Where to search the source?

If you are opening a new restaurant for the first time, then understanding how best to go about food storage will be an important priority. It is believed that around 4-10 per cent of food in restaurants does not end up being served to the customer. One of the main reasons for this is due to spoilage and staff error. Having an excellent food storage system in place and ensuring that all staffs are well trained is therefore key to minimising waste. Food storage is of course inextricably linked to food safety, so getting the basics right from the get-go and ensuring that everything is running smoothly behind the scenes is an essential part of the process.

Keep all storage dry and dark: All food products, whether it’s dry goods or cold products, should always be stored away from sunlight exposure. This helps with temperature control and stops food from spoiling or losing some of its nutritional value. To help preserve product quality, humidity levels should always stay under 15 per cent. Air conditioning and moisture-proof packaging are good ways to help maintain the right temperature levels.

Monitoring humidity levels: Keeping a hygrometer in your storage areas is one of the best ways to monitor humidity levels and ensure that they stay consistent. If you spot any damp or mould problems in any areas of the kitchen or storage spaces, then this will need to be addressed as soon as possible as any mould should be removed as a priority. This way, you can ensure that your practices are hygienic, and comply with food safety regulations.

Store food based on cooking temperatures: The higher the temperature of the cooked food, the lower the fridge storage shelf. The bottom three shelves are reserved for raw animal products. All seafood, beef, pork, veal, lamb and eggs should be stored third from the bottom, ground or marinated meats on the second, and poultry on the bottom shelf. Dry storage temperatures should be kept between 50° and 70° F, freezers should have an internal temperature of 0° F at most, while fridge temperatures should be kept between 32° and 40° F to prevent bacterial growth. Any hot storage must keep food at a minimum of 140° F.

Stock rotation and labeling: Stock rotation is every restaurant’s first line of defense against spoiled food being served to customers. To ensure that all your food stock is of the highest quality and to prevent food wastage, all staff needs to follow the "FIFO" rule – first in, first out. This means that any newly delivered food should always be placed behind older food to ensure that the system works correctly.

These are some of the most basic and essential food storage guidelines to get you going; however, it is crucial to conduct thorough research to make sure that every single box is ticked. This way, you can ensure that your restaurant is fully sustainable, and customers are always happy and coming back for more!  

Tell us about Ray Honey and what is its uniqueness?

Ray honey is not a commercial honey. It is an organic, raw, unfiltered and wild forest honey. So I don’t need to explain the other terms but when I say it’s not a commercial honey I mean it’s unprocessed, it comes straight from the bee boxes which is not filtered nor processed, its raw honey. Secondly, as I said wild forests so these wild forests have a rich diversity of flora that allows the bees to collect pollens from various types of flowers and use them to make honey. The natural honey produced by this process is far superior and healthier as compared to the honey that is produced in most commercial farms. Another thing which distinguishes Ray honey is that only the best of uncontaminated honeycombs are hand-picked to obtain the honey, without using any unnecessary chemical processes. This also lends Ray honey better quality, compared to other brands of honey in the market.

How are you using Easy Snap technology. What’s its USP?

This is also one of the uniqueness of Ray honey that it is an easy snap technology. This makes the honey available in single sachets which are used with one-hand-sachet-opening technique. This innovative method of packaging honey in slim individual sachets is unmatched by any other brand in the Indian market. All one had to do is bend/fold the sachet in half and squeeze to let the honey out. These sachets are for one time use. Due to their ease of portability and leak-proof designs, these Ray honey sachets are perfect to be carried while travelling so Ray honey is more about convenience.

How is the packaging done?

We’ve a very specialized equipment which we bought from Europe and the entire packing process happens in that. The honey and the packing material goes in the equipment and it does the job.

What was the whole idea behind one-hand sachet?

The whole idea behind one-hand sachet is more of convenience as organic and raw honey is quite expensive and also if there’s a bottle of honey you have to take it in a considerable quantity whereas in the case of Ray honey you don’t have to worry about the quantity as it’s a one hand sachet which makes it convenient and mess free.

What is the price range?

Ray honey will be available in the market soon in two variants- one box of 10 sachets and one box of 30 sachets, which in itself would be a box of three 10-sachets boxes. A Box of 10 sachets- Rs. 150 /- , A Box of 30 sachets- Rs. 430/-

What is the market availability of the product? How about HORECA and retail tie-ups?

Ray honey is available in supermarkets, hypermarkets and online portals such as Amazon, Flipkart and Big Basket, etc. We haven’t really got into HORECA right now because we are still developing our institutional team but as soon as we develop our team we will be soon getting into HORECA and we’re already there in retail stores so honey will be launched in the coming week. We’ve started the listing procedures in most of the modern trade retail outlets like Godrej Nature’s Basket, Big Bazaar, etc.

