million tonnes in 2015. The dairy industry in India is going through an impressive growth phase. According to a recent report by Rabobank, the dairy market of India will continue to experience an annual growth between 13-15 percent till 2019-20. The growth in the Indian dairy industry can be attributed to higher disposable incomes in the Indian society over the years, high degree of health consciousness, and the profusion of a wide variety of dairy products in retail outlets across the country. The growth of dairy industry is likely to give an impetus to the rural economy as dairy farming provides income and employment to millions of rural households. Other research findings also show a promising potential for the Indian dairy industry. According to another recently published report (by Netscribes) titled Dairy Market in India 2013, the Indian

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DAIRY cross 100,000 thousand packets by 2015. This indicates the growing popularity of healthy dairy products in India. “Although there are quite a number of challenges in front of domestic and foreign companies entering the Indian probiotic market, but the advantages associated with the industrial growth prospects outnumber the challenges in an easy and elegant way,” the study by Renub Research notes. Amul is the leader in probiotic yogurt sales in India and there is a high likelihood that it will remain as a leader in this segment, in the near future.

dairy market is experiencing rising demand due to various driving factors which in turn is providing immense opportunities to manufacturers to grow and operate in the market lucratively. The Netscribes’ report states that dairy products have gained popularity among Indian consumers due to various factors such as increasing income levels, hectic lifestyles and convenience associated with their consumption.

Probiotic Dairy As mentioned before, one of the reasons behind the impressive growth in Indian dairy market can be attributed to the growing wave of health consciousness prevailing in the industry. This can be reflected from the fact that dairy products endowed with health characteristics have also shown increase in popularity in India over the years. A study by Renub Research titled ‘India Probiotic Dairy Products (Yogurt, Drink, Ice-Cream) Market, Volume & Forecast to 2015,’ stated that the Indian probiotic dairy industry is evolving at a steady pace with opportunities for tremendous growth in near future. The

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Growth of the Organised Sector report further notes that India being the largest producer of milk and having the world’s highest cattle population, has a distinct advantage in the probiotic field. There is no denying the fact that the probiotic dairy products do have a high potential of success in urban Indian market, where fast-paced lifestyles are making people prone to digestive problems, that probiotic dairy products can alleviate. The report by Renub Research also states that it is expected that the probiotic yogurt sales in India will

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Presently, the dairy market of the country is still dominated by the unorganised sector, though the organised dairy sector has witnessed impressive growth in the recent years. According to the report titled ‘India Dairy Products Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018’ over the last few years, the organised dairy sector has been catching up rapidly by offering customised products to the end consumers, thereby causing a rise in the organised market share. According to the above-mentioned

DAIRY Rabobank’s report, India’s formal dairy market has shown strong growth in the recent years, which is likely to accelerate due to product innovation, enabling government policies and industry consolidation. Rabobank has anticipated that this acceleration will help improve industry margins by attaining greater scale, higher capacity utilisation and an increasing contribution from value-added products in total dairy revenues. In turn these developments are expected to spark interest from global companies for whom India has been a difficult market.

The Right Time for Entry At the same time, the Rabobank report also noted that India’s large consumption market, its existing milk supplies and established consumer preference for dairy products have encouraged global dairy companies to engage with India in the past. However, the challenging environment, with its informal fragmented supply chain, raw milk quality concerns, small base for valueadded dairy products and everchanging trade regulations have proved to be challenges and strong disincentives. Presently, the time seems to be right for the global dairy players to invest in the Indian dairy sector. “For years, the Indian dairy market has remained an enigma for global dairy players,” explained Rabobank’s Analyst Shiva Mudgil. “Currently, however, the market is in a transition phase. High market growth and favourable market conditions may make now the right time for global players to engage with the Indian dairy sector,” he expressed. There is no denying the fact that the Indian dairy market is already having more presence of foreign players than ever before. India Dairy Products Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018 stated that, “The Indian dairy market is now witnessing the entry of a large number of foreign players. This can be observed with the increasing presence of companies in emerging yogurt segment such as Red Mango, Cocoberry, Kiwi Kiss and Yogurberry, etc.” The impressive growth of the Indian dairy industry is good news for the Indian bakery industry too as bakeries depend greatly on dairy products as source of raw materials or ingredients. One can say that

the growth of the Indian dairy industry can also directly propel the growth of the Indian bakery industry, provided if bakery players use more and more dairy ingredients in their creations, and most importantly, if impressive growth rate in the Indian dairy industry also enhances the affordability of quality dairy products in the Indian market, in the near future.

Challenges for the Industry

higher demand for milk. Therefore, the cost of milk is another worrying issue, as is the rampant contamination in the milk, especially in the unorganised dairy sector. Almost 85 percent of the Indian dairy industry falls into the unorganised sector, which contributes to the rampant neglect in the quality of dairy products in India. In India, during 2011-12, the prices of milk and milk products experienced an escalation of 15.3 percent. The rising incomes in rural areas and among the swelling middle class are probably the reasons behind the growth of demand in milk in the recent years. This in turn is making milk and milk products more unaffordable to millions whose disposable incomes have not risen.

However, that is not to say that presently the scenario of the Indian dairy industry is completely rosy. It is also cluttered with thorns of impediments, which needed to be tackled on an urgent basis. One impediment or shortcoming for the Indian dairy industry is the low average milk yield per animal. India has the largest bovine population in the world with a large

Production, Productivity and Costs

processing capacity of 98.3 million litres per day, but the average yield of milk per animal in India is low. In 2010, the milk yield per cow in the US was 9954 kg whereas the milk yield per cow in India during the same year was a dismal 1154 kg. This low milk yield per animal in India be effectively addressed through better feeding management, giving due care to livestock genetics, and employing better technology. However, the rampant presence of malnourished livestock in India doesn’t reflect well on the Indian dairy sector’s future. In order to yield good productivity of milk from a milch animal, the animal must be given balanced ration, which in many cases the milch animals in India are deprived of. At the least, the farmers should be supported by the government to increase their cows and buffaloes’ food and water intake, which in turn would increase their milk yields. Secondly, the high output of milk in India is getting superseded by an even

We need to increase the growth rate of milk production at a faster pace than is witnessed now in order to make every children in the country have milk in her/his glass and also to make the effect of this growth realistically percolate to the bakery industry. The country has achieved significant improvement in the per capita availability of milk during the last five years, but still we have a long way to go. Both production of milk and productivity of livestock must be increased in order to effectively tackle the rising demand for milk in the country. The high cost of real estate and high prices of cattle feed due to their exports is contributing towards high cost of milk, and these two costs need to be addressed by the government in order to make milk prices more affordable. Government’s relaxation on tax on revenues derived from milk sales can also reduce the costs of milk. The cost of fuel and agricultural input prices to the dairy farmers must also be reduced in order to make milk more affordable to the consumers and other industries which depend upon the dairy sector. In this regard, both the dairy industry and the government can play a concerted role. Succinctly, the Indian dairy industry needs to increase both milk production and the livestock’s milk productivity, and at the same time decrease its cost of production in order to tackle the surge in demand for milk and milk products in the I country.

