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Indians have sweet tooth, are open to experiments with tastes of cakes
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Saturday, 15 November, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Christian Chadwick
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fiogf49gjkf0d Eating habits in India are largely based on tradition and culture, which are now evolving with more people following the western trend of eating out. People now like to go out often and eat with their friends and family, which has lead to an influx of popular western food brands in India.
The Indian economy is growing steadily, and consumers have higher disposable incomes, and hence, greater purchasing power. The consumers are well-travelled, have discerning tastes and are more conscious of the brands they consume and willing to pay more for premium brands.
Traditionally, India has a sweet tooth. This reflects in the consumer’s choice here in cakes and other sweet products.
Indian sweets are mostly prepared using sugar and milk though ingredients may vary region-wise. For example, in the eastern states, most sweets are made of milk, but down south, ingredients like coconut are often used.
Seldom sticking to basics, taste palettes have evolved, and people are more eager to try out new products and are open to experimenting with newer tastes and variants.
And this is what we are offering to our discerning consumers at Whipped, a premium lifestyle dessert café based in New Delhi.
It is a unit of SWS Hospitality Pvt Ltd, and unique concept in India, aimed at people who look for flavour, innovation, expertise and fun when it comes to their desserts.
Whipped, which specialises in authentic baked cheesecakes and handcrafted desserts made from the finest ingredients, uses old-school recipes with a twist!
Our product portfolio includes a wide range of cakes for our diverse audiences.
Traditionally, our best-selling cake has been the Triple Decker cheesecake. We introduced a twosome Belgian chocolate cake (a rich, smooth chocolate cake made with a brownie base and a chocolate cream cheese centre, topped with java chip flake).
Other offerings include the Oreo crunch cheese cake (a mascarpone baked cheesecake topped with Oreo cookies and cream) and the Peppermint Chocolate Cheesecake.
Our winter menu comprises Matcha Green Tea Cheesecake, Marble Cheesecake and Oreo Foreplay Cheesecake.
Our menu also includes Red Velvet Cheesecake; Mistress Chocolate Cheese Cake, Banoffee Pie Cake, New York Cheese Cake, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Fresh Fruit Gateau, Java Chip Cake, Coco Kahlua Mousse Cake and Bailey’s Alamode Cake.
A few of these cakes have been freshly introduced in India, and have received a positive response from the consumers here.
People are eager to try out new things, experiment with food and sweets.
At Whipped, we constantly innovate and strive to match Indian consumers’ developing taste preferences by offering more choices and diversifying our portfolio to provide international and national cakes and ice creams which become the first choice of the consumers here.
In the ice cream category, we have a mix comprising Manhattan Cheesecake; Java Chip, Mixed Berry, Brownies and Cream, Tiramisu and Mint Choco Chip.
A few of these flavours have been introduced to the Indian market especially keeping in mind the demand for variety and the propensity to try something new.
People have gone beyond the vanillas and strawberries of the world, and we are happy to discover here that the taste palates of the audience has developed, and they are more open to non- traditional varieties in sweets and desserts.
There is a demand here for non-conventional ice creams and cakes and an opportunity for the players in the Indian sweet market to offer more innovations.
On Indian festive occasions such as Diwali and Raksha Bandhan, Indian sweets dominated the market earlier.
But of late, we have now seen a rising demand for non-traditional Indian sweets and desserts.. Customers have ordered cakes from us on Indian festivals like Diwali, and a few of them also ordered customised cakes at such festivities.
Since eating habits in India have a lot to do with religion and culture, another trend spotted here is that during festivals like Navratri, people prefer to eat vegetarian food and avoid non-vegetarian food and even eggs.
Keeping this in mind, we offer a wide variety of eggless cakes all year round to cater to the many vegetarians in India, and offer extra eggless options during festivals.
A unique offering at Whipped is our designer special cakes. While designer cakes are a concept very popular outside India, it has been catching up in India too.
People order customised cakes on their weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other festive or special occasions. The trouble is getting a good professional cake in India.
But Whipped has gradually worked towards making its designer cakes neat and professional carving a name for our brand in the dessert market.
We receive orders in bulk for birthdays and weddings where the brief is either to recreate special memories from the past or replicate a special theme to make their loved ones feel special.
Over the years, Indian consumers have become more demanding and pay enough attention to packaging and innovation.
Hence, we launched cakes in jars in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and other major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
Through our website, our customers can order all varieties of cakes across Delhi and the NCR and the other major cities mentioned above.
We ensure that the quality of cakes in jars is at par with our other cakes and offer the same eating delight.
Product packaging too plays an important role. Discerning consumers today are looking for brands that reflect one’s image, and product packaging plays a significant role in driving the brand choice.
People first eat and drink with their eyes, so packaging must first create disruption and desire, and the final product must then deliver on the expectation.
Over time, packaging should also build long-term icons of the brand.
The Indian sweet and bakery market has immense growth potential and is on a fast growth trajectory.
Many foreign bakery brands have set up their base in India to capitalise on this opportunity, and are serving the consumers non-traditional varieties.
The adult consumption of sweets is also growing steadily here, like in the West, and companies are launching new products that appeal equally to adults.
Baked products have become very popular in India and are expected to grow further.
(The author is director, Whipped)
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