BL Agro is best known in India for its leading brand, Bail Kolhu mustard oil brand, and edible oils have been the firm’s main business since its establishment about 50 years ago, being especially popular in North India.
Currently, it has launched a line of packaged food products under the brand “Nourish” in 2019, and believes that this range is the key for it to achieving the same level of recognition in South India as well.
BL Agro Managing Director Ashish Khandelwal said, “The Nourish brand has a very strong focus on high quality, and this is why we are zooming in on the South with this range, as consumers in this region are the ones looking for more quality products as compared to the North, which gives us more hope that the range can do better here.”
An example is with pulses, which is one of the key Nourish offerings—consumers in South India are more on the lookout for high quality pulses because these are not as readily available in the South compared to the North, despite being a household staple.”
The Nourish brand currently offers some 70-plus other food products, including flour, spices, dried fruits, pasta, cornflakes, and pulses, but the firm aims to increase this number by around six-fold to hit the 400 SKU mark within the next few years.
BL Agro wants to offer consumers all the products they need in their kitchen under the Nourish brand, so the aim is to have some 400 products in this portfolio by 2025.
The original aim was for 2023 to hit 400, but COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in this due to problems with accessing and getting international personnel to install machinery, so the company revised this goal back by some two years.
By 2023, though, it plans to have products from some important key growth categories such as beverages and alcoholic brewery products in its portfolio. Food safety and quality are amongst consumers’ biggest concerns, especially since the pandemic arrived, and what Nourish wants to do is provide an option that can allay their fears.
Among its efforts to achieve this are the following: packaging all items in vacuum packs to maintain hygiene and quality, performing the necessary lab tests to ensure the products are 100% pure with no adulterants, and using all-local ingredients, whether these are pulses, spices, cornflakes, or anything else.
Ashish Khandelwal said that they have their own internal logistics system to carry products across the country; the cost per kilogram is slightly higher as a result, but the system works as consumers have the assurance that quality is maintained and are willing to pay slightly more for the food safety factor. Nourish products are currently available in over 4,000 retailers, from supermarkets to mom-n-pop stores to self-service standalone stores across the country.