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BEVERAGE

Waking up to the Aroma By Swarnendu Biswas

conomic and socio-cultural factors, and a demography inclined in favour of young population have together contributed to the growth of coffee café culture in India. The standalone coffee houses, which are dwindling in numbers from the metropolitan landscape, are fast becoming reminiscent of a long-lost era of romance and rebellion. They are getting replaced by sleek and business like coffee café retail chains, which are serving as ideal backdrops for rendezvous and as well as business parleys for a new age of upwardly mobile India. These hangout zones of today are offering innovative range of coffee concoctions along with an impressive array of appetising snacking options, which the Indians attuned to globalised tastes, are simply lapping up. The future for the coffee café retail chains in India seems warm and inviting. The burgeoning retail coffee market has lately experienced the entrance of many foreign players to capture a market share, which has strengthened the aroma of competition that in turn is expected to waft across in the days ahead.

Growth in Consumption In India, the production of coffee is primarily concentrated in the three

southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with Karnataka leading the way by accounting for nearly 53 percent of the country’s coffee production. It is followed by Kerala which contributes to 28 percent of the country’s coffee production, and Tamil Nadu accounting for 11 percent of the total country’s coffee production. India’s coffee production during 2012-13 was 318,000 tonnes, which is expected to grow to 3,47,000 tonnes during 2013-14, reflecting a growth of 9 percent per annum. According to the estimates of Coffee Board of India, India’s coffee consumption during 2013 was 125,000 tonnes. What is more important that the domestic consumption of coffee in the country has been experiencing an impressive growth rate of 5-6 percent per annum since 2010. Between 1951 to 2000, the total domestic consumption of coffee in India increased by only 2 percent per annum, on an average. However, coffee production in India is showing signs of stagnation, which in the long-run, with India’s coffee consumption showing appreciable increases, may make the country a net importer of coffee. Overall, the coffee consumption in the country has increased by 40 percent over the last decade. Even two decades back, coffee was primarily consumed in the south of India.

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Still South India accounts for almost 75 percent of India’s coffee consumption. However, presently the popularity and the consumption of coffee in India are no longer concentrated in its southern states. The demand for coffee consumption is showing appreciable increases across our nation, which has been traditionally a nation of tea drinkers. What is of more significance is that the proportion of occasional coffee drinkers in the country has shown an increase in the last few years in the non-south regions, a section which the coffee café retail chains would not be naïve enough to not explore upon. Neither does the appeal of coffee among the Indian coffee connoisseurs limited to the historically famed Indian filter coffee or for that matter, the espresso coffee. Though Indian filter coffee, which is a sweet milky coffee made from dark roasted coffee beans and chicory, in the ratio of approximately 80:20 or 70: 30 respectively, has been a commercial success since the 1940s and is still very much popular in the southern states of India, the country’s taste for coffee has evolved to become more exotic, cosmopolitan and diverse in character. These days, many of the young and even the not so young crowd in the sleek coffee cafes are seen sipping Americano, Mocha, Cappuccino and many other exotic styles of this invigorating brew, which not so long ago were foreign to the then comparatively insular and conservative tastes of India. And the visitors to these sleek coffee café outlets, which have also doubled or are fast doubling up as restaurants serving breakfast, lunch and dinner options, are not only young upwardly mobile crowd. Though this boom in retail coffee café chains is fostered by India’s well-heeled segment of youth population who view visit to these cafes as extension of their lifestyle choices, but these cafes are not only frequented by students and young professionals, but also by middle-aged and over the hill persons.

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BEVERAGE In today’s India, not only the upwardly mobile crowd in the metros, but also the aspiring middle aged and middle class population in tier-I and tier-II cities are seen increasingly perceiving a visit to a café as not only an eating out option with exotic coffees, but also as a lifestyle option. Coffee is fast becoming the lifestyle beverage of urban India.

Supply or Demand Driven? The increase in extent and varieties of coffee consumption across urban India, across different consumer profiles, can perhaps be attributed to rising disposable incomes in select pockets of urban Indian society, and also to the rising familiarisation of urban Indian society towards global food & beverage trends, as a result of the maturation of globalisation. These factors have perhaps also contributed or rather snowballed into the retail coffee chain revolution across India. However, one can safely say that the growth of the coffee café culture in urban India is not only due to the increasing consumption of coffee in India, in the recent years. It is also because of the globalisation influenced

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lifestyle changes in the upwardly mobile young metropolitan India and as well as the swift percolation of this trend across various social strata and age groups among the urban middle class India. The thriving of a predominantly young population is also a major contributor to the growth of coffee café culture in urban India. At the same time, it can be analysed that not only the increasing demand for coffee

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consumption along with lifestyle changes in the society has induced the trend of coffee café culture across the country to gain momentum, but the mushrooming of coffee bars and cafes in turn have also played their role in making coffee the lifestyle drink of new-age India. However, whether initially the supply followed demand or the demand was created through changing the supply pattern is a matter of debate. Presently, according to a 2012 report by Technopak Advisors, the size of India’s retail coffee market is $230 million. It is expected to grow at 13-14 percent per annum on an average, over the ensuing five years. The retail revolution of the coffee cafes in India can become easily evident from the astronomical growth of two early bird players in this segment — Café Coffee Day, and Barista Lavazza.

The Growing Players Café Coffee Day can be credited with pioneering the retail coffee chain revolution in India, and presently it is the largest organised retail cafe chain in the country. The first CCD outlet was set up on July

BEVERAGE 1996, at Brigade Road, Bangalore and within one-and-half decade this organised retail café chain giant was having 1534 outlets across 28 states of the country by December 2013, with aims to increase this number to 2000 by 2015. On June 2013, Café Coffee Day announced that it envisaged to open over additional 500 outlets by 2015. CCD plans to have presence in 400 cities of India by 2015, and the retail chain also has outlets outside India, in Karachi, Vienna, Dubai and Prague. The brand is also looking at expanding its range of coffee and noncoffee beverages. Barista was established in February 2000 to recreate the ambience and experience of the typical Italian neighborhood espresso bars in India. In 2007, Lavazza acquired Barista Coffee Company limited and post the completion of the brand integration process, all Barista Espresso and Barista Crème outlets across India are known as Barista Lavazza and Barista Crème Lavazza respectively. At present, Barista Lavazza has over 200 cafes in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE and Nepal. Seeing the burgeoning business of retail coffee chains in India, many international players have entered the country to have a share of this growing market. On August 2013, it came to light that Tata Starbucks envisaged to open nearly 100 cafes in the country by 2014. Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, entered India through a 50-50 JV with Tata Global Beverages in October 2012, and presently within 15 months of its presence in India, it has 31 outlets in the country, with presence in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Pune. According to Avani Saglani Davda, the CEO at Tata Starbucks Ltd., the business of Tata Starbucks in India continues to exceed their expectations. And Tata Starbucks is envisaging to tailor its offerings to suit the local tastes in India. “We are committed to present a locally relevant Starbucks experience to our Indian customers that reflect the Starbucks brand along with India’s rich culinary heritage,” stated Avani. The UK-based Costa Coffee, which is one of the renowned coffee café chains in the world with 1700 outlets across 35 countries, has been wafting its aroma among the coffee consumers of India since the last eight years. In fact, it is the first international coffee chain which entered India, in 2005. Very recently, it came up

