Kahini Chakraborty – Mumbai
FieldFresh Foods, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Pacific, is looking at increasing the width of its offerings under the brand Del Monte. The categories in which the company operates includes sauces and condiments, gourmet pasta, olive oil, packaged fruits, dressings and spreads, and juice drinks. Speaking exclusively to Food & Hospitality World, Yogesh Bellani, CEO, FeildFresh Foods said, “Expanding distribution reach geographically and increasing width and depth of coverage within our existing markets is a priority. We recently launched a range of dessert sauces. The range offers four flavours that include peach, strawberry, chocolate and choconut (chocolate and hazelnut). Additionally, we have also strengthened our olive oil portfolio by introducing tin packs as we aim to have the widest range of olive oil offerings in the country and tap into newer distribution channels like pharmacy. We will continue to focus on our existing categories going forward.”
Elaborating on the plan of increasing the distribution network, Bellani highlighted, “Currently, we cover most of the outlets in modern trade, I would imagine that we have coverage of about 90-95 per cent barring a few outlets in the central and eastern parts of the country; while on the general trade side, we remain focused on the top 50-60 cities and towns for direct distribution coverage. In general trade our focus in the short term is to increase width and depth in our existing metro and tier one cities,” he said, adding further, “On the other hand, our distributive food service business covers about 136 cities and towns at present and we plan to take this beyond the 200 cities and towns mark by the end of this financial year.”
On the ratio of sales through institutional versus retail, he informed, “Currently our business is split equally between our B2B and B2C channels; going forward, with expansion in our distribution reach and coverage, we expect our B2C business to start forging ahead of our B2B revenues. Our revenue growth this year is in line with that of the last few years at around 45-50 per cent across categories and we would look to maintain the growth rates in the coming year as well.”
Sharing his views on the significant growth of the FMCG sector in India, Bellani opined, “The FMCG sector continues to be one of the most important segments of the economy, being the fourth largest, contributing almost 2.4 per cent to the GDP and remains one of the most important sectors from an employment perspective.”