Success Quotient is a weekly feature that appears every Friday in Firstpost, which looks at the pains and joys en route to success for a head honcho - whether a CEO, MD or an entrepreneur. The column looks at the ideas that helped launch a company, its highs and lows. The product is known more for its piquant pickles. Mother’s Recipes, from Desai Brothers Ltd ( DBL ) is a 115 year-old family-owned business, having interest in logistics, specialty chemicals, healthcare and finance. In 2001, the company diversified into the ethnic food business. It scouted for a brand to jump start its business in the category and acquired Mothers’ Recipe from American Dry Fruits. In India, where taste of food changes every 400 kms, the company has widened its palette from 36 varieties of pickles to 60 and is launching its range of chutneys in the domestic market. Fifty five year old, Sanjay J Desai, Executive Director, shares the company’s journey with Firstpost and its future plans, besides his love for breeding dogs and birds. Excerpts from the interview: Are all your pickles made for an Indian-palette loving audience? We have an Indian pickle that is consumed only by Iraqis. We manufacture and export mango pickle in vinegar to the Gulf markets. We are one of the largest manufacturers and leaders in bulk exportrs of pickled gherkins to Russia, Holland, Spain, Germany, Brazil and Egypt. What is the size of the pickle market in the country? What is Mother’s Recipe’s share of it? The size of the organised sector pickle market is 24,000 MT valued at around 400 crores and Mother’s Recipe has a market share of 25 percent based on Euromonitor estimates. [caption id=“attachment_2258082” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Sanjay Desai, Executive Director, Mother’s Recipe[/caption] A large share of the pickle market is taken up by the unorganised market. How does this affect business? Unorganized players who dominate this sector contribute 60 percent of the industry’s volume. This leads to uneven levels of playing fields for each of the player. It is easy for an unorganized player to manufacture, however most of them lack in infrastructure in terms of automation, hygiene, lab facilities, purchase of quality raw material, etc. Producing quality products consistently comes at a cost. Hence, organized players end up with a price disadvantage. I am proud to share that our brand of pickles has been rated as the best pickle available in Delhi, NCR on Value for Money, taste and all other sensory parameters, which was an independent evaluation of the pickles available in the Delhi NCR market by VOICE (Voluntary Organization in the Interest of Consumer Education) an NGO. What is your memory of pickles? Your favourite one/s? As a child, my best memory is of my favourite choondo pickle ( sweet shredded mango pickle ). However, once I got into the business, I have been tasting and eating different variants of pickles which I might have not eaten ever in my life time. Which pickle in your product range was a surprise hit for you? Kerala kaduku pickle has been the surprise hit as this is a very domesticated regional recipe with unique taste. We have introduced this in the Gulf overseas market from where the response has been good. Apart from the Malayalees there, other communities are also liking the taste and are consuming this pickle variant. What has been the most surprising thing for you about the Ready To Eat category? The most surprising about RTE is that the Indian consumer is not prepared for the product and hence most of the sales is in the export market. The housewife is not willing to accept a completely prepared product to feed the family due to apprehensions of reducing her role as the family’s provider. Why is your RTE food category largely export-driven? The category is largely export-driven as it is yet to establish a firm footing in the Indian retail market. However, domestic markets constitute 40 percent of the total revenues of heat-and-eat products. The ready-to-eat category was first introduced to the country in 1987, but suffered a slow beginning with consumers preferring traditional cooking. By the turn of the millennium, and the advent of new technologies to improve the shelf life of ready-to-eat products, alongside a growth in storage and distribution centres, the segment gained momentum. The RTE / heat-and-eat market currently valued at Rs. 240 crores and has been growing at a rate of 18 percent over the last three years and over the next five years, though its rise will reach 22 percent per annum as a result of rapid urbanisation, increasing disposable income and expected improvement in retail infrastructure, touching over Rs. 640 crores by 2019. How much would you credit advertising for pushing brand recall? In 2013, we made a move to boost our digital presence. We revamped our website. The brand also made an active foray into social media to target audiences in India and abroad. This has been able to give immense top of mind brand recall among the categories it is present. What are your future plans? The DBL – Foods Division turnover in FY 2014-15 was around 200 Crores and we are targeting a growth of 40 percent in the next financial year. The first major milestone that we would like to reach is Rs 500 crores for this division in the next 2-3 year time period. This means we need to grow at 30-40 percent growth rates in our existing categories and we are looking at new categories to give us the added growth in our turnover. What are new launches scheduled for the coming year? We are ready to launch 10 variants in the RTE foods category; new innovative products are slated in the culinary and cooking pastes range, our range of chutneys available only in the export markets so far will be soon available in the Indian market with a new range of spreads, and new On-the-Go instances mixes. Our food services vertical launched this year is concentrating on the large segment of catering and QSRs. We are currently in talks with most of the large caterers and five star properties and restaurants and will initiate the tie-ups with QSRs as the products get launched. You also breed dogs and participate in dog shows. I love dogs and birds. The family had a Doberman when I was around 9 years old. Dobermans are man-made breeds. They can be temperamental and erratic too. I love the German Shepherd. It is a family dog, very versatile. I call it the `Alphonso’ among dogs! It loves back anyone who loves it. We have one at home, lovingly called Golu that wakes me up if it is sleeping in my room and my daughter, if it chooses to sleep in her room. I started breeding dogs only around 28-29 years old. I have a kennel where we breed dogs. I also have a pair of macaws. I was told it is difficult to breed them. I like to take up things that are difficult and challenging!
“The most surprising about RTE is that the Indian Consumer is not prepared for the product and hence most of the sales is in the export market.”
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