Soon you can know the nutritional value of your food on an app

Instant foods startup The Taste Company is in talks to raise $12-15 million from a set of venture capital funds, as per a merchant banker, aware of the developments said.

“The startup, which has successfully positioned itself as the first Indian instant non-vegetarian meal producer, will dilute a minority stake of around 20%, valuing the enterprise at $60-75 million,” the merchant banker said requesting anonymity.

He said the Hyderabad-based startup aims to capture a significant share of the Rs 10,000-crore ready-to-eat food market in India, which is currently dominated by noodles and oats. Nestle, McCain Foods, MTR Foods, iD Fresh, Haldirams, ITC, Godrej Tyson, Bikanervala Foods, Gits Food Products, Venky’s India and Darshan Foods are the other key players.

The Taste Company managing director Raju Vanapala confirmed about ongoing talks but refused to name the venture capital funds. “We have turned down the interest shown by a couple of small-ticket venture capital firms given our funds requirement of $12-15 million... now continuing talks with a few large-ticket venture funds,” he said, adding that “the negotiations are now at a preliminary stage.”

Vanapala said no brand was able to address the expectations of the Indian consumers in terms of taste, health and ease of consumption pertaining to Indian instant meals, which forced the Indian consumers to compromise with non-Indian instant foods like noodles and oats.

“We are deploying traditional home-style cooking methods and we don’t use any preservatives or artificial flavours to keep the authentic taste and aroma of ‘Ghar ka Khana’,” he said. “Keeping in view the consumer needs, we have ensured a shelf life of at least six months under normal temperature for our entire range using advanced dehydration and freeze-drying technology, thanks to an extensive research.”

The Taste Company’s best five ready-to-eat non-vegetarian meals were consumer influenced across India. Over 71% of the population preferred non-vegetarian food. Ever since its onset, the Ready-to-eat industry has been a life saver for us specially now that we live in a world where our lifestyles are changing and with it our food habits. 
 

Hospitality firm OYO is launching its coffee chain, The French Press. The Softbank-backed company is set to unveil one outlet of 'The French Press' in Delhi and Bengaluru, and will open at least a dozen more soon.

This launch comes a few months after the company tested the world of foodtech with its cloud kitchens.

OYO's The French Press will be launched in partnership with a coffee chain through a franchise model.

One of The French Press Cafe's is already introduced in Delhi at a Townhouse property. It is also listed on Zomato. The food is priced between Rs 150 and Rs 250.

An Oyo spokesperson said, “As the largest hotel chain in India, operating franchised and lease assets, we do have an active play in the F&B business, with an average of about 25 percent of our revenue coming through the kitchens we operate in some of our hotels. Hence, culinary design and good food experience are valuable to us. We have nothing further to announce at the moment.”

केंद्रीय वाणिज्य सचिव अनूप वधवा ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय बाज़ार में श्रीलंका जैसे देशों से प्रतिस्पर्धा कर पाने के लिए भारतीय चाय उद्योग को उचित मानदंडों का निर्वाह करने का सुझाव दिया।

श्री अनूप ने कहा,"उत्पादन पक्ष में कई मूलभूत चुनौतियाँ हैं, क्योंकि उत्पादन गिर रहा है। बागान जितने विकासक्षम होते थे, अब उतने नहीं रहे। अब ज़रूरत है कि हम अपने लिए नए मानक स्थापित करें, ताकि हम श्रीलंका जैसे देश से प्रतिस्पर्धा कर सकें।"

टी बोर्ड के उप-चेयरमैन अरुण कुमार रे ने कहा, "खपत रूकी हुई थी। बाज़ार में तेजी लाने की जरूरत है। इस बचाव के लिए हमारे पास निधि उपलब्ध है। अब उद्योग को कदम उठाने की आवश्यकता है। उन्होंने यह भी कहा कि चाय उद्योग को नए बाज़ार तलाशने चाहिये। अच्छे दाम पाने के लिए हमें चाय की गुणवत्ता में भी सुधार करना होगा।"

आज़म मोनेम, चेयरमैन आईटीए ने कहा,"सरकार को एम्ईआईएस (मर्केंडाइज़ एक्सपोर्ट्स इंसेंटिव स्कीम) में पारितोषिक दर को 5 प्रतिशत से बढाकर 11 प्रतिशत और पारम्परिक सब्सिडी को 3 रूपये से बढाकर 20 रूपये प्रति किलो करना चाहिए|

Anup Wadhawan, Union Commerce Secretary, has said that industry should benchmark itself against best practices. The secretary made the statement so that the industry can compete in the international market against countries like Sri Lanka.

