Ambala Bakers journey of 38 years in Pakistan’s bakery sector

Journey of 38 years in Pakistan’s bakery sector Ambala Sweets and Bakers

In an exclusive interview with Insight Food Technology, Mr. Jameel Ahmed, Director of Ambala Sweets and Bakers speaks about their journey of 38 years in the bakery sector from local retail business to the global export market.

Mr. Jameel Ahmed, Director, Ambala Sweets and Bakers.

Please tell us about the journey of Ambala Bakers from the beginning to a well-known export brand?

Ambala Bakers was established in 1985 by our father Mr. Lal Din in Karachi. Through the passage of time Ambala gained popularity by delivering high-quality products and customer service. Ambala expanded its business with five branches located in different areas of Karachi. Continuing our fathers tradition, we always adopt latest technology and eager to equip the modern equipment required for the bakery business.

When did Ambala first exhibit the international exhibition and in how many shows you have exhibited in the last few years?

Ambala Bakers exhibited for the first time in Gulfood 2015 in Dubai and since then we are exhibiting regularly

in Gulfood.We exhibit in single country exhibitions through TDAP like Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, and Kenya. We have participated in almost all the major exhibitions such as Gulfood, Anuga Foodtech, SIAL, and Foodex Saudi.

Please share your experience exhibiting in international exhibitions?

Exhibiting in international exhibitions is always a learning and eye-opening experience in which you meet and share ideas with people around the globe. We get a chance to meet professionals from the food industry who belongs to different countries, which gives us an idea about the latest innovations in the bakery sector and happenings in different regions. We are grateful to receive tremendous encouraging responses from international customers from the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and the USA.

In which regions Ambala has successfully exported products?

We are exporting our high-quality bakery and sweets products to almost all continents covering more than 20 countries. However, in the far east region, Korea has proved to be a more challenging and flourished market for our product range. Korea is the most difficult market due to their strict customs and testing institutions for food items.

We would like to know about your product range and services you offer to the export customer?

We are one of the largest exporters of traditional bakery and sweets products, in which we have seven different varieties of Bakar Khani, eight different types of traditional cookies Nan Khatai, and Cake Rusk. In sweets, we offer tin pack sweets and assorted halwa boxes and in savory items, we have a wide range of Nimco products from Mixed Nimco to Dahi Bondi, and from Moong Dal to Crinkle Chips. Our preference has always been to provide our customers with the best quality together with exceptional services in terms of promotional material and documentation support.

What are your plans to compete in the international market. How do you see the current export market for the bakery sector?

We are planning to get more quality certifications, standards and set up an overseas production facility to serve the international customers. The current market situation is very tough for exporters from Pakistan due to the increasing cost of raw material and less facilitation. We know that the bakery sector has a good potential and increasing exports will surely help our country to eard desperately needed foreign exchange. We want to become an integral part in benefiting our country.

Shelf life is always a sign of worry in food products. How much shelf life Ambala offers to the customer and tell us about the packaging standard?

You are right. Shelf life is a necessary and key factor in the export market for which we use natural preservatives recommended by international food and health authorities. We provide shelf life from 6 months to 1.5 years depending on the products. We use state-of-the-art and modern packaging material, and metalized bags for our bakery products to ensure quality, and freshness till the expiry date. Our motive has always been to provide good shelf life keeping in view the transit and warehousing time at the destination. Our Research and Development department continuously works to enhance product shelf life by using natural preservatives approved by international health standards.