Ready to Cook Food
Content
Tata Strategic Management Group
Ready-to-eat foods market in India October 18, 2007:
Ready-to-eat foods market in India to reach Rs 2900 Cr by 2015. Tata Strategic recommends
focusing on affordability, acceptability and availability of ready-to-eat foods. Tata Strategic
Management Group, today, released its analysis on the Ready-To-Eat (RTE) foods market in India
currently worth Rs. 128Cr. (2006), expecting it to further expand to Rs 2900 Cr. by 2015. The factors
contributing to this growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation,
streamlining of taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing disposable
incomes, diminishing culinary skills and the rising need for convenience on the demand side. The
Tata Strategic report on the Ready-To-Eat (RTE) foods highlights that the RTE market in India has
remained under penetrated owing to factors like consumers‘ penchant for freshness, low affordability
and the Indian housewife‘s preference for home cooked food. The report also draws attention to the
perceived‘ taste and nutrition gap and poor range availability for the Indian consumers. Significant
RTE foods industry data highlighted in the Tata Strategic report:
Packaged foods in India have grown at approximately 7% per annum between 2000 and
2005, with Ready-to-eat foods (RTE) being the fastest growing category at CAGR 73%.
The Indian RTE foods market, canned/preserved segment is more popular, contributing to
approximately 90% of the market and growing at a CAGR of 63% between 2001 and 2006.
The chilled and dried ready meal segments are non-existent.
According to the report, the packaged foods industry in India has not experienced significant growth
due to inadequate demand arising from low household incomes and consumer preference for fresh
and home-cooked food.
Tata Strategic analysis of the Indian RTE market also put forth that the industry players would have
to significantly improve their price competitiveness with respect to other options such as domestic
help, eating out and ordering in, available to the Indian consumer. Besides price considerations, the
product range offered by industry players will have to be strengthened. At the moment the regional
cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine markets are relatively under serviced with concentration on the
vegetarian North Indian meals.
Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Practice Head- Consumer & Retail, Tata Strategic further added, ―According to
our analysis, India provides an attractive opportunity for both Indian and International players with a
mix of demand and supply side changes. If consumer demands of affordability, availability and
enhancing acceptability are met, the RTE foods market has the potential market size of Rs 2900 Cr.
by 2015 from its existing Rs. 128Cr.
Ratna Bhushan (The Hindu)
Ready-to-eat segment whets NRI appetite MADE in India. Sold in Sainsbury, Selfridges, Walmart and
Safeway. It's fast becoming a reality. For, even as the Rs 25-crore ready-to-eat packaged foods
market faces challenges back home, the category is gathering momentum overseas. From ITC's
Kitchens of India and MTR Foods, to Tasty Bites Eatables and Satnam Overseas, everyone seems to
be wanting a slice of the NRI's food pie. ITC Foods has already had a test run of its Kitchens of India
range of ready-to-serve packaged foods in Selfridges, UK. Mr Ravi Naware, Chief Executive, ITC
Foods, said, "Retailing in the UK, other European countries and the US is very much on the agenda.
Next year, we plan to begin retailing in supermarkets in the UK." Or take the Rs 130-crore MTR
Foods. "We plan to begin selling our ready-to-eat food range in Sainsbury, UK, within the next six
months," said Mr Sadananda Maiya, Chairman & Managing Director, MTR Foods. The company's
presence on the global map - at roughly 8 per cent of its sales - is currently marked by exports to the
US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan, among other countries. MTR has projected exports to
account for 20 per cent of its sales in five years. The Pune-based Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd (TBEL)
claims to be the largest-selling Indian food brand in the `natural foods' category in the US. Mr Ravi
Nigam, Executive Director and President, TBEL, attributes the brand's performance in the US to
"significant" investments on the distribution front. "We have decided to focus on our largest revenue
generator — the Ready-To-Serve (RTS) or retort packaging category," Mr Nigam added. Tasty Bite's
portfolio also includes ready-to-cook (RTC) curry pastes — already popular in western markets.
SUBHA J RAO (The Hindu)
Cooking made convenient: Want to try out a new dish on your family? Just snip away at covers to
bring home the tastes of India IT'S EIGHT in the evening, you're still in office, and some friends
have invited themselves over for dinner. What will you do? Rush home, don the apron and rustle up
something delectable? "Nah!" says Rohit, a self-confessed lover of cooking. The great stuff he churns
out in the kitchen has many of his bachelor friends lining up for home-made food. What Rohit does
now in moments of crisis is pick up ready-to-eat side dishes straight off the super market shelf and
team them up with pre-packed parathas and rotis. For dessert, he chooses from any of the readymade
ones on offer. His friends can't really make out the difference.
