Dr. Ashok K. Tyagi, Exec Director, Haldiram Snacks Pvt. Ltd.
During the lockdown and pandemic period there was a high demand for packed and branded food items in the country. The Mithai industry was on the losing side because 95 percent of sweets are sold loose in the country. How you are handling the growing demand for packed sweets?
During the lockdown and pandemic period there was significant drop in the sale of Loose Sweets and some drop in the sale of pack sweets also, but drop in the sale of loose sweets was on much higher side in comparison to drop in the sale of packed sweets. Now there is U-Shape recovery of Loose Sweets and V-Shape recovery of Packed Sweets.
Many companies have launched their product in the retail market after introducing the best packaging variants with good shelf life. Do you think now the time has come for all modern manufacturers to look beyond their showrooms?
Pandemic certainly has raised the hygiene awareness among all section of the society irrespective of geographies and the current scenario will certainly leave a mark on future consumer behavior, so yes hygienic environment and packing will play a huge difference going forward.
Mithai & namkeen companies introduced automatic processing lines and food safety systems in their factories. What measures you are applying for safe and hygienic mithais & namkeens?
Our state of art automated manufacturing facilities are equipped with minimum human touch, so hygiene and quality has been always a top priority for us even before pandemic. We have invested in automation much before so only we did not have to do much in terms of any change in process.
It’s been observed that more than 200 new showrooms of mithai were inaugurated across the country in FSNM membership before Diwali. What are your efforts in this direction?
We have added 7 new Stores during the period before Diwali, as per business requirement.
In the lockdown period and thereafter during the unlock process there was an acute shortage of labour in the food factories. What measures you are applying now to reduce manpower dependency?
Yes it was a challenge managing labour during Pandemic and Unlock period. Automation is the only answer to reduce manpower dependency in Business. We have maximum automation with minimum human touch. We have already done Automation in our FMCG Food Business since last more than 10 years.
The Automation / Semi-Automation in our QSR business is also continue, but it will take time. In nutshell, it is a continuous process. But at the same time, there is need to generate more employment to strengthen the economy. Hence, we have to address both the processes parallel.