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Maiya's plans expansion with Rs 60 crore production plant, world forays
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Thursday, 22 September, 2011, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
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Maiya's, a new initiative by Dr Sadananda Maiya, a leading food technocrat, has chalked out an aggressive growth plan for its restaurant and processed food business divisions. The plan includes a greenfield project for a state-of-the-art production plant at an investment of Rs 60 crore and a distribution network to foray into the national and international markets. The products are manufactured using innovative technologies like vacuum frying and oil removal after frying. There is also infusion of nanotechnology which will provide the much-needed taste and health to consumers.
While Maiya’s Beverages and Foods Private Limited will focus on processed foods, its restaurant operates under the brand name Maiya’s.
Currently, the processed food arm is engaged in the production of traditional savories and sweets. There are 50 products and 65 stock keeping units. The range comprises traditional snacks from each state covering the delicacies from the northern, eastern and western parts of the country. A large variety of these are represented from Karnataka.
“We are working to offer another 35 products taking the range to 100 products. These are manufactured at a facility in Bangalore with a current capacity of 65 tonnes for savouries and 30 tonnes of sweets per month. As part of its international foray, the company will enter Japan, Australia, Africa, the US, the Middle-East and the Southeast Asian region. To begin with, product samples have been cleared by Japan and the Singapore teams have inspected the premises,” explained Dr Maiya to FnB News.
The market size for snacks covering savouries and sweets is estimated at Rs 1,500 crore with organised players like Haldiram’s, Frito Lay India, SM Foods, PepsiCo, Parle, Prakash Foods, and Balaji Wafers. “What will set us apart is the technology, adherence to stringent quality, from procurement to production, standard measures of contents like cashew, almond and groundnut in the savouries and pricing which is on par with the competitors,” he added.
The company is gearing up to set up its modern plant located on the Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, for which the construction commences in November and commissioning in April. The fully automated facility with no human intervention at any stage would provide a ten-fold increase in capacity. It will be HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), ISO 22000 and British Retail Consortium-compliant.
“We need to revive the tradition of the authenticity of recipes by leveraging food technology, consistency in food quality and taste. There is a major research component going into each of the products. Our gameplan is to build a strong presence not just in India but abroad over the next five years where we have set a target of generating revenues to the tune of around Rs 400 crore,” said Dr Maiya.
In his capacity as a food technocrat, Dr Maiya‘s interest in food technology led him to start a Centre for Food Science and Research recognised by the Tumkur University. The centre offers doctorate programme in food science and technology. “The need of the hour is to meet the growing shortfall of food science experts. Our new plant will also help the doctorate students to have hands-on training to gain industrial experience,” he said.
The restaurant business covering a snacks counter and coffee outlet - Maiya’s - located in south Bangalore will expand to 6 locations in Bangalore, according to him.
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