If you're a regular super market shopper, chances are you would've noticed the number of items on
offer in this segment growing by the day. Thanks to change in mindset on eating packed food and the
fact that no preservatives are used to extend the shelf life, more and more people, especially working
couples, are taking to ready-to-eat food in a big way.
And, the variety on offer is mindboggling. Five companies, MTR, ITC, Tasty Bite, Currie Classic
and Kohinoor, put together offer customers more than 25 options to choose from. The list goes like
this ... The modest Pongal (how does Madras lentil rice sound?), lemon rice and sambar rice share
shelf space with their North Indian and Pakistani cousins like Palace paneer, Daly Machine,
Narrating Korma, China Masala (all the way from Rawalpindi), Baghare Baigan (Hyderabad), Methi
Mutter Malai (from Agra, apparently concocted by Noor Jehan), Kashmiri Rajmah, Avial, Peas and
mushroom curry... Phew! And, this is just part of the list.
A staple offering of most companies is the ubiquitous Dal Makhni, a creamy mix of various lentils,
Indian spices and fragrant butter (Do I read like the menu card in a star restaurant?). And, that is the
fastest moving item in most stores.
These packs come in the range of Rs. 15 (for lemon rice and the like) to Rs. 40 (Palak Paneer et al).
The `Buy two get one free' scheme of ITC has caught on very well with customers, store managers
say.
M. Chellayan, Director, the Nilgiri Dairy Farm (Nilgiris), says that with more disposable income on
their hand, many middle and upper middle class people are going in for these dishes. S. Prakash,
Senior Manager of Alankar Supermarket, agrees. "We've had to replenish our stock often," he says.
Though people are open to trying out new dishes, the fact that it is pre-cooked and packed rankles
some. But, one bite and they are hooked. "I opened a packet of MTR's Bisibela bhath bravely, but
wondered how it would taste. I refused to believe that something cooked a month ago and packed,
that too without any preservatives, would still be fresh. But, one spoon was enough to make me a
convert. I now buy packed subzis when I am in the mood to eat something nice without going
through the bother of cooking," says Leena, who works in the field of medical transcription.
Indrajit Basu
It took a while to catch on, but as the country's 15-year-old globalization process brings about rapid
changes in the lifestyles of urban Indians, ready-to-eat food is fast becoming a compelling
proposition. Over the past two years, the ready-to-eat packed food market has grown from an almost
insignificant number to become a US$20-million-revenue industry in 2004. Industry players say that,
considering the current 35% growth rate, revenues in this sector can easily touch $50 million in the
next three years.
Take the instance of Mumbai-based Ruma Banerjee, a 40-year-old market research professional, who
gets her ready-to-eat curry pastes or cooked packed meals from a grocery shop at the mall next to her
office. "It's not that I do not like to cook, but with a 70-hour work week, an equally busy husband and
a 10-year-old child at home, we have little time for regular cooking," she says. For Shruti Rajam, 23,
an insurance-industry professional living alone in Chennai on her first job, time is not really a
problem. Cooking is. Shruti never had to enter the kitchen in her life when she was with her parents.
But now that she is on her own, stuffing her kitchen cabinet with ready-made food seems to be the
obvious option. "It's cool," she says, "I have become an expert at this. Even my friends think I am a
great cook."
Ruma and Shruti are part of a rapidly growing tribe of urban Indians who are increasingly shunning
the painstaking job of chopping, slicing, dicing and mixing the right ingredients, to simply picking up
a pair of scissors and snipping open a pack of a two-minute everyday Indian meal. Indeed, readymade India curries that were unheard of even a few years back occupy the pride of place in Indian
kitchens now. Brands such as ITC Aashirwad, Kitchens of India, MTR Food, Tasty Bites and Currie
Classic are not only gaining acceptance in double-income nuclear families all over India, but are also
spreading rapidly globally.
Umeshanand Giri Goswami
In 2009 Umeshanand did a research titled
Study on Brand Switching In Consumer Products and
found out that majority of the customers switch between brands in today’s scenario
and that is not because they seek thrill in doing, so instead sometimes they suffer to in
the form of not getting the expected quality and output from utilization of newly adopted
or switched brand.
The main constraints behind brand switching is manufacturers who are not able to keep
their promise to deliver better product at competitive price, marketers not able to put or
expose their product in better way and part of those producers who are not delivering
the qualitative product which makes customer looking at other brands or adopting
different brands to cater their needs.
