Give us this day our daily snack

1. Give Us This Day Our Daily Snack
Can homegrown snacks make hay while the market for
instant noodles flounders?

2. Contd..
Indians are snacking like never before, Maggi or no Maggi. The hunger pangs refuse
to subside and brands are rushing in to cash in on the sweet snack spot. A recent
Nielsen report on Indian snacking attributed category growth to fast paced, out-of-
home lifestyles, increased frequency of socialising and a gradual erosion of the
`family sit-down' meal culture. Industry sources peg the snacking category at
approximately `56,000 crore and growing at a fast clip of 16%. The changing social
fabric has made snacking a more legitimate and accepted norm than it earlier
was.Back in the early 60s, the homegrown brand Gits that started off as a small
family enterprise made its foray in the then almost unheard of convenience food
segment. Its maiden offering was ready to make soup powder. It almost landed us
in a soup, shares the third generation of the family and current director of
marketing and sales, Gits Food, Sahil Gilani. The concept of packaged foods itself
was ahead of its time and within that soup, even more of an international and an
alien concept. Good sense prevailed and the focus was then moved to offering
Indian cuisine that was initially pitched to the export market.

3. Contd..
Today over 60% of company sales are from domestic market. The brand that was always
perceived as a grandmother's and mother's recipe brand is looking at reaching to a far-
wider and younger segment with offerings that include breakfast and snack mixes, dessert
mixes and ready meals. Even though currently on a low base in the domestic market ready
meals are an important bridge to appeal to the youth, adds Gilani. Another brand iD Fresh
Food has also forayed in t he I ndia n ready-to cook segment with its offerings that include
products like idli and dosa batter, Malabar and whole-wheat parotas, chettinad chutneys
etc. It recently raised funds from Helion Venture Partners and is tar geting to be `1000
crore company by 2020.
In a bid to go hyper-local and yet be contemporary, the US brand Kellogg's earlier this year
had launched Pongal oats, intended to replicate Pongal, a popular break fast dish in South
India. The break fast giant's global chief executive John Bryant in a recent visit to India had
made it clear that he'd like Kellogg's to be positioned as a holistic snacking option. Clearly,
the lines of snacking consumption occasions seem to be blurring with multiple sub-
segments and brands tweaking their offerings. The ready to eat and ready to serve options
provide convenient choices for the onthe go emerging consumer.

4. Contd..
The Karnataka-based MTR Foods is taking a broad view of the ready to eat and the
ready to serve market even as it firms up its national footprint. Says Vikran
Sabherwal, vice president, marketing, MTR Foods, “We are very excited about
ready to cook segment and also confident of its success.“ It has a good chance of
succeeding, he says, since it has not been positioned as a replacement for the
housewife. The offerings include the iconic rava idli, rice idli, upma, oats idli, instant
poha amongst others and interestingly North India has emerged as it's fastest
growing market. The long term view of the brand is to occupy a space of a friend in
the kitchen for the housewife and for all occasions from breakfast to dinner and
everything in between, he adds. The pilot has already been rolled out in Karnataka,
the brand's home market.
A pertinent development in this space has been the Maggi phenomenon and its
ripples, whether direct or indirect. As per industry sources, nearly `2000 crore
worth space has been left vacant with Maggi's exit. It comprised 6%-8% of the
processed food industry.

5. Contd..
What has happened to this bellwether stock of the processed food industry
has created a unique problem for marketers. According to Devendra Chawla,
group president, food and FMCG brands, Future Group, “Brands are trying to
understand the snacking space left vacant recently by noodles and pasta and
it's not been easy to fill given the multioccasion and multi-age consumer
franchise the brand enjoyed.
Most marketers agree that it is difficult to replace or fill in this vacant space
by any one product or brand. Says Gilani, “Maggi is too big for a single brand
to take over and that void will always be there. However this crisis has put a
black dot on the entire packaged food sector.“
Just as every crisis leads to opportunities, this one may well be the hot-bed
of many innovations in the snacking space. The sweet-spot of hunger is not
going out anywhere anytime how marketers satiate it is going to be the big
challenge and also the opportunity.

6. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015