FHW Staff – Mumbai
Unilever Food Solutions, the leading global provider of culinary inspiration to chefs and operators, is going to showcase its professional range of products as well as its ready-to-drink range in the vending space at Food Hospitality World 2015 exhibition to be held in Mumbai. The company plans to launch some of its products, which are established and well received across the world, in the India market in the next two-three years. Establishing their business in the India market five-six years back, the company offers a huge range of products- marinades, seasonings, mayonnaise and more in which it is a world leader. Speaking to Food & Hospitality World on the company’s product expansion plans, Amlan Mukherjee, business head-OOH-Out of Home, UFS & Modern Foods, Hindustan Unilever said, “We operate in the HORECA space and the food market segment in this space is huge. In the next two-three years we are planning to offer more of our worldwide range of products-marinades, gravies, mayonnaise, and we are confident that these products will be well received in the India market as well. However, having said that, we understand the difference in the consumer palate and hence will be customising our product range for the India market as well. Food safety and standardisation is of prime importance to us. Our greatest asset is our brand and its proven demand in the markets-India and abroad.”
The company has been in food since 1880s, and is home to some of the world’s favourite brands: Knorr, Hellmann’s, Lipton, Kissan, Rex and Brown & Polson. The company works closely with businesses of all sizes, from independent restaurants to hotels chains and contract caterers in 74 countries.
When asked about its business revenue generation from institutional versus retail sales, Mukherjee informed, “Our institutional clients comprise 100 per cent business of our business. We use the pull and push channel strategies to promote our offerings. In the push channel which comprise of direct channel, customers whom we visit and give a demo of our products consist of 60-65 per cent, while the indirect channel which are our institutional customers comprise of 30-35 per cent of our business.” Elaborating on the growth of the food segment in the India market, he opined, “The difference between the India market compared to international markets is that 95 per cent of foods used in India are scratch conversions which are being prepared from raw vegetables, fruits, etc., and if you look at the global trend this is moving at a rapid pace from scratch to the ready food solutions. The reasons for the same being labour cost, the advantage of using the ready solutions so that the same product can be used repeatedly. We see a huge potential in this market segment which is going to grow at a healthy double digit growth. If we can create our relevance to the chefs in their consideration space then we can expand a lot more.”