Anup said, "There are fundamental challenges on the production side as productivity was falling. The gardens are no more viable as they used to be. The industry needs to benchmark itself against the best practices to raise production and compete in the international market against countries like Sri Lanka."

Arun Kumar Ray, Deputy Chairman of Tea Board, said, "The consumption pattern was stagnating. There is a need to bring in growth in the market. We do have the funds and come to the rescue. The industry has to take the initiative."

He also said that the tea industry should explore new markets. The quality of tea would have to be improved for better price realisation.

Azam Monem, Chairman of ITA, said, "The government should increase the MEIS (merchandise exports incentive scheme) reward rate from five per cent to 11 per cent and increase orthodox subsidy from Rs three per kg to Rs 20 per kg."

Restaurants could soon have food floating straight into mouth as scientist have developed a technique that can float small amounts of eatable items using sound wave.

Researchers from University of Sussex in the UK discovered how to tune high-frequency sound waves to make almost any foodstuff float provided that it is no bigger than a pea.

Researcher Chi Thanh Vi said "Sweet tastes feel more intense and bitter tastes people find quite pleasant. You could even use it to give medicine to children. If you make it fun, if you make floating medicine, surely they would go and give it a try.”

Acoustic levitation works by creating a powerful "standing wave" of sound. This can trap objects in a kind of cage of sound waves, leaving them apparently weightless, researchers said.

The team showed that they can move food as well, transporting it above a conveyor belt like weightless sushi.

This could lead to restaurants where people see the food passing in front of them and bite down when something they fancy comes into view.

The Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, has urged UK companies to participate in India's food processing value chain, saying a market worth $600 billion is waiting for the British firms.

Badal was addressing a round-table in London to promote her ministry's first-ever World Food India summit in New Delhi in November and called on British companies to use the platform to finalise their entry and collaboration plans.

Badal, at the Indian High Commission in London, said, "India has a $600 billion retail sector, of which 70 per cent is just food retail. This is set to treble in the next three years and in the next five years, Indians will be spending 50 per cent more on food. That is the kind of huge market we have. This market is waiting for you in India to participate in any part of the food processing value chain."

She said, "India-UK share many warm bonds and I hope we can take our food diplomacy to the next level with World Food India."

Using Amazon's commitment of a $ 500 million dollar investment in the Indian food sector as an example of the growing foreign investor interest in the industry, the minister highlighted a range of incentives being offered by the Indian government in the form of mega food parks and cold chain schemes.

Badal said, "As we are creating the right infrastructure, we think the platform is now ready for World Food India, which is going to be a platform for people to meet and take partnerships to another level. Geographically, India is also very close to food importing countries, like UAE or Japan, and we have a highly skilled cheap labour force and one of the fastest growing economies in the world."

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) supported summit to be held between November 3 and 5 in New Delhi is planned as a biennial conference to bring together various states of India to showcase business opportunities as well as their own unique cuisine as part of a Food Street, which is also likely to be replicated in the UK.

CII said in a statement, "The summit is designed to offer an unusual peek into India's food and culture as well as opportunities to invest and prosper from one of the world's largest consumer markets."

Home-grown FMCG major, Patanjali Ayurved is looking to double its share in the country's food processing market to 20 per cent in the current fiscal.

The yoga guru Ramdev-led firm, which has plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore on expansion of its various verticals, would be putting aside a substantial portion of funds towards opening of new units and ramping up capacity of the existing units.

Acharya Balkrishna, Managing Director, Patanjali Ayurved, said, "The food processing industry is worth around Rs 85,000 crore and Patanjali has a share of around 10 per cent. We would like to double our contribution to 20 per cent this fiscal. In the coming years, we would try to maximum Patanjali's contribution in the food processing industry."