Ready-to-eat foods market in India October 18, 2007:
Ready-to-eat foods market in India to reach Rs 2900 Cr by 2015. Tata Strategic recommends
focusing on affordability, acceptability and availability of ready-to-eat foods. Tata Strategic
Management Group, today, released its analysis on the Ready-To-Eat (RTE) foods market in India
currently worth Rs. 128Cr. (2006), expecting it to further expand to Rs 2900 Cr. by 2015. The factors
contributing to this growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation,
streamlining of taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing disposable
incomes, diminishing culinary skills and the rising need for convenience on the demand side. The
Tata Strategic report on the Ready-To-Eat (RTE) foods highlights that the RTE market in India has
remained under penetrated owing to factors like consumers‘ penchant for freshness, low affordability
and the Indian housewife‘s preference for home cooked food. The report also draws attention to the
perceived‘ taste and nutrition gap and poor range availability for the Indian consumers. Significant
RTE foods industry data highlighted in the Tata Strategic report:
Packaged foods in India have grown at approximately 7% per annum between 2000 and
2005, with Ready-to-eat foods (RTE) being the fastest growing category at CAGR 73%.
The Indian RTE foods market, canned/preserved segment is more popular, contributing to
approximately 90% of the market and growing at a CAGR of 63% between 2001 and 2006.
The chilled and dried ready meal segments are non-existent.
According to the report, the packaged foods industry in India has not experienced significant growth
due to inadequate demand arising from low household incomes and consumer preference for fresh
and home-cooked food.
Tata Strategic analysis of the Indian RTE market also put forth that the industry players would have
to significantly improve their price competitiveness with respect to other options such as domestic
help, eating out and ordering in, available to the Indian consumer. Besides price considerations, the
product range offered by industry players will have to be strengthened. At the moment the regional
cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine markets are relatively under serviced with concentration on the
vegetarian North Indian meals.
Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Practice Head- Consumer & Retail, Tata Strategic further added, ―According to
our analysis, India provides an attractive opportunity for both Indian and International players with a
mix of demand and supply side changes. If consumer demands of affordability, availability and
enhancing acceptability are met, the RTE foods market has the potential market size of Rs 2900 Cr.
by 2015 from its existing Rs. 128Cr.
Ratna Bhushan (The Hindu)
Ready-to-eat segment whets NRI appetite MADE in India. Sold in Sainsbury, Selfridges, Walmart and
Safeway. It's fast becoming a reality. For, even as the Rs 25-crore ready-to-eat packaged foods
market faces challenges back home, the category is gathering momentum overseas. From ITC's
Kitchens of India and MTR Foods, to Tasty Bites Eatables and Satnam Overseas, everyone seems to
be wanting a slice of the NRI's food pie. ITC Foods has already had a test run of its Kitchens of India
range of ready-to-serve packaged foods in Selfridges, UK. Mr Ravi Naware, Chief Executive, ITC
Foods, said, "Retailing in the UK, other European countries and the US is very much on the agenda.
Next year, we plan to begin retailing in supermarkets in the UK." Or take the Rs 130-crore MTR
Foods. "We plan to begin selling our ready-to-eat food range in Sainsbury, UK, within the next six
months," said Mr Sadananda Maiya, Chairman & Managing Director, MTR Foods. The company's
presence on the global map - at roughly 8 per cent of its sales - is currently marked by exports to the
US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan, among other countries. MTR has projected exports to
account for 20 per cent of its sales in five years. The Pune-based Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd (TBEL)
claims to be the largest-selling Indian food brand in the `natural foods' category in the US. Mr Ravi
Nigam, Executive Director and President, TBEL, attributes the brand's performance in the US to
"significant" investments on the distribution front. "We have decided to focus on our largest revenue
generator — the Ready-To-Serve (RTS) or retort packaging category," Mr Nigam added. Tasty Bite's
portfolio also includes ready-to-cook (RTC) curry pastes — already popular in western markets.
SUBHA J RAO (The Hindu)
Cooking made convenient: Want to try out a new dish on your family? Just snip away at covers to
bring home the tastes of India IT'S EIGHT in the evening, you're still in office, and some friends
have invited themselves over for dinner. What will you do? Rush home, don the apron and rustle up
something delectable? "Nah!" says Rohit, a self-confessed lover of cooking. The great stuff he churns
out in the kitchen has many of his bachelor friends lining up for home-made food. What Rohit does
now in moments of crisis is pick up ready-to-eat side dishes straight off the super market shelf and
team them up with pre-packed parathas and rotis. For dessert, he chooses from any of the readymade
ones on offer. His friends can't really make out the difference.