As you mentioned that it is 100% organic honey with no preservatives. From where did you collect the honey?

It is collected from bees that roam free in the tropical jungles that border Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. 

Where do you do the processing of the honey? Do you have a manufacturing plant?

We’ve tie ups with organic farmers who have their bee boxes and  the moment they get enough collection of honey it comes straight to our plant from the forest for the packing because we’re not processing anything. So we can call it as a packaging plant.

Who do you see as the right target for your kind of a product?

Anybody who is health conscious, quality conscious and who prefers convenience.

What trend do you see in 2019 when it comes to healthy and natural eating options?

I think we’re all already adapting to healthy lifestyle because as you know our breads are no more white bread they are either whole wheat or multi –grain and same with the biscuits which are either digestive or multigrain. We all are already changing and people have become more health conscious. We cannot change our lifestyles or society pressures but we can always change our habits by adapting healthy ones.

What’s your expansion plan?

Right now we’re ready with our production and the packaging so the idea is to first place the products in our network of thirteen cities at present which includes Metro tier 1 and tier 2 and then we definitely plan to get into rest of India.

Over the years people have become much more conscious about what they eat and the calorie content in their diet. No matter if they are eating at a restaurant or travelling with a mini meal kit they want to know the calorie count in their food intake. To cut short, they are looking for low calorie options and diets. Going by this global trend stevia came into existence which is turning out to be a trending product when it comes to low calorie sweetener.  PureCircle which started as a biotech company by a Russian to envisaged situation where the big companies are going to come back for calorie reduction or sugar reduction and needed a natural sweetener. The group went to different regulatory authorities from 2000 to 2008 showing them all the scientific studies and data that said stevia is safe. US FDA was the first to approve stevia as a sweetener and since then all the major countries approved it. Now, stevia is available in 65 countries and more than 5 billion consumers are already consuming it globally. After four years of struggle the product is now approved by the food regulatory body in India to market and enter the Indian market. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Tell us something about Pure Circle and what do you do?

PureCircle is one of the leading producers of high purity innovation driven stevia ingredients. Since 2011, the company has provided enough stevia to eliminate 1.3 trillion calories from global diets. We take out the sweet part of stevia leaves and purify and extract out of it and identify that there are 40 such molecules in each of the leaves which is a natural sweetener.  PureCircle is a leading company that is completely into the mining and refining of stevia leaves and bringing it as commercially viable sweetener and in some cases also as a natural flavor.

Why stevia? Sugar is also a natural component.

There is no doubt that sugar is also a natural sweetener but it has high calorie count that is the major issue. But sweetener like stevia has a low calorie and that’s the difference we are trying to bring to the society. We are on the move to educate people about the benefits of the product.

How are you trying to place stevia in the market?

We are not a niche player and are not looking to make stevia as a product that will settle for certain class of consumers. Our company’s vision is to mainstream stevia as next mass natural sweetener, see it in kitchens replacing sugar and sugar products. And, I think it is a great ingredient and we need to create awareness about the product.  We are starting with baby steps first and will introduce the ingredient in the market. Globally, in countries like Europe, the US and in some parts of Asia customers have already taken 30-40% off existing products using stevia and the awareness is building.

Will you be setting up a facility here in India?

Our hope is to generate the demand to justify the leaf base and extraction plan. We are already churning the trial in Gurgaon. And, in the next few years we will actually have large firms here and maybe able to supply either for an extraction plant here or in China.Right now the white stevia powder is being exported from Malaysia to India and is used by the food manufacturers.

Do you think that you need to work on the branding?

We are strong enough on the brand side. It’s a 100 year old company with strong heritage and presence. We want to provide the goodness of this miraculous plant to the whole country as India as a country faces a lot of public health challenges, environmental challenges and this is one of those things which really help the farmer in terms of income and it gets adopted as a mainstream sweetener giving a higher income to the farmer.

Where can we see stevia being grown in India?

Hundreds of acres of stevia are being grown in India at places like Karnataka, Sikkim and Gujarat to name a few. Stevia is called by many names including Madhupatra, Mithi Tulsi, Madhupatti, Seeni Tulsi in different parts of the country. And, we are here to create that awareness.

How much finished product is extracted from a given amount of raw leaves?

Typically if you have 20 thousand metric tons of leaves you can end up making 2000 metric tons of final products. So our global capacity of extracting finished product is about to get doubled with our new plant coming in for looking close from 4000 metric tons of finished products.