According to Balkrishna, the food processing industry would not only provide good price to farmers but also help in providing quality food products in India.

He said, "Globally, around 90 per cent food is processed. In a country like China around 40 per cent food is processed but in India only 6 per cent of food and vegetables are processed."

He further said the processed food would also help in combating the food adulteration practice which has become quite rampant in the country.

"After we double our processing capacity, the total food processed would be increased to 7 per cent from the existing 6 per cent," he added.

The company is presently using grains as wheat, rice, millet and various other varieties along with pulses. Patanjali, which crossed Rs 10,000 crore sales in last fiscal, is now having global ambitions.

While speaking at an event organised by industry body FICCI, Balkrishna said the industry players are taking steps towards making Indian food industry an international brand.

"Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is committed to go global and fight adulteration in the food industry," he said.

With national expansion on mind, fast food chain, Wow! Momo, is determined to attain Rs 500 crore turnover in five years.

The brand that launched its first store in Kolkata eight years ago, at present operates over 100 outlets in India and plans to add another 60 by the end of this calendar year.

Wow! Momo Co-Founder Sagar Daryani said, "We are treating Rs 500 crore turnover as a target in 5 years, with a network of 500 outlets that we plan to open by then. Our long term mission is to be India's version of McDonald's and become a global brand.”

Wow! Momo is also in the process of raising fresh funds of around Rs 50 crore, which will further cement the brand’s expansion drive.

Daryani said, "We will close fund raising by middle of this year and we plan to use this entire sum to expand our business,"

The company plans to expand rapidly in Kolkata, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru during this year, while small expansion in planned in Chennai as well. It also fancies its chances of entering new markets such as Hyderabad and Mumbai in the next fiscal.

The company is considering exporting packaged frozen momos abroad along with specially prepared momo sauces to make them available across shelves in modern trade.

The company had raised Rs 10 crore in its first round of funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) in 2015 from investors like Sanjeev Bhikchandani, founder of Naukri.com (Info Edge), Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder at IAN and Ashvin Chadha, a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and Venture Capitalist.

Elior Group, one of world's leading operators in the contracted food industry, has announced its entry into the Indian market with the simultaneous acquisitions of MegaBite Food Services and CRCL, two leading contract caterers for the business and industry market. The new subsidiary, Elior India, will serve 135,000 meals per day with over 3,500 employees.

Philippe Salle, Chairman and CEO, Elior Group, said, "This move in India allows us to expand into emerging markets, which is one of the objectives of our 2016-2020 strategic plan. We believe India is one of the most promising markets with significant growth potential and a very fragmented profile. The combined acquisitions of MegaBite and CRCL will position the Group among the top 3 contract caterers in the Indian market."

MegaBite Food Services is the top player in premium corporate catering in Bangalore. It was founded in 2005 by three ex-hoteliers. Its customers include Cisco, Microsoft, Google, McKinsey and Shell. MegaBite has been wholly acquired by Elior Group.

Chef Prabhakar, MegaBite Food Services, said, "We are extremely excited to be part of Elior Group. We look forward to harnessing their global expertise to delight our customers even more as this has been the core of our value proposition. We believe this relationship can help us introduce more innovative offerings for our customers."

Based in Chennai, CRCL is one of the largest industrial catering companies in South India with over 33 years of experience in the contract catering business. Its customer list includes prestigious names like Daimler, Pfizer, MRF and Vellore Institute of Technology. Elior Group has acquired a majority stake in CRCL.

D.R.E. Reddy, Managing Director of CRCL, said, "We look forward to this partnership which we believe will deliver a higher value to our customers and enable this business to move to the next level. This will be a strong platform for accelerated growth over the coming years. We expect this alliance to achieve global standards."

Philippe Salle said, "We are convinced that food offering is a critical employee value proposition in an increasingly competitive and changing work space. The awareness is still nascent in India and we believe that we are in the right place at the right time with the right partnerships. Both MegaBite and CRCL are premium top contract catering companies whose values are aligned with those of Elior Group."

The transaction is expected to close within the next 90 days, subject to customary closing conditions.