With butter stick and blended fruit additions, iD Fresh is slow cooking a product diversification

iD Fresh Food, a brand known for idli-dosa batter, parottas and dairy products, has been trying to attract the consumers with new product innovations. The brand recently forayed into the filter coffee and bread categories. It now plans to launch ‘butter stick’ and ‘frozen fruit blend’ in the Indian market shortly.

Rahul Gandhi, CMO, iD Fresh Food, says, “70-75% of our sales, come from the batter and parotta portfolio. Our batter is probably larger than 30-40%. India is a batter market, whereas the UAE is parotta market. Our dairy portfolio stands at around 15% and the coffee portfolio is 5-10%. We’ve just launched bread in Bengaluru.”

The brand is launching butter stick in about two weeks from now.

“Applying butter (on bread, toast, etc.) can be messy at times. We’re launching a butter stick – so now, one can apply butter without using a knife. In a couple of weeks, you will see butter getting dispensed in a way you dispense glue from Fevistik. The packaging will be similar to that of Fevistik. You just have to twist it from below and the butter will get dispensed,” shares Gandhi.

iD Fresh Food was co-founded by PC Mustafa and his four cousins in December 2005. The Bengaluru-based ready-to-cook (R2C) packaged food company’s factory (in the city), is spread over 80,000 sq.ft. It’s said to be the world’s largest batter factory.

Set up with an investment of Rs 40 crore, the company crossed Rs 530 crore in revenue in FY23, and is expecting to touch Rs 800 crore by FY24.

The brand’s positioning is – clean label, no chemical or preservatives, and fresh products.

New categories

R2C categories flourished during the COVID pandemic, giving brands like iD Fresh a major boost. Since then, the brand has entered new categories and geographies. It launched a traditional filter coffee decoction in 2018, and now has three blends – Bold, Intense and Strong. Its bread was launched in 2019.

The size of the R2C market in India is set to grow by over $488 million from 2022-27, at a CAGR of more than 7%, according to Technavio.

Speaking about the new categories, Gandhi states, “Bread and coffee are doing really great in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. Bread has around 7-10% of the market share in the channels that we operate in.”

The brand launched grated coconut and smart sip tender coconut in 2020, and ghee in 2022. It also launched Superr Batter in the economy segment in Chennai in 2020. It launched the batter again, with a different packaging. Superr Batter is now also available in Andhra Pradesh (excluding Telangana).

“Many people make batter at home. We’re now trying to give a more affordable price point to them so that they can try a different batter recipe. We launched it in Chennai, where its volume consumption is quite high. It’s also a price sensitive market. We figured out a way to give the consumers a new kind of batter every year,” informs Gandhi.

He mentions that the focus this year will be largely on batter and parotta categories, as both of them have a high addressable market.

“We will also target the North Indian market, by focussing on new products like homestyle parotta and triangular parotta that you can make at home.”

Online scenario

As per the brand, customer experience has changed – both online and offline – post-COVID.

“Batter is doing well, because once you order it online, you can get it at your doorstep in just 15-20 minutes," points out Gandhi.

Online continues to a significant channel, even now (post-COVID), he adds.

“The marketing mix for online mediums, is actually quite similar to what you get in a typical marketplace."

Out of the iD Fresh’s total global sales, i.e., Rs 600 crore, India contributes about Rs 450 crore, of which online is Rs 120 crore.

The brand’s products are available in 35,000 retail outlets across 45 cities in India. Its presence in Tier-II/III markets is limited to e-commerce play.

“Our scale of business in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is much smaller, as compared to the metro markets. We’re present in Lucknow, Chandigarh and Jaipur on e-commerce channels,” says Gandhi.

Target audience

The brand’s TG varies by category. It’s mostly looking at the urban middle class households. But with batter, it tends to target primarily women of the household or kitchen gatekeepers. For parotta, the brand targets younger audiences and early jobbers.

“Batter is more family-oriented, but on a psychological level, people are more conscious about the food that they eat. They’re ready to pay more for good quality,” shares Gandhi.

Speaking about the expansion plans in India, he mentions two things.

“Almost everybody in South India consumes the idli-dosa batter. We now plan to expand to North India. Data from (food delivery platforms) Swiggy and Zomato reveals that biryani and masala dosa are the most ordered food items in Mumbai and Delhi, online. So, the first plan will be to expand the existing category. We’re trying to reach out to 60% more stores and services. The second one is to get into new categories.”