with its 119th outlet in India, which also happened to be the coffee café chain’s first outlet in Kerala. According to the CEO of Costa Coffee, India, Santosh Unni, the brand is aiming to open 300 outlets in India, by 2015-16. Besides the giants like Starbucks and Costa Coffee, other important players in this area like Dunkin’ Donuts and Muffin Break have also made their forays in India’s burgeoning retail coffee market. Dunkin’ Donuts, the Massachusetts-based doughnut and coffeehouse chain, arrived in India in April 2012, and within one-andhalf-year there are 21 outlets in India within the ambit of the Dunkin’ Donuts’ brand. Nine more Dunkin’ Donuts stores in India are expected to become reality by

than in the developed countries of North America and Europe, which varies between 4-5 kg, on an average. According to Jawaid Akhtar, Chairman, Coffee Board of India, still nearly two-third of population of the country do not drink coffee. Moreover, the presence of coffee café retail chains in India is nowhere near their potential. Out of 6000 towns in India, only 200 have coffee chains. Both these factors, if taken in light of growing urbanisation and globalisation spearheading across India, indicate that the market for retail coffee café chains in India is far from being saturated. In fact, the growth story of café chains has just began, and the aroma of the coffee flavours has just began to waft across the country. The country is slowly waking up to the aroma of coffee… Succinctly, one can say that there is huge unexplored potential of growth for both café coffee chains and as well as coffee consumption in general, in the country. And with the urban India showing a liking towards global food & beverage trends(without dispensing with their local taste preferences) now is the right time for the coffee café chains to be ambitious in exploring this untapped potential in the Indian retail coffee market.

Balancing Global with Local March. According to Dev Amritesh, President and COO of Dunkin’ Donuts division at Jubilant FoodWorks, the company which manages the franchisee for the Dunkin’ Donuts chain in India and launched the Dunkin’ Donuts brand in the country, there are plans to launch 80-100 Dunkin’Donuts stores in India, by 2017. Australian firm Foodco Group in partnership with South Asian Food & Hospitality Services, announced the entry of its bakery and café chain Muffin Break into India, in September 2012. At present Muffin Break has two outlets in India, in Greater Kailash-II and DLF Place, Saket, both in Delhi, and the company envisages to have 40 outlets of Muffin Break in the country by 2017.

Huge Potential However, despite the highly impressive growth of the coffee café chains in the country, there is no denying the fact that the per capita consumption of coffee in India is only 90 gm, which is much lower

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However, in order to have their distinct edge in the market, these café chains need to tailor their products not only to some fictitious homogenous Indian tastes (there is in fact no homogenous taste or tastes in India, with culinary nuances of the country showing changes within a few miles) but also to the local taste preferences of the people of the place where the outlet is being set up. For example, even within Delhi, the taste preferences may vary from one region to another. Thus tweaking the menu to cater to the myriad consumer preferences of India is the need of the hour for café chains operating or thinking of entering into India. In fact, already such an exercise has started. In these cafés or outlets, localising the burgers, muffins, doughnuts, etc. is expected to lead to greater consumption of the accompanying coffees too. It is because though we become apparently global, we remain inherently local. This global-local dichotomy must be intelligently addressed by the international and national coffee café chains invading or thinking of invading or operating in the Indian market. ■

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THEME CUISINE

The

Parsi Platter By Sharmila Chand

arsi cuisine has varied influences, which includes the influences from Iran, Gujarat and Maharashtra. While rice forms the basis of Parsi food, lentils and curries too are common in this cuisine. The Parsi cuisine cannot be segmented as either vegetarian or nonvegetarian. The Parsi people can be said to enjoy a combination of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The Parsi people generally have a love for food and place emphasis on the nutrition value of the food. However, at

the same time Parsi dishes are not compromised in terms of taste, and the distinct flavour and simple taste of Parsi cuisine are perhaps the reasons for its popularity.

The Tempting, Timeless Dishes The Iranian influence is being manifested in the meat and chicken dishes cooked with vegetables. Bhakras (a type of fried scone) and sadhnas (steamed rice pancakes), are traditional Parsi specialties. Both of them are made with toddy. Dhansak is

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another mouth-watering Parsi dish which can be construed as a potpourri of mutton, lentil and vegetables. Dhansak has a special relevance in Parsi culture. It is generally served on the third day after bereavement. It presents itself as a pureed mash made from three different types of lentils, meats and all the vegetables that are available in the kitchen. At the festival also dhansak is being served, but with brown rice — basmati browned gently with onions and with a dash of caramelised sugar — and served with lemon drizzled kachumbur of onion and tomato. Koimino patio, which is a sweet and sour prawn curry, and dhandal patio — a fish curry served with rice and lentils — are other delectable offerings from the rich gastronomic legacy of the Parsis. Chicken farcha or fried chicken, Patra ni machhi, which is a steamed fish steak marinated with mint chutney and wrapped in banana leaf, Sali murghi, which is a spicy chicken dish with finely fried matchstick potatoes, are among the many other popular delicacies from the Parsi cuisine. Apricot mutton or jardaloo ma gos is another must have Parsi delicacy with its blend of sweet sour richness. The khatta meeta, the sweet-sour

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THEME CUISINE tang, is an influence from Gujarat. “ One can either infuse sugar for a first taste or as an aftertaste, but sugar is used in most Parsi dishes,” informed Chef Jamsheed, who was training in-house Chefs at The Trident, Bandra Kurla, Mumbai for the Parsi food festival, which was being held through August of the last year. The role of eggs in Parsi tastes is quite important. Par eedu that means topped with eggs is a Parsi food tradition and salliu par eedu is another popular Parsi dish. Akuri (scrambled eggs with spices) and the pora (Parsi omelet) are popular items of this gastronomic tradition. Also, main dishes in Parsi kitchens are often served with an egg on top. Many Parsi dishes use the singular balance of acid and sweetness by using vinegar and sugar and they happily term this balancing act as khattu mithu. A popular Parsi tomato-based curry is the patio, which is prepared in the khattu mithu tradition. The Parsi stew is dry and tangy. It is devoid of coconut. This stew is served at traditional Parsi weddings.

The Influences Parsi food derives its predominance of meats, which include both lamb and poultry, from Iran, but seafood and fish in Parsi preparations are derived from a coastal influence. Jamsheed explained, “Over the centuries, we have imbibed Gujarati food habits. This was followed by western influence from the British and the Parsi cuisine, which was initially quite tangy, eventually turned mild. Crumb frying and baking techniques were introduced, thereby paving in for some of the most popular dishes of Parsi

Menu Plan By Parsi Chef Anahita Dhondy Parsi Bheeda Par Eeda Keema Pav Aloo Aunty’s Vegetable Cutlet Spicy Mushroom on Khari Margi na Farcha Patra ni Machhi (Signature) Mutton Berry Pulao (Signature) Nan E Badami Toblerone Mousse Lagan nu Custard 5 Star Brownie with Ice cream Beverages Irani Chai Sekanjebin Raspberry Soda Recipe Tomato Cheese Macaroni 1 portion Ingredients 50 gm boiled macaroni 1 tsp oil 4 peppercorns 1 bay leaf 3 cloves crushed garlic 3 chopped tomatoes A pinch of sugar 1 tsp tomato ketchup cuisine like frilly cutlets and lagan nu custard.” The kofta pulao, another dish of the Parsi cuisine, which is a delicacy spruced with rich profusion of nuts, raisins and saffron is a culinary influence from Iran. At the same time, the Indian influences are also present in Parsi dishes. The Indianised masala scrambled egg, called akuri, is served atop hard bun or pav, and is one of the most popular entrees in a typical Parsi menu. More specifically speaking, the influence of Mumbai has also wafted in Parsi kitchens, across the years. Chutney patties reflect the Mumbai influence. It is a crumb fried aloo tikki sandwich laced with sweet-sour mint-coriander chutney. Parsi kitchen is also characterised by its shoe-string shaped potatoes known as salli. They are fried and served more as an accompaniment to the dish.

