Vasudevan told The Financial Express that the company had already identified some potential firms in the US which would add synergy to its business. ``A listing is essential for us as we are in an acquisition mode,'' he said.

``We are looking at a natural food company which has a good brand, good technology and a better distribution infrastructure,'' he said. Vasudevan said, in the US, currently the natural foods industry was a fragmented one and the company was looking at consolidation and targeting to emerge as a larger player in the market.

He said in the US, natural food industry was a $15 billion market which was growing at 23 per cent per annum against the total food industry of $370 billion growing at less than one per cent.

Vasudevan said Tasty Bite had recently conducted a geo-demographic survey on the West Coast. ``We mapped 700 Tasty Bite outlets on the coast to study the customer habits,'' he said. Tasty Bite brand is available in 1,600 outlets across the country.

As per the findings, large number of Tasty Bite consumers were in the age group of 23 to 48. ``We found them young, wine consuming and Internet savvy consumers.'' The `Empty Nest Families' will be the main targets of the brand, he said.

Tasty Bite sold over four million meals last year in the US (Taste Bite, Thai Taste and Instant India put together). ``We are targeting to sell around 10 million meals in the US during the calendar,'' Vasudevan said. The Bonston-based Instant India was acquired by Tasty Bite in 1998, the company makes ready to cook sauses and pastes.

Tasty Bite recently launched its web site in India which has integration with its US site. The site would feature 12 products. The sites received over 10,000 hits a month of which 50 per cent were repeated customers, he said. The site would offer a special free exchange programme which would facilitate an exchange programme connecting someone who lives in India with someone else in the US. The exchange programme would be launched in July.

The company recently launched its products in Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Holland. According to Vasudevan, Tasty Bite was in the process of setting up an enterprise resource management system to support is supply chain management.