Food Service India Pvt Ltd Supporting The HORECA Industry With Holistic Solutions

Food Service India Pvt Ltd ( FSIPL), the brainchild of Mr.Ajay Mariwala, was launched in 2016 to develop a strong support system for the Indian HORECA industry. When the HORECA industry was growing at 10% CAGR and was sized at Rs.3.5 lakhs crores, there was a golden opportunity to create an ecosystem to support this industry momentum.

In conversation with Mrs. Sreedevi Shirali, Enterprise Business Head, FSIPL who sheds more light on the journey of Food Service India Pvt Ltd

1. How Food Service India is establishing a benchmark for providing clients with the highest quality experience and service

Food Service India Pvt Ltd has benchmarked itself on the following four foundation pillars

Value to the customer :

FSIPL offers 300+ solutions to all the commercial kitchens across India to help achieve quality in food, consistency in taste, efficiency in the operations and overall cost savings to the customers. We believe in creating best quality products without an iota of compromise in taste. Through our distribution partners, we are present in 196 cities in India.

With the help of our dedicated on-ground sales team, we are able to reach every format and every customer segment. FSIPL products are also available on e-comm marketplaces & our own proprietary customer app, which services the existing customers digitally.

Innovative products:

Our SKU baskets are built to cater to the most consumed cuisines in India. Our vision emphasises on taste as one of the key focuses.

Also, with a great R&D facility, a team of experienced food technologists & 25+ in-house chefs, we develop each solution specifically after studying the Indian taste palette and HORECA requirements.

Service orientation:

Another strong pillar of FSIPL service is the menu development & customised kitchen solutions for our customers, where we co-create with them unique menu additions based on the market study & food sensory test.

We serve solutions to 40+ F&B brands domestically & internationally. Whether it is stock unavailability, logistics issues or even product rejection, our sales team is well trained to assist our HORECA customers.

Quality :

Every new product goes through multiple rounds of sensory, nutrition evaluation & food application tests. Our in-house manufacturing facility & operations experts control the project TAT & ensure batch wise quality check.

Even the third parties that we partner with for certain categories are verified, audited and emphasise on farm-to-fork transparency for our customers.

2. How do you plan to expand your product portfolio in the upcoming financial year?

FSIPL has always believed in staying ahead of the trend curve. Be it the Peri-Peri mix, Hot & Spicy Marinade, ethnic syrups or mughlai base gravies we launched these categories way before they became commercially popular.

This year, we are focusing on completing our cuisine baskets namely Italian, Asian & specifically Indian regional offerings. The F&B industry is celebrating regional cuisines & speciality ingredients, and we want to capitalize on it.

3. What are some of the best performing brands in your portfolio?

Our seasoning portfolio is the main growth driver for FSIPL. Chefs Art seasonings has grown at 29% YoY basis with sub-categories like marinades & sprinklers contributing to its success.

Our organization can attribute its HORECA penetration to the performance & validation of Chefs Art products. We have enjoyed a dominant position in this category due to Chefs Art unique product formulations & product mix.

Just to give you a broad view of our market share in ‘21-‘22. Our customers have used Chefs Art peri-peri mix to sell 33000+ metric tonnes of French fries alone.Oregano spice sprinklers have been used to deliver 29 million pizzas. Another strong performer, ‘Sunbay’covers categories like Ready-to-Cook gravies, chutneys, international sauces, dry pasta & canned foods.

Our ready-to-cook base gravies have seen tremendous success due to the authentic mix of ingredients, right consistency and no taste compromise. We use retort technology to facilitate optimum taste, right texture & it is closest to freshly made. Our regional launches like Sambar concentrate, Chettinad gravy, Chopped masala, even the jain options are giving us the edge over the competition.

Best Part about Sunbay RTC gravies is that customers don't need a special storage space. They can be stored at room temperature for over 12 months, with zero contamination in unopened condition.

Chefs have welcomed Sunbay solutions with open arms as we saw HORECA struggling with economics and operations during the pandemic. Due to the shortage of skilled labour, Sunbay gravy solutions have acted like the much needed sous-chefs in many kitchens.

Please share details about the latest product range of Fruit Crushes by Marimbula?

Marimbula infuses fun & zing to every drink. It is not just a beverage brand. When we launched Marimbula, we wanted to give Indian consumers a truly Indian brand with Indian sensibilities but internationally appealing. The French were dominating when we launched Marimbula, but with the wide variety of flavours & ethnic variants like Aam Panna, Saffron ,I believe we have carved a niche in the HORECA beverage market.

It’s endearing to see mixologists endorse our flavours, create something new & post/tag us on their videos. I think somewhere we have been successful in nurturing an organic community of mixologists across India.

Marimbula has always been known for its fruity flavours & we have just leveraged that positioning with Fruit crushes. Now with this launch, Marimbula is foraying into newer markets & new customer segments. The fruit crushes are available in 8 flavours and are already available in 14000 + outlets.

5. What services do you provide to the HORECA segment?

FSIPL has pioneered the Food Service Solutions business in India with a vision to become a one-stop solutions provider for all HORECA needs. We operate like any other F&B products organisation but with customer first orientation.

We have a robust in-house team of chefs, mixologists and food technologists that catch the pulse of every chef, lounge owner, restaurateur & the purchase manager.

We appreciate & understand the complexities & hassles of running a commercial kitchen. Hence the assistance that we provide goes far beyond just selling our product solutions.

If someone is looking to open a new restaurant/café/Hotel, we provide all the following services;

-understanding the requirements

-developing and curating the menu.

-providing training & demos for the chefs & mixologists

-streamlining sourcing with the help of our trade partners. We provide complete cuisine basket.

- hand holding kitchen staff till they are settled with the daily operations.

FSIPL has also opened doors to international HORECA customers with the same offerings.