Seafood & Pickles Seafood, in general, has abundant

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50 gm blanched vegetables (beans, carrot, mushroom, potatoes, cauliflower) 40 gm grated cheddar cheese 1 tbsp Amul cream 1 tsp Parsi sambhar masala Salt to taste 1 cheddar cheese slice Method 1. In a pan add oil, peppercorns, bay leaf and let it splutter 2. Add a little butter and garlic, and brown slightly 3. Add deseeded and skinned tomatoes and cook well, till the mixture starts drying out 4. Add ketchup, salt and sugar 5. Add the blanched vegetables, sambhar masala, grated cheese and Amul cheese 6. Add the macaroni at last, toss well and check seasoning 7. In a cast iron pan or in an oven proof dish add the macaroni, and then top with cheese slice 8. Bake in the oven till the dish becomes nice and brown 9. Garnish with chopped coriander and a fried green chilli 10. Serve hot. presence in Parsi dishes due to the by and large coastal location of Parsis in India. There are some very distinctive dried seafood pickles found in Parsi kitchen like the Sukha Boomla Achar, which are made using seafood in typical khattu mithu flavour.

Delightful Desserts A Parsi wedding menu is simply delicious, and is characterised by some mouth-watering desserts. One of them is the lagan nu custard, which is rich and almost resembles a cake’s consistency. Ravo or the semolina pudding is an important dish in most Parsi celebrations. Parsis also make halwa with white pumpkins. The doodhi halwa, too is another common Parsi dessert. The other common delicious desserts of the Parsis or vasanu, which simply means ‘sweet dish,’ include sev or vermicelli, faluda and kulfi. A bread butter pudding or caramel custard is a staple dessert at a regular Parsi meal. ■

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RESTAURANT

An Irani Café in Gurgaon By Sharmila Chand

he Parsis have had a major influence in making Mumbai what it is today, and among their many contributions, the Irani cafés dotting the metropolis — a metropolis known for its glamour, commerce and underworld — still waft their aromas through passage of time. Irani cafes were famous for their inexpensive food, eccentric owners and distinctive menus incorporating dishes like the stick chai (extremely sweet), bun maska (crusty bread with butter), kheemapao (minced meat curry with bread) and typical Parsi cutlets, patties, rolls, fruitcakes, and other confectionary items. Today, however, many of the few remaining Irani cafes serve a wide range of cuisines. Without these quaint places to eat, sip and spend quality time, much of the character of Mumbai would have been compromised. The genesis of Irani cafés in India can be traced to the 19th century and today Mumbai hosts the most number of Irani cafes in India, which are

serving traditional Irani chai along with a slew of other specialties. But in the same breath it must be noted that gradually the tradition and popularity of such cafes has suffered a setback due to the foray of myriad fast food concepts invading the urban India during the last two decades or so. The rich legacy is ebbing away…This is lamentable. Perhaps equally lamentable is the fact that this above discussed wonderful contribution of the Parsis in the realm of food service business never wafted to ○

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“With Soda Bottle Openerwala, we present you a concept that is unique to India; the revival of the dying legacy of the wonderfully chaotic, crowded, bustling, colourful, quirky, cluttered, eccentric and the so real world of an Irani café.” — AD Singh and Sabina Singh

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Delhi or its satellite cities… even till the recent past, yes, even in these globalised times. However, now the eating out crowd of Delhi-NCR has a reason to rejoice. Finally there is an Irani café in town. Soda Bottle Openerwala has been launched recently at Cyber Hub, at Cyber City, in Gurgaon, as a quintessential Mumbai style Irani café, with all its idiosyncrasies in place. Soda Bottle Openerwala opens its doors to a tradition, bringing with it typical Parsi specialties, in a fun, quirky and contemporary avatar. The brain behind this real estate is AD Singh, who said, “For my wife Sabina and me, Mumbai is an integral part of the journey of our lives. The city’s Irani cafes together constitute a rich part of Mumbai’s vibrant tapestry, and sadly they are also a dying legacy. We delved deep within the unique world of Irani cafes to bring alive the nuances — both in terms of cuisine and atmosphere. The result opened up as the Soda Bottle

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RESTAURANT Custard, Toblerone Mousse, Ferrero Rocher Cake, Lagan Nu Custard are some of the delectable dessert options at the restaurant.

The Team “My memories of living in Mumbai are infused with Parsi life and cuisine – be it Mamaji’s aloo sandwich from the street dabba across my house or keemapav and bhendiwala seekh parantha from night long kebab stalls. The essence of Mumbai life and my journeys which make me what I am today are reflected Openerwala, which is a concept restaurant with a bar. Architect Clement and Sabina brought the ideas to life.”

Look and Feel The moment you step into the restaurant, you get a distinctive slice of Mumbai at its Parsi best. Every item seen on the walls and on the menu is typical of Mumbai’s Irani cafes and of what you are most likely to find in many Parsi women’s home and kitchen. Keeping most original elements of a typical Irani cafe in place, architect Clement and fashion and interior designer Sabina Singh have added a few contemporary touches to the restaurant. Their take of Parsi style ‘Freddie Mercury meets Monty Python’ on the large mirrors juxtaposes with a play of graphics all around. Old world dome lights, some antiques, cuckoo clocks, antique framed images of life in Irani cafes and Bombay street life on the wall, barni glass jars bursting with nankatais and typical bakery items sold by the piece on the cash counter, tin boxes, locks, old paraphernalia and bric a brac…together help to make the ambience come alive. Adding a fun touch to the café is the addition of a pool table, a caroom board and a fully stocked bar with old style bar accessories.

