NEW DELHI: Western sauces and spreads maker, Dr. Oetker -- which houses brands such as FunFoods -- is set to achieve sales of Rs. 300 crore by the end of March 2020, from a mere `13 crore in 2008 when it acquired the brand.
The condiments supplier to fast food chains, including KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Domino’s Pizza in India is increasingly tapping the consumer retail market as part of its plan to fuel growth. “Since we started our business in India 11 years ago, it has seen a steady growth. As the trend of cooking unconventional, western dishes at home take off steadily, we aspire to cater to such change in palates immensely,” said Oliver Mirza, managing director and CEO, Dr. Oetker India, as he hopes to cross Rs 500 crore mark in sales by end of FY22.
Recently, Dr. Oetker also conducted a survey through market research firm Ipsos with a sample size of 1,000 households already consuming non-home cooked western foods across 14 cities. “Of those surveyed, close to 80 per cent of western-food consuming households said they prepare such meals at least once a week primarily because it makes it a convenient choice,” said Sreyoshi Maitra, executive director, Ipsos.
Interestingly, mayonnaise and pasta pizza sauce top the list of most popular table sauce (apart from Ketchup) and Mirza expects mayonnaise to equal the size of ketchup by 2022 because of its versatility. The product category, he said, is the fastest growing category and has grown by 30 per cent in value across regions notwithstanding the broad spectrum economic slowdown.
On inorganic growth, Mirza noted Dr. Oetker is actively screening the market for acquisitions and is also in talks with two brands without revealing further details. “While we are ready, we are yet to get a green signal from the other side.”
The company has recently pumped in Rs 300 crore at its plant in Rajasthan that has an installed capacity to produce 46,000 tonnes of food items every year. With a network of over one lakh retail touch points, Dr. Oetker aims to further expand its offline presence primarily in the non-metros and push the typically low-penetrated categories of Mayonnaise and dips by launching more small packs. "We see stronger growth coming from lower priced SKUs such as 100 gram packs priced at Rs35 and offerings such as eggless dips and sauces,” Mirza added.