Are you planning to shift to B2C Company?

No, we are a very clearly B2B company and we work behind these companies and brands to help them manufacture products. So it is the companies that we support. And, globally we are suppliers to some of the big names in the market. 

In the past years, the demand of the beverages was not high but in the recent times we are seeing an immense change in the entire market scenario, according to the India Food Report 2016, the market for beverages in India is close to 1, 95,000 Cr and is growing at a rate of 20–23 per cent. As the beverage industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian market and it is expected to grow at a steady pace till the year 2020.  With the immense growth in beverage sector there’s one more brand which is stepping in India. After setting a benchmark in Dubai, Heilo Beverages Pvt. Ltd. is launching Peaur in India.

In conversation with Restaurantindia.in, Piyush Mathur, Founder and Managing Director, Heilo Beverages Pvt. Ltd talks about the brand’s marketing strategy and future plans.

As you know India has a huge market for beverages, what keeps Peaur beverages apart from other competitor brands?
Our philosophy is “More in Every Drop” that keeps us apart from our competitors. We are driven to provide the purest form of beverage across categories. For our natural mineral water there is no purification process involved so nothing is added or removed from the point of extraction. Water in the bottle is the same water extracted from the source. Every drop of Peaur is untouched! It comes straight from the banks of River Ganges from extraction to packaging everything happens at Rishikesh with highest levels of hygiene standards. Our extraction plant and the packaging unit are close to avoid the entry of any impurities in our products.

Even our juices that we provide to our customers is as pure and natural as it can get with no adulteration or added chemicals, we do not use any added flavors and the packaging is also one of a kind, we use UV protected steel can containers to keep the product safe from impurities and away from any risk of contamination.

How the idea behind the brand incepted?
Peaur is not just a fancy logo or a badge as a brand. My ideology as a member of Hielo Beverages India is to provide the beverage which interacts, engages and be merited on the basis of its quality and the panache factor. Peaur is one such discovery that evolves and extends as a rage to emerge as the finest producer of premium natural drinks in India including but not limited to natural mineral water, natural nectar based fruit juices, natural flavored vitamin rich water and sparkling water as its spread of winged varieties.

Being new in Indian market, how you’re planning to expand the roots of your brand in F&B industry? 
The assured future plans and as a practice as I say will keep sipping Peaur. And as the growth demands after addressing to the commitment in India by tapping promising market of Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities, we shall explore and make India proud with our Peaur products globally. As per the market trends and needs we stand open for all sorts of marketing and collaboration that makes Peaur reach and emerges as a need of every mankind. Hielo Beverages India Private Limited is an organization which determines to contribute the industry of Food and Beverages in India. Hielo Beverages India takes pride in addressing the society and the consumers by offering the finest assortment of high grade-high purity products via Peaur.

In current scenario beverage sector is on the higher side, what major challenges do you see in the market to grow?
As I express, challenges makes you deliver the best out of you. Having said that I took the challenge of touching the industry which conveys the risk and adaptation to self and the organization that may emerge as a harsh encounter while organizing and structuring the thought into the invention of the Peaur-fect (perfect) product. The major challenge was to help people distinguish between packaged drinking water and natural spring mountain water with its benefits to the mankind as a high rich mineral contributor to the soul.

Addressing, the fruit juices where every whiff and granule is naturally sourced adding no adulterants, preservatives, and chemicals was to be educated to the end consumers. In a nutshell, positioning and selling a premium range and a priced beverage in India was not going to be an easy task, but with our determination and commitment to create a healthy world being in future we take this challenge as our pride.

What quality standards you’re maintaining in your beverages? How & where they got manufactured?
We at Peaur strive to provide our customers with a variety of beverages that suit their needs and consumption. We have various products across different categories, firstly, Natural Mineral water that is available in 250ml, 500ml and a 1-litre bottle. We have also introduced sparkling water packaged in a luxurious glass bottle. We would be launching our Fruit Juices in a variety of flavors such as mixed fruit, peach, apple and mango in 200ml and 240ml bottles. Finally to cater to the health conscious and fitness enthusiasts we have Vitamin water product available in a standard 500ml bottle.

A good packaging is extremely essential from a utility point of view to ensure the product quality is maintained through transportation. Further, an attractively packaged product has the power to influence the purchasing decision of the customer. A lot of purchases made in the FMCG category are driven by impulse, therefore a good quality and attractive packaging goes a long way in connecting with the consumers.

A FMCG manufacturer must ensure that the packaging can protect the products from getting damaged from the pollutants in present in the environment. Also, the packaging must be done in the most hygienic condition with good quality material.