The Taste If you have had the history of sharing some sumptuous experiences at Irani cafes, then it is likely that nostalgia may warm your heart as you navigate through the menu of Soda Bottle Openerwala. And chances are a fond smile can emerge on your lips as you choose from the ‘All Day Menu’ of the restaurant. The menu has a comprehensive

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selection of 18 dishes which include temptations such as Parsi Bheeda Par Eeda (classic Parsi egg preparation with spicy okra), Tardeo AC Market Mamaji’s Grill Sandwich (veg), Kheema Baida Roti, Kolmi Fry (Parsi style fried prawns), and Marghi na Farcha (traditional fried chicken). They are some of the gastronomic highlights of the menu. The opening menu showcases five Parsi specialities of Patra ni Machi, Chicken Berry Pulao and Mutton Berry Pulao, Sali Marghi, and Veg Berry Pulao. The Irani bakery menu at the restaurant serves items freshly baked in the morning and they are sold by the piece. The current selection of 14 delights include Vada Pav, Khari Biscuit, Ginger Biscuit, Nan E Badami, Berry Nankhatai, Shrewsbury Biscuit, Bun Maska Jam, Kheema Patty, Mawa Cake, and Millionaire Shortbread. A selection of 18 drinks from the Irani chai bar of Soda Bottle Openerwala is meant to spoil you further. They range from Irani Special Chai, Mewa Nu Chai (brewed..not boiled), Pheteli Coffee Hot to tempting coolers like Gannu Nu Ras, Sekanjebin (Persian dried plums and mint cooler), Raspberry Soda among others. These beverage options are complemented by the Thumbs Up. Ice cream of the day, Apple Pie with

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in this endeavour,” said the renowned Chef Saby (Sabyasachi Gorai), who has put together the menu for this uncommon gastronomic endeavour. The Head Chef for Soda Bottle Openerwala is Chef Kulbeer, who has lived six years in Mumbai and has long years of experience in working with leading hotels and restaurants in India. He is supported by the unique talent of cuisine authenticator, the Parsi Chef Manager of the outlet, Anahita Dhondy. After studying at IHM – Aurangabad, Anahita worked with four different hotels in three different cities before she went to pursue her dream to gain the Le Grand Diplome from Le Cordon Blue. Bakery and confectionary is her passion and her adventurous journey with food gets a home coming with Soda Bottle Openerwala, which is inextricably linked with her Parsi roots. Mohit Balachandran, who is a passionate food blogger, is currently leading the kitchen and food production at the Soda Bottle Openerwala. So if you wish to have bun maska and stick chai, here in Delhi-NCR, you now have a place to go and enjoy! Address: Cyber Hub, Shop No 3, DLF Cyber City, Phase II, Gurgaon, Haryana.

CHEF VOICE

Committed to Freshness By Sharmila Chand

Chef Vincent Marques is the Executive Chef, Jehan Numa Palace, Bhopal. His love for food and cooking is displayed with passion in each of his dish; which is manifested through the subtle combination of exotic flavours and textures. His culinary creations easily reveal his deep desire to use fresh ingredients straight from the farm. He began his career as an Operational Trainee at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, in 2003. He got an opportunity to work at Trident Bandra Kurla in Mumbai as part of the pre-opening team. Thereafter, Vincent moved to Carnival Cruise Lines, Miami. Here he gained an experience of providing meal for 3500 people, while strictly adhering to the United States’ public health standards. Prior to joining Jehan Numa Palace in Bhopal as the Executive Chef, he had a stint with The Leela Mumbai where he mastered western food at Citrus, the all day dining restaurant of the hotel. Chef Vincent likes to lead by setting an example. “My biggest strength is my people management skills. I prefer leading by example,” he observed. About his culinary creations he added, “My food has to be as close to its natural state as possible.” The excerpts of the interview follow: How do you define yourself?

I am a people’s person. For me, my team defines me. I believe that if I don’t make a good team, I can never run a successful and profitable kitchen. What is meaning of life for you?

I believe life is about giving – to community, people, friends, and family. What would you like to say on your work?

I think my job is one of the most creative jobs in the world, which affords the possibility of keep evolving professionally every day. No Chef can ever say that she/he has learnt everything in her/his profession. What is your source of inspiration?

Lots of things inspire me. I idolise Chef Marco Pierre White. I used to read

his White Heat while I was growing up as a Chef. How do you define success?

Success for me is measured on a daily basis, which of course include good customer reviews and happy team members. What is your idea of happiness?

For me happiness comes through family, friends, and food.

perfect manner. And what is your greatest desire?

It is travelling the entire world. How do you de-stress yourself?

I de-stress myself by listening to music and working out at the gym. Whom do you consider as your greatest asset?

She is my daughter Gabriella. According to you what are your strengths?

My belief in the fact that anything that I ask from my subordinates, I should be able to do it in the best possible manner. And what are your weaknesses?

I do procrastinate sometimes, trying to buy more time to do things in a

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How would you describe yourself in one word?

It must be ‘Inspired.’ I can never inspire my team if I am not inspired myself. What is your favourite cuisine?

Although I am more fluent in

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western cuisine, my favourite cuisine still remains Indian. In my opinion, it is the most diversified and scientific cuisine in the world. Every ingredient in a typical Indian dish has a purpose to serve. What is your favourite spice?

It is black pepper. It makes a lot of difference to the dishes. And favourite dish?

My favourite dish remains the Goan sausage. I guess that is one wonderful culinary influence the Portugese left us. In your opinion, what is your favourite equipment?

It is the combination oven. What is your favourite food joint?

My favourite food joint is Global Fusion, Mumbai. Whom would you consider your favourite diner that is the kind of guest you would like to feed?

I cannot name a single person, but definitely it is someone or rather anyone who is adventurous in trying out new flavours. What is your hot selling item?

It is Murgh pankhi kebab. This is made using chicken wings. Professionally, what you are passionate on?

I am passionate on using fresh ingredients. How do you explain your philosophy at work?

I believe that food that is made with love always gives you compliments, and that is the exact reason why we say “Mother’s food is always good.” It is because every mother cooks with love. How do you see you 10 years from now?

I would perhaps be a Chef and owner of a renowned restaurant. What are your future plans?

It is to own a restaurant and become a celebrity Chef. What is the position of Chefs these days, in India?

The fact that a lot of Indian born Chefs, who were based in Europe, are returning back to their homeland, answers the question. What are the problems and challenges faced by Chefs in the country?

There are challenges involved in sourcing of the right ingredients, especially in Y class cities of the country.

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PROFILE

Presenting Tastes from the Blue Waters By Sharmila Chand

In 2008 two college going brothers Angad Singh and Harmohan Singh began their entrepreneurial journey. Then they were both B.com (Hons) students of Delhi University. They set up a quick service restaurant by the name Blue Water Grille at Punjabi Bagh, Delhi. This multi-cuisine QSR specialised and still specialises in grills and Indian and Chinese food, which soon went on to garner popularity, thereby giving them encouragement to pursue their F&B journey. The success of their maiden outlet propelled the go getter brothers to expand their food service retail business. Thus, Pick Fresh Fish was conceived and today the brand is thriving with four outlets in different locations around the capital city of India, delivering high quality fresh, frozen and ready to eat sea food and poultry. They also went on to open another Blue Water Grille outlet — a sprawling 6000 square feet fine dining restaurant — at Rajouri Garden, Delhi, in 2012. Though they have no formal degree in hotel or business management their undiluted passion, vision and execution have enabled the brothers to make a mark in the food service business of the capital and there just seems to be no stopping for them. Angad Singh, one of the brothers, added, “Owning a restaurant means having to be very hands-on. It takes a lot of hard work to run a restaurant business and we have been doing just the same since the time we began, and we will do whatever needs to be done to give our customers the ultimate dining experience.” They are looking forward towards opening a new restaurant in early 2014 and a packaged food brand, and franchise module of Pick Fresh Fish. The excerpts of the interview with Angad Singh follow: First and foremost, please spell out some key challenges towards opening a new restaurant?

