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Rising Indian working class presents opportunity for ready-to-eat food
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Friday, 22 August, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Manish Malhotra & Vaibhav Verma
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fiogf49gjkf0d The dependence of Indians, especially in the urban areas, on ready-to-eat foods is growing these days due to the fact that the workforce now comprises both men and women, who work long hours and need to depend upon such foods, which can be prepared within minutes. Interestingly, rising incomes have also made them affordable.
A wide range of foods has penetrated the market. These are available in a variety of packaging formats and at different retail formats and price points. Indians now carry cartons of ready-to-eat products overseas, because Indian food is either rate or expensive (or both).
Benefits of RTE foods
Convenience: Nowadays, the lives of people have become too hectic. They leave early every morning for work and return late at night, and as a result, have little or no time to enter the kitchen and prepare something for themselves or their children. Now, with ready-to-eat foods, people need not skip meals or compromise as far as their health is concerned.
Nutrition: Many people prefer ready-to-eat cereals for breakfast, as they provide a good amount of nutrition in the form of necessary vitamins (such as Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12) and minerals (such as iron). Apart from providing the necessary nutrition, it also helps keep weight in check. Moreover, they are a healthy substitute to eggs.
Available throughout the year: Ready-to-eat foods are available throughout the year vis-a-vis traditional foods.
Safe and hygienic to eat: Apart from small and medium-sized companies, ready-to-eat foods are also manufactured by big multinational companies (MNC), who follow strict quality norms. Thus, it is very safe to eat ready-to-eat food of good brands.
Can be taken anywhere: Ready-to-eat foods can be even taken to places where they are not grown or available. It is especially useful for travellers.
As people walk down the food aisles of modern trade formats, it is natural for them to be fascinated by the attractive packs of various ready-to-eat brands. These type of foods are becoming popular, because they saves time and labour, have an extended shelf life and are available off the market shelves. Some of the brands are Yippee, Bingo and Maggi.
The retorting or sterilisation process (i.e. the process that destroys all the harmful microorganisms and increases the shelf life of food) ensures the stability of ready-to-eat foods in retort pouches, on the shelves and at room temperature.
Categories of ready-to-eat food
Convenience foods could basically be classified into two categories. These are as follows:
- Shelf-stable convenience food, and
- Frozen convenience food
Shelf-stable convenience foods are further classified as
- Ready-to-eat and ready-to-serve foods: These include idli, dosa, pav bhaji, meat products like pre-cooked sausages, ham and chicken products, curries, chapattis, rice and vegetables like aloo chole, navratan kurma and chana masala
- Ready-to-cook foods: These include instant mixes like cake mix, gulab-jamun mix, falooda mix, ice-cream mix, jelly mix and pudding mix, and pasta products like noodles, macaroni and vermicelli.
The major players in the ready-to-eat food sector include
- McCain India
- MTR Foods Pvt Ltd
- Haldiram Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd
- PepsiCo Ltd
- Britannia India Ltd
- Cadbury India
- Parle Products
- ITC Ltd
- Venky's India Ltd
- Godrej Tyson Foods Ltd
There are a number of ready-to-eat options. You can choose from North Indian delicacies like rajma chawal, chole paratha and dal makhani or South Indian dishes like upma, masala dosa and Kerala paratha. Paneer tikka, dal fry, methi mutter masala, biryani, dal makhni and Delhi-style palak paneer are all-time favourites with urban Indians.
Haldiram recently launched a new product line called Minute Khanna. Manufactures have tried to adopt the tastes of different regions of India. For instance, McCain’s range includes aloo tikki and idli sambar; MTR’s comprises Pongal from Tamil Nadu, Aloo Methi from North India and Bisi Bele Bhat from Karnataka, and ITC offers ready-to-eat products from the menus at its restaurants, Bukhara and Dum Pukht.
The Internet has been able to change your life to a great extent in the recent years, and today, it has even been able to change the way you enjoy your favorite cuisines. If one orders ready-to-eat foods online, there is no limit to the variety of ready-to-eat foods that can be ordered online. Moreover, these can be relished at the consumer’s convenience, are of a good quality and may be available at a discount.
Processed foods are foodstuffs that have been changed from their natural forms keeping in mind both the safety and the convenience of those eating them. It is a misconception that eating processed foods is bad for health. In fact, it is as healthy as fresh foods.
Many spices are used to prepare Indian foods, which makes them very tasty. Machinery of a high quality guarantee smooth production and high levels of efficiency, while ensuring the quality of the product.
Some of the extensive production range includes Omet meat blenders from Italy, Meisner bowl cutter, Risco and Magurit meat breaking machines from Germany and Italy.
ITC’s brand Kitchens of India set the trend of taking Indian cuisine beyond the country’s shores. Connoisseurs of Indian cuisines can now taste this fare in such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Tanzania, Canada and Australia.
MTR Foods, whose range currently comprises 22 Indian dishes, including curries, gravies and rice, is among the top five processed food manufacturers in India.
The company markets and exports a wide range of packaged foods to global markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The rise in fruit and vegetable prices has helped ready-to-eat foods to emerge as an easy substitute for consumers as they tend to be comparatively cheaper.
The growing retail market is another major reason for the expansion of the ready-to-eat food market. The growth rate and revenue is expected to be high over the next five years.
With the expansion of the market, more and more players are venturing into this segment. Given their hectic lifestyles, more and more consumers are opting for ready-to-eat foods, thereby offering tremendous growth prospects for the players involved.
(The authors are assistant professors, Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology)
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