What will be the price range of the products?
PEAUR has to offer so much to the community through its Natural Mineral Water available in 250ml, 500ml packaging sizes while meeting the international standards for domestic consumption and separate packaging is done for exporting the goods at international platforms. For 1 liter PET bottle of Natural Mineral Water pricing at rupees 80.

Our premium products are also available in Sparkling Natural Mineral Water available in 250ml, 500ml and 1 liter packed in PET bottles and Nectar Based Fruit Juices available in the flavors of Peach, Orange, Pineapple, Alphonso Mango at rupees 50 for 240ml packed in cans. For 1 liter PET bottle of Sparkling Natural Mineral Water pricing at rupees 160.

What will be the marketing strategy in the initial phase? Do share the other phases too.
Our marketing strategy is to understand customer’s desires and their way of living for which strings to connectivity is quintessential. By getting in constant touch with our customers keep us assured that it is done in the best possible way. Distributing PEAUR tomajor departmental stores and online portals throughout the country and in international platforms as well is the current strategy that we hold within all the teams and departments.

A few key cities where we will be distributing PEAUR are Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and more to explore, overseas distribution strategy being one of the strategies.

What all things come along in designing your restaurant menu?

While designing the restaurant menu we have considered four parameters giving ample choices of vegetarian & non vegetarian dishes, the second parameters with lots of selection in appetizer’s Soups, main course & Dessert. The third parameters we consider about pricing- value for money, the fourth parameters we consider about our signature dishes – ancient recipe from royal family of Bhopal.

What menu tweaks are you planning to introduce to stand at Jehan Numa Palace?

We are constantly upgrading with the new trends in industry such as promotions, food festivals, brunches, private lounge party, and invitee DJ Night and on feed back of guest we are introducing special menu, day’s special menu as well as occasion menu - valentine day menu, Holi Milan menu, father’s day menu, mother’s day brunch, friendship day menu, Rakhi special menu and October feast, Christmas eve jingle bell night, Christmas Lunch menu & New Year Eve menu.

Please tell something about the supply chain management in your hotel. Who are the suppliers?

Supply chain management is very important for smooth operation in our hotel. We get all our ingredients from reputed company with brand such as Nestle, Heinz, Unilever, Dabur, Weikfield, Figaro etc. We take utmost care on our delivery services whether it is a cold chain or a dry chain supplies, we store the items as per requirement of the product, we also follow the system of first in last out so to control on expiry of products. We also maintain a par stock, minimum order and maximum order with help of bin card.

Comment something on the involvement of senses in the restaurant?

The involvement of senses in the restaurant depends upon each guests, i.e. the complete dining experience, it means ambience, music, presentation, colour, taste, delivery time and the skills of service. Some guest like natural ambience, some guest live kitchen and likes to know what the cooks are cooking for them.

What are the different types of cuisines served at your restaurant?

We serve different cuisines in different restaurant such as Barbeque and mughlai cuisine served at Under The Mango tree, which is an open air restaurant, Shahnama is a multi cuisine restaurant with a buffet & A la carte service with a selection of Indian, Oriental and Continental dishes. La kuchina is a Live kitchen restaurant with Sicilian style decor which serves’ incredibly authentic Italian & Mediterranean cuisine, Cafechino is a friendly Cafe and patisserie with wide selection of quick bite menu and has a sitting arrangements of indoor as well as garden lounge.

It is said that “sales in Indian restaurants are dropping.” What are the reasons for this?

The welcoming of MNC and Chain restaurants which are quick service brands are the major reason for dropping down the sale of Indian restaurants. The competition on price war is another reason.

Tell something about your journey in the world of food.

I had a passion towards food since my childhood and I started cooking when I was 13. The charm, glimpse, respect, passion and the growth of the industry inspired me to become an F & B professional. It’s a long journey of 25 years of professional & dedication approach towards the guests and recognition by the guest in the world of food. Presently performing as Food & Beverage Manager with Jehan Numa Group of Hotels which involves opening of new property & outlets and elevation of operation of F & B Services with an award from Trip advisor for all three restaurants in 2106 accredited the contribution in the field of food & beverage service for the year 2016.

We have seen that regional food has taken a new form these days. What’s your view?

The changes in food consumption at global and regional level have been a considerable health consequence which is associated with rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases. Regional food has taken a new form in way of street foods and in speciality restaurants which requires high degree of skills and knowledge towards the regional cuisines. The revival of old recipes has to be incorporated in all restaurants these days.

How familiar are you with the legalities involved in opening a restaurant? Are you planning to open up your own restaurant?