We think, finding the right location at the right price is the biggest challenge any restaurateur in urban India faces today. Other challenges are government licensing, finding the right staff and retaining them. Maintaining the same quality over a period of time is another big challenge. With inflation occurring all through the year, many restaurateurs and Chefs tend to opt for cheaper alternatives to save money. That is where the quality suffers and in turn, they lose out on customers. What would you like to say on the current restaurant business scenario in Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore?

People across all metros of India are

becoming more experimental in terms of food. They are trying new flavours and cuisines. This gives us more opportunity to come out of the comfort zone and try to give them something different from time to time. We also have a lot of international brands coming here. That keeps us on our toes all the time. As enterprising entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry, please comment on how the cuisine trend in Delhi has changed over a period of time?

Talking about the eating out crowd in Delhi, it is great to see how people have expanded their tastes from butter chicken & dal makhni to Penang curries and wood fired pizzas. We are always seen by outsiders as butter chicken lovers, which we are, but now the eating out crowd in Delhi share the

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same love for Mediterranean, Oriental and American food as well. What has helped you the most in the image building of your brands?

Being in the industry as seafood and poultry suppliers for 50 years, people expected a lot from our brands. Our customers have faith in the quality of our products, which is what our brands have always signified. What do you enjoy the most about being in this business?

We enjoy the fact that every day is a new day here. You can try new things all year around. This business never gets boring. And what do you dislike the most in this business?

The work timings are lengthy and you seldom get holidays.

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PROFILE If you could change one thing about your position or business, what would that be?

We are glad the business has been receiving a positive response but there are certain misconceptions that need to be driven out from the minds of the people of Delhi. One of the misconceptions is that we cannot expect good sea food in Delhi. Rest assured we are here in a game changing mode in terms of providing sea food for the Delhiites. What kind of pressures have you encountered at work?

Controlling costs is the major pressure every restaurateur faces today. With prices of all commodities sky rocketing, it is getting difficult to manage costs. Moreover, working hours are really long in our nature of work, which is also a pressure factor. How important is it to have good interiors in the restaurant? How much significance you give to the décor and ambience of the

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place as compared to the food?

Décor and ambience are very important. We have always believed that people just don’t come out to eat food at your restaurant. They come out for an experience. And giving them a good looking place exuding warmth is an essential element of that experience. Thus ambience, lighting and music have a lot of significance in a restaurant. What are the top three traits or skills you look for in your Head Food & Beverage Manager?

She/he must have dedication towards work, and a sense of responsibility. At the same time, she/he must be endowed with good public relations skills. Is it getting difficult to hire good trained manpower these days?

Getting good staff is manageable. But, with so many restaurants opening everyday, retaining your staff is a massive challenge. What is your working mantra to strengthen your team?

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

We ensure that we invest our time in interacting with them consistently because we know we have a big role in setting the tone for what our team is made up of. Motivating them always, making effective adjustments keeping each member’s attitude in mind and not forgetting to acknowledge their work are essential requirements for strengthening the team, which we scrupulously adhere to. What are your future expansion plans?

We are coming up with a grill concept restaurant very soon in Aerocity, which is being developed next to the international airport. We are also planning to launch a packaged food brand with very new and different products. That should be a reality by February 2014. Anything else you would like to say about your brands?

We have always believed in quality. We believe that you can have a 100 percent success rate if you don’t compromise on quality.

O P E R AT I O N S

Interactive Kitchens: An Overview By Gautam Verma

p until the mid 90s the expectations from a restaurant were limited to good food, ambience and at the most a live musician for entertainment. Eating out, particularly in star hotels and expensive restaurants, was an occasional affair treated with much fanfare by the average middle and upper middle class consumers in urban India.

Kitchen Only as Utility Even for those spending on a company account or accustomed to a more lavish lifestyle, the reasons for going to a restaurant in a hotel were usually restricted to celebrations or business meetings with a focus on interactions with the rest of the dining party and consumption of quality food and beverage. Succinctly, then restaurants were treated as the venue of, and not necessarily the source of, an evening of entertainment. Consequently, restaurant operators did not need to focus on the aesthetics of the kitchens. The restaurant kitchens were

designed to be purely utilitarian and were expected to provide the tools to complete the sole function of food production. Of course, at premium restaurants adequate care was taken to ensure cleanliness and hygiene standards acceptable at the time were being maintained, while in others this depended on the level of supervision and inherent qualities of the line staff. Guests did not see the restaurant’s kitchen or displayed any care to know what was happening within. Their concern was with the taste, presentation and appeal of the food set before them. If at all the guests desired, the Head Chef would be called to come to their table and interact with them.

The Interactive Edge Fast forward twenty years and the entire eating out concept in urban India has been spun on its head. With greater disposable incomes, the emergence of a ‘flat’ world with global exposure available to those on the move, and at the click of a

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button online to those who are not, along with a faster-paced lifestyle with little room for cooking elaborate meals at homes, the desire to eat out in urban India, particularly in metropolitan India, and particularly among the upper middle class and above segments, has in many a case become a need. And when eating out of home is a routine activity then the demands and expectations from a restaurant are bound to increase from mere eating out establishments. As is often the case, it is the more affluent segment of customers and service providers who are leading the trend. In this case it is the star hotel’s restaurants who are offering a greater experience to their patrons, who in turn have become ever more demanding and discerning and have become exposed to a wider variety of cuisines and other F&B experiences than they had before. Of course, this process of transformation in consumer tastes is turning the food & beverage business in urban India literally inside out, with the restaurant kitchens becoming an integral part of the dining room itself.

The Evolution In the early days of this transformation, guests were offered a view into the food preparation area by means of a display kitchen, which is typically a small section of the kitchen segregated from the main kitchen by solid partition and with limited function. Examples of such display kitchen can be a kebab or bread counter, with activities limited to finishing of a preprepared product in the line of vision of guests; behind a glass window and in a controlled environment. In the age when ‘display kitchens’ were

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O P E R AT I O N S the in thing, the bulk of the menu at restaurants still continued to be prepared out of sight. To patrons of the restaurant, the display kitchen had great novelty value as the showmanship of the cook behind the glass was on display. The tossing of a roomali roti or the visual of a skewer emerging from a tandoor, laden with juicy kebabs, became a conversation piece, while to the restaurant this was a great way to up-sell profitable menu items through unobtrusive visual merchandising. Over a period of time, the acceptance of the display kitchen grew to a point where many an up market neighbourhood restaurant across urban India were seen adopting the concept. To maintain a market edge over these display kitchens, to facilitate guests communicate with the staff, to improve exhaust emissions and cut down on sound and heat, the show kitchen was born, by taking advantage of newer technologies available.