If you're a regular super market shopper, chances are you would've noticed the number of items on
offer in this segment growing by the day. Thanks to change in mindset on eating packed food and the
fact that no preservatives are used to extend the shelf life, more and more people, especially working
couples, are taking to ready-to-eat food in a big way.
And, the variety on offer is mindboggling. Five companies, MTR, ITC, Tasty Bite, Currie Classic
and Kohinoor, put together offer customers more than 25 options to choose from. The list goes like
this ... The modest Pongal (how does Madras lentil rice sound?), lemon rice and sambar rice share
shelf space with their North Indian and Pakistani cousins like Palace paneer, Daly Machine,
Narrating Korma, China Masala (all the way from Rawalpindi), Baghare Baigan (Hyderabad), Methi
Mutter Malai (from Agra, apparently concocted by Noor Jehan), Kashmiri Rajmah, Avial, Peas and
mushroom curry... Phew! And, this is just part of the list.
A staple offering of most companies is the ubiquitous Dal Makhni, a creamy mix of various lentils,
Indian spices and fragrant butter (Do I read like the menu card in a star restaurant?). And, that is the
fastest moving item in most stores.
These packs come in the range of Rs. 15 (for lemon rice and the like) to Rs. 40 (Palak Paneer et al).
The `Buy two get one free' scheme of ITC has caught on very well with customers, store managers
say.
M. Chellayan, Director, the Nilgiri Dairy Farm (Nilgiris), says that with more disposable income on
their hand, many middle and upper middle class people are going in for these dishes. S. Prakash,
Senior Manager of Alankar Supermarket, agrees. "We've had to replenish our stock often," he says.
Though people are open to trying out new dishes, the fact that it is pre-cooked and packed rankles
some. But, one bite and they are hooked. "I opened a packet of MTR's Bisibela bhath bravely, but
wondered how it would taste. I refused to believe that something cooked a month ago and packed,
that too without any preservatives, would still be fresh. But, one spoon was enough to make me a
convert. I now buy packed subzis when I am in the mood to eat something nice without going
through the bother of cooking," says Leena, who works in the field of medical transcription.
Indrajit Basu
It took a while to catch on, but as the country's 15-year-old globalization process brings about rapid
changes in the lifestyles of urban Indians, ready-to-eat food is fast becoming a compelling
proposition. Over the past two years, the ready-to-eat packed food market has grown from an almost
insignificant number to become a US$20-million-revenue industry in 2004. Industry players say that,
considering the current 35% growth rate, revenues in this sector can easily touch $50 million in the
next three years.
Take the instance of Mumbai-based Ruma Banerjee, a 40-year-old market research professional, who
gets her ready-to-eat curry pastes or cooked packed meals from a grocery shop at the mall next to her
office. "It's not that I do not like to cook, but with a 70-hour work week, an equally busy husband and
a 10-year-old child at home, we have little time for regular cooking," she says. For Shruti Rajam, 23,
an insurance-industry professional living alone in Chennai on her first job, time is not really a
problem. Cooking is. Shruti never had to enter the kitchen in her life when she was with her parents.
But now that she is on her own, stuffing her kitchen cabinet with ready-made food seems to be the
obvious option. "It's cool," she says, "I have become an expert at this. Even my friends think I am a
great cook."
Ruma and Shruti are part of a rapidly growing tribe of urban Indians who are increasingly shunning
the painstaking job of chopping, slicing, dicing and mixing the right ingredients, to simply picking up
a pair of scissors and snipping open a pack of a two-minute everyday Indian meal. Indeed, readymade India curries that were unheard of even a few years back occupy the pride of place in Indian
kitchens now. Brands such as ITC Aashirwad, Kitchens of India, MTR Food, Tasty Bites and Currie
Classic are not only gaining acceptance in double-income nuclear families all over India, but are also
spreading rapidly globally.
Umeshanand Giri Goswami
In 2009 Umeshanand did a research titled
Study on Brand Switching In Consumer Products and
found out that majority of the customers switch between brands in today’s scenario
and that is not because they seek thrill in doing, so instead sometimes they suffer to in
the form of not getting the expected quality and output from utilization of newly adopted
or switched brand.
The main constraints behind brand switching is manufacturers who are not able to keep
their promise to deliver better product at competitive price, marketers not able to put or
expose their product in better way and part of those producers who are not delivering
the qualitative product which makes customer looking at other brands or adopting
different brands to cater their needs.