The legalities involved in opening a restaurant have to follow rules and regulations of local civil authority. For opening a new restaurant which requires licences, NOC etc such as Shops & establishment act, Food safety License, Insurance, Music Licence Eating house certificate, Fire department NOC, Pollution control board NOC, sales tax certificate and labour laws from various government bodies and departments and Opening up my own restaurant has been always a plan, but till now not decided, I wish it will happen with course of time. 

Over the years Indian food companies have been regularly innovating themselves, coming up with new and varied products, local and indigenous ingredients all contributing largely to the growth of food service market in India. With brands getting more organised, food companies today spell quality, practical and great tasting food, becoming a household name in India.

Today, the brands are known for their unique recipes, health oriented ingredients and state-of-the art quality controls and standards. Known for product innovations as well as offering customised and localised food products, these companies have an extensive product range including Indian gravies and curries, Tomato Ketchup, Sauces, Mayonnaise, Bread Spreads, Salad Dressings, Syrups and Dessert Toppings.

“Cremica is known for its product innovations and offering customised and localised food products. We are constantly trying to offer quality products to our consumers.” Increasing consumption of high value food products is resulting to a rapid expansion of the Indian economy which further results in changing lifestyles and aspirations.

Pushing the growth

Not only HORECA, but companies have also grown their retail side of the business which is continuously growing at the rate of 40 – 45 per cent annually and given the fact that the Cremica brand is today one of the most visible brands in the condiments business, our penetration and increase in retail sales is expected to be pre-nominal in the coming years.

According to the industry dynamics, the segment will continue in a very major way moving forward and this will lead to exponential growth in the food industry. With improved lifestyles, increasing urbanisation and disposable income in India that leads to a big increase in consumption of condiments and growth of the food services sector helps in familiarising customers about new types of products and is helping innovative companies like us to introduce new products in the market. The right brand mix for the market plays a very important role where Premium brands assure good and quicker realisation.

With an increase in awareness and education, consumers have become very selective in quality and taste of their food. They have become more demanding and hence the traditional offerings and approaches do not work to keep them loyal. Category enhancement and increasing shelf space for newer categories like Tombo ketchup, Opera crisps and Mayonnaise etc are going to increase average cart size of shoppers and these products offer better and healthier margins than traditional categories being sold from these formats. The spicy Tombo ketchup adds the perfect tangy experience. Also Opera crisps which are India’s first cottage style potato crisps prepared in olive oil for a healthy and a delightful experience. Our ready-to-eat packaged French Fries with ketchup cater to this very need of consumers bringing you one of the most satisfying snack experiences. Their epic flavour assures that each bite is as good as your favourite fast food treat. Our range of mayonnaise provides a burst of flavour with each bite and adds a creamy delight to all kinds of savoury dishes.

While coming up with new innovations the companies should also keep in mind the fact that something convenient and consistent will work wonders in the market.The condiments market in India is estimated to be about Rs.1000 crores today which is growing day by day. 

When did you start Choudhery cheese Bazar?

Choudhery Cheese Bazar was started by our Chairman, Mr. Sushil Choudhery, during 1986.

What are the product categories?

We are serving a wide variety of cheese, cottage cheese and other cheese products.

How do you decide on pricing?

Pricing is decided depending upon the climate and availability of milk & other ingredients etc.

From where did you source the raw material?

We source the raw materials partly from Haryana and U.P.

Are you also supplying to Restaurants and Hotels? Name some?

Yes. We have been supplying to many Hotels and Restaurants like The Surya, The Taj Group of Hotels, Sky Chef etc.

What about your retail presence?

Yes, we are starting retail presence in Delhi at about 800 Retail Outlets. We have also tied up with Spencer’s Retails Limited at 5 locations and 180 Retail Outlets of Easyday.

Where do you sit in terms of Revenue?

We do not disclose Revenue generation as a company policy.

What is the expansion plan?

We have an ambitious expansion plan as presently we are making only Cheese but are now focusing on Futuristic products and are going to introduce Butter, Ghee, Paneer, Permeate Powder, Dahi Paneer and Whey Protein Powders etc.

How many cities you are present? Are you also exporting to other countries?

We are present in major cities all over India and are planning to go more interior in small stations. Our export branch is opening up in next six months.

What is the growing challenge in the business?

Milk scarcity and increasing trend of raw material prices are the growing challenge & threat.

How is your cheese different from others?

We use very premium quality of cow/buffalo milk. We have dedicated team to source rich quality of milk and, therefore, our cheese is different from others. We have ISO HACCP Certified Plant and all ingredients we use in our cheese products are very rich in nature. We don’t compromise on quality as our company’s motto is offering quality and not quantity.