Changed Guestsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Role and Expectations In this concept, an even greater portion of

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the food preparation zones were brought out of the kitchen and into the dining room. Guests were able to watch Chefs at work, preparing every dish fresh and hot and made to order, from the comfort of their seats and without experiencing too much discomfort from kitchen activities. The show kitchen concept quickly evolved to the interactive kitchens of the present day. In the interactive kitchen format, guests are encouraged to participate in the food production process â&#x20AC;&#x201C; choosing fresh ingredients from those offered on display, speaking directly to the cook and exchanging recipes, creating an experience while sharing knowledge and ideas. In these interactive kitchens, almost all kitchen activities are entirely part of the dining hall and the walls have come down with the demarcation of areas of guests and operational staff in these restaurant kitchens all but disappeared. Only the most basic pre-preparation and ware washing functions in the interactive restaurant kitchens remain out of sight, together with storage areas. A guest who visits such an establishment does so not just for food but

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also for entertainment and above all for an experience that is to be shared, with not just those at the table, but with fellow diners at the restaurant, and, increasingly with a wider audience online though uploads and posts on social networking sites and also within the blogosphere!

Suitable for Global Cuisines Now with increased global experiences, guest expectations from the menu and cuisine choices available has increased manifold. Global cuisine is on offer with a constant desire to explore more tastes and entice the palate, resulting in a need for more flexible dining and cooking environments. Interactive kitchens are increasingly the solution to feed this demand as they allow for a large restaurant to be broken down creatively by designers into different zones, each equipped with multifunctional equipment; suitable for cooking a wide range of cuisines. This has all been made possible by improvements in the technology available to designers, which include more efficient cooking equipment that consumes less energy, emits less heat and produces less

O P E R AT I O N S be sophisticated and generally costly, but the demands on the staff are higher too which translates directly to increased wages for better qualified personnel as well as more time and money spent in continual training and up gradation of soft skills of the staff. A typical interactive kitchen in a restaurant with extensive display counters also results in an inflated food cost as fresh produce needs to adorn the display counters daily, which is an expense borne regardless of the actual income generated.

The Suitability

sound. Moreover, these equipments are more safe for non-operational persons to be around. They also reduce the demands on the ventilation system and put less pressure on the air-conditioning.

Greater Role for Vendors The evolution in the way restaurant kitchens are being designed and viewed has also an impact on the producers and suppliers of kitchen equipments. While earlier contractors could get away with mere supply and installation of individual equipment, usually with disregard for the adjacent equipment and areas if not within their contract, for today’s interactive kitchens this is not an option. The intricacies of putting together a front of house kitchen in a restaurant are much more demanding. Every minute detail must be worked out and attended to and coordination between the kitchen equipment contractor, the interior contractor and various other agencies at the site is imperative. As a result, the complacency that had set in among the domestic vendors has been disturbed by the invasion of interactive kitchens in restaurants, and international contractors, as well as OEMs, have set up offices in the country. They are offering newer and better design solutions to restaurant designers. Of course, the expertise brought in by international KECs comes at a price to owners of hotels and restaurants and must be justified with commensurate returns. Effectively designed restaurants with interactive kitchen counters also should allow for sections of the restaurant to be

shut down when there is lower demand without giving a feeling of emptiness within a large dining hall, as the room needs to be demarcated by the different cooking elements. The designers of interactive kitchens need to take care of this factor, while designing the interactive kitchens for restaurants.

Smart Staff, Well-maintained Hardware A corollary to the evolution of the entire eating out experience and the introduction of interactive kitchens in restaurants is the development of staff working in these areas as well as the change in operating practices being adhered to at these interactive kitchens. An interactive kitchen is in view of guests and there are no rules to prevent guests’ contact with staff. Every member of the team who is in the kitchen or dining room must therefore be able to communicate and interact suitably with guests. Moreover, as the kitchen hardware or equipment is on display all the time, it must be maintained and cared for equally well as any piece of furniture or interior décor, at these interactive kitchens. This means not only does the planning of each maintenance activity have to be more thorough but also the providers of these services need to be more attuned to the changing times.

The Cost Factor The interactive kitchens have a direct impact on the cost of a restaurant project and its operations too. Not only the equipment at interactive kitchens need to

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Interactive kitchens are more suitable for establishments which have a large seating capacity while allowing for flexibility, as they are typically designed to produce multiple cuisines. At the same time, in interactive kitchens the counters need to be spread out and interspersed with the dining areas. Interactive kitchen is not a feasible concept if the number of covers required is not much to begin with. It should be borne in mind that interactive kitchens too require a back area for commissary, stores and ware washing, which results in a total floor space requirement that is often too demanding for a stand-alone restaurant in a mall or a shopping complex. Hotels however have the advantage of being able to offer the space required for interactive kitchens. For hotels, restaurants with interactive kitchens are an attractive choice as they allow a single space, if designed right, to offer a choice of dining options, both in terms of décor and menu. This reduces the need to develop two or three separate restaurants, each requiring an independent associated kitchen and a dedicated team. This can be done without compromising on the guest satisfaction. The author is engaged with Hospitality Consultants (India) Pvt. Ltd., a professional organisation offering a variety of services in the field of hotels, restaurants, recreation and other hospitality related industries.

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

PRODUCT PREVIEW

Crafting Impeccable F&B Equipments

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Cooking Range

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Kumar Equipment (India) Pvt. Ltd. is one of the largest manufacturers of commercial kitchen, refrigeration and bakery equipments in India. Its product range includes hot and cold equipments, bakery equipments, bar equipments, beverage equipments, dish washing equipments, cake pastry and ice-cream displays, salad display, racks, storage equipments among others. Kumar Equipment (India) is a certified ISO 9001: 2008 and a ‘Trust Passed’ accredited company. KEI specialises in providing consultancy, designing, layout plans with complete technical details of F&B equipments for commercial kitchens, canteens, bakeries & messes, etc. on turnkey basis as well as on individual product basis. The company’s services also extend to designing, layout and installation of exhaust and fresh air systems as well as LPG pipeline, for facilitating the safety and economy of the projects. KEI has been associated with kitchen equipment industry for well over two decades, and has been successfully providing its expertise to hospitality industry, residential schools, learning institutes, hospitals, messes of Armed Forces, industrial canteens, clubs, cafeterias, etc. Its operations not only spans across India but is also extended abroad. KEI has two manufacturing units in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan; well equipped with the latest state-of-the-art plant and machinery. Robust infrastructure, highly skilled and dedicated workforce, and sound R&D are the company’s strengths. Kumar Equipment (India) Pvt. Ltd. kumar_equipments@yahoo.co.in

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Ravinder Hospitality Equipment is a company engaged in the field of designing, manufacturing and servicing a comprehensive range of commercial hospitality products in India. The company has introduced itself as one of the leading designers, manufacturers & suppliers of complete range of commercial kitchen, refrigeration, food service and bakery equipments for hotels, restaurants, industrial canteens, fast food joints, and clubs. The company has introduced cooking range for industrial catering. It has a team of experienced mechanical engineers and technocrats to make the product perfect for the market. Ravinder Hospitality Equipment info@ravinderequipment.com

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Introducing a special range of ceremic cookware, which is developed for the usage on induction systems. The cookware are pure, simple and elegant thanks to the whiteness of their ceramic bodies. Developed by Revol, the range is the first high-performance ceramic which is non-porous and compatible with all heat sources, including induction. This collection, designed for professionals, is the result of over two years of research. Its extensive choice of shape and colour is the answer to all your requirements for presentation, serving and temperature maintenance, due to its exceptional properties. AKSAI info@aksai.co

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Cookware

Polycarbonate Range ‘Kenford’ brand embodies distinct polycarbonate products, which are useful for the hospitality and the food service industry. The product range includes cafeteria trays, glasses, dinnerware, stack bowls, tableware, compartment & display trays, and salad platters among others. Its G.N Pans & the lids are the exclusive products. The company having the ‘Kenford’ brand has launched colour coded G.N Pans in Ceramic Cream, Green & Red. ‘Kenford’ represents striving towards excellence. It has quality products at reasonable prices within its ambit. M.P. Enterprises info@kenford.in

The information published in this section is as per the details furnished by the respective manufacturer/distributor. In any case, it does not represent the views of Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNIT Y

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNIT Y

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ADVERTISER’S INDEX A D V E R T I S E R ’ S COMPANY

I N D E X PAGE NO.

AKASA

AKSAI

ALLIED METAL WORKS

53, 79

ANI GLASS CORPORATION

ANOUSHKA GOURMET PVT. LTD.

APPLE BAKERY MACHINERY PVT. LTD.

ARCHII

ASHOKASHA EXIM PVT. LTD.

BEETA MACHINES PVT. LTD.

BMS ENTERPRISES

CONSTELLATION PROJECTS

DABON INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD.

EDT EXPO 2014

FCML DISTRIBUTORS PVT. LTD.

FHA SINGAPORE 2014

FIDELIO INDIA PVT. LTD.

FISHER NUT

FnS INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD.

GENNEXT LOGISTICS PVT. LTD.

HINDUSTAN REFRIGERATION STORES

HOTELEX SHANGHAI 2014

HOTREMAI

INTERNATIONAL FOODTEC INDIA 2014

JEGSON INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIES

KANHAIYALAL TANDOOR PVT. LTD.

K.I. GLASSWARE INDIA PVT. LTD.

KING METAL WORKS LOOM CRAFTS FURNITURE (INDIA) PVT. LTD.

09 34, 35

MAKREY EXPORTS

MANISHA INTERNATIONAL

BIC

METAL AVENUES

MITORA MACHINEX

MM FISHERIES PVT. LTD.

MOD KITCHEN EQUIPMENTS PVT. LTD.

M.P. ENTERPRISES

MRS. BECTOR’S FOOD SPECIALITIES LTD.

FIC

MUNNILAL TANDOORS PVT. LTD.

MYANMAR HOTELS FOOD & BEVERAGE TRAVELN SHOW 2014

NEENA ENTERPRISES

PACIFIC MERCHANTS

RANS TECHNOCRATS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.

RAJKIRAN KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

RATIONAL INDIA

REMINGTON STEEL ARTS

ROSHAN LAL TANDOOR WALA

SHAMSONS FOODS

SIAL CHINA 2014

SIAL PARIS

SOLUTIONZ CONSULTING PVT. LTD.

STARLITE STEEL PVT. LTD.

STEC STAINLESS STEEL PVT. LTD.

THAIFEX 2014

THE NEW INDIA ELECTRIC & TRADING CO.

THE SCS AGRIBUSINESS CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD.

TRADE LINKERS

UNITAS FOODS PVT. LTD.

VANYA INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENTS

VENUS INDUSTRIES

WANG HOSPITALITY EQUIPMENT PVT. LTD.

PRODUCT PREVIEW

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

* BC - BACK COVER * FIC - FRONT INSIDE COVER * BIC - BACK INSIDE COVER

Dec-Jan ’14

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

INTERVIEW

Being Creatively Competitive By Sharmila Chand Gaurav Wattal is the Director of Food and Beverage at JW Marriott Bengaluru. A graduate from Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration from Manipal, he is also an alumnus of the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development. Gaurav started off with The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata in 2003 from where he moved to Trident Hilton, in 2005. He also had tenures with Goa Marriott Resort & Spa where he worked for two years, from 2011 to 2013. He then moved on to JW Marriott Bengaluru in 2013. A very motivated and talented leader, Gaurav enjoys scuba diving in his leisure time. He is a certified Open Water Diver and enjoys movies, reading and travelling. The excerpts of the interview follow: What are the top three traits or skills every Food & Beverage Manager must have to excel?

To begin with, the prerequisite for any F&B Manager is passion for food and everything connected with it. This helps her/ him to understand the nuances of cooking, prevailing F&B trends and tastes, and guest preferences. Secondly, guest-handling must come naturally to any F&B Manager since our industry thrives on customer relations and guestsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; satisfaction. Interacting with guests, an ability to understand their tastes and preferences and ensuring they have a perfect dining experience are some of the important qualities an F&B Manager of a commercial food service outlet must have to excel. Last and definitely not the least, she/he must have a flair for creativity and innovation in order to constantly deliver something new and different to guests. However, besides creativity the ability to reinvent in F&B is also dependent upon being abreast with the current trends in the market as well as being aware of the changing preferences of guests. What do you enjoy the most about being a Food & Beverage Director?

The level of creativity that one can bring to the table as an F&B Director is absolutely fantastic. The fact that this profession holds no limits in terms of innovation and allows you to constantly deliver new things makes it extremely enjoyable for a creative person. I also love interacting with customers, to understand their tastes and preferences and

ensuring that they are fully satisfied with our food and service. Working in an everevolving space where one needs to keep up with changing trends to be ahead of the competition, is extremely thrilling. What do you dislike the most in your profession?

I am a bit of a stickler for deadlines and not adhering to them is a stress point for me. Is your job challenging? Can you point out some of these challenges?

The constantly changing nature of the job does keep us on our toes at all times. Firstly, we need to ensure that we are always ahead of the competition. Secondly, it is very important to keep the team motivated at all times so that team members are driven to deliver their best and aim to achieve high targets. Delivering targets for the brand as well as for the owners is also something we have to strive to achieve. Working towards exceeding client expectations and ensuring customer satisfaction is a challenging task. There is also the need to keep a close watch on the global F&B trends and reinvent our offerings in line with the same. Can you suggest any tips or insights to strengthen your team?

I believe the best way to strengthen and motivate my team is by setting very high targets and guiding them to achieve the same. This serves as a driving force for the team members to deliver their best and achieve an optimal level of perfection.

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How is your experience at the present job? What are the challenges of working here?

My experience with JW Marriott Bengaluru has been absolutely fantastic. The pre-opening phase of any project is very exciting and gives us the opportunity to set benchmarks, learn and apply trends and processes that eventually determine the success of the venture. Being instrumental in setting standards and processes from scratch as well as building and motivating a whole new team has indeed been a thrilling and satisfying experience. What is the USP of your place/ brand?

We give our guests a fresh and wholesome dining experience. With five distinct and curated F&B options and a contemporary, authentic and innovative approach to F&B, our F&B offerings as a hotel are truly a class apart. There is a constant emphasis on innovation and this makes the brand stand apart in the market. What is your take on the hospitality business in India, in general?

The hospitality business in India seems to have a promising future. I think there is a sharp upward trend in the F&B space in the country and with the growing working class there is a drastic increase in the number of people dining out. By and large, the industry is growing and is set to get quite competitive with a large number of hospitality brands entering the market.

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