1. Supplier
48 | Progressive Grocer | Ahead of What’s Next | September 2015
As a diversified food company,
let’s have a brief account of your
product portfolio.
The Mother’s Recipe brand is owned
by Desai Brothers Limited, now a
4th generation family owned business
house with interests in food processing,
tobacco, finance, logistics, specialty
chemicals, health care, and hospitality.
Keeping the experience of authentic
Indian cuisine as a motivator, quality
as a non-negotiable aim, and customer
satisfaction as the end goal, Mother’s
Recipe, under the leadership of Desai Brothers,
began a deliberate expansion. New researched
recipes and professional expertise was acquired
and was supplemented with distribution strength.
With aggressive media promotions, the brand was
re-launched as a trusted and traditional Indian
food brand. As a sequel to the launch – and its
success – Mother’s Recipe introduced whole new
product categories to include many components that
complete a traditional Indian meal.
Mother’s Recipe is now an entire cooking and
culinary experience. It includes twelve categories of
products – pickles, cooking and condiment pastes,
curry & gravy pastes, chutneys, blended spices,
ready-to-cook mixes, ready-to-eat, instant breakfast
mixes, ready-to-fry products, curry powders, mango
pulp and canned foods in 150 different variants.
Mother’s Recipe strives to bring home the true
taste of homemade pickles by ensuring that only
the freshest, purest fruits, vegetables and spices
are used. As a diversified pickle brand, we offer
Andhra Avakaya, Karnataka Cut Mango, Madras
Thokku, Kerala Mango, Bengali Mango, Punjabi
Pancharanga, Gujarati Methia Mango, Maharashtra
Mango, Gujarati Gorkeri, Choondo and Red
Stuffed Chillies amongst 59 distinct tastes and
flavours from virtually every corner of the country.
The size of the organised sector pickle market is
24,000 MT, valued at around Rs 400 crore and
Mother’s Recipe has a market share of 25% based on
Euromonitor estimates.
Our offerings have expanded Mother’s Recipe
portfolio of products, which has now come to
include nine variants of papads, four variants of
pastes that pack in the natural aroma of freshly
minced spices, and twenty different spice mixes that
add convenience to cooking. These mixes contain no
monosodium glutamate (MSG), no preservatives and
no hydrogenated oils – just 100% natural and 100%
fresh ingredients. To complete the offerings, there
are 15 classic Indian heat-and-eat dishes as well.
Which are the markets and demographics
that your products cater to, and what has
been the pace of growth over the years?
Mother’s Recipe has a strong presence across India
and the global arena, especially in the Middle East,
Far East, Australia, UK - Europe, US - Canada,
and Africa. We are one of the largest providers
of traditional & authentic Indian taste and our
products are exported to more than 40 countries
around the world.
The DBL Foods Division turnover in FY 2014-
15 was around Rs 200 crore and we are targeting a
growth of 40% in the next financial year.
Which are the important factors for retail
pick-up of your products?
Mother’s Recipe cherishes the trust that millions of
Indians have put in it. Everyday 200,000 bottles and
pouches of pickle are processed at the brand’s Pune
production facility. It’s the first and only Indian
pickle brand to have researched and perfected 45
regional favourite pickle varieties. No other pickle
brand is available in every Indian state and union
territory. We are proud to share that “Mother’s
Recipe” pickle has been rated as the best pickle
P. Rajan Mathews, VP, Sales & Marketing, Desai Brothers Ltd - Food Division, speaks to
Progressive Grocer about the expanding product portfolio of his company’s Mother’s
Recipe brand and strategies for further building up its brand equity
“Our brand
represents an entire
cooking and culinary
experience”
We are proud
to share that
“Mother’s
Recipe” pickle
has been
rated as the
best pickle
available in
Delhi-NCR
on value for
money, taste,
and on all
other sensory
parameters
—P. Rajan
Mathews, V.P.-
Sales &
Marketing, Desai
Brothers Ltd

2. Supplier
September 2015 | Ahead of What’s Next | Progressive Grocer | 49
available in Delhi-NCR on value for money, taste,
and on all other sensory parameters.
This independent evaluation of pickles available
in the Delhi-NCR market has been carried out by
VOICE (Voluntary Organization in the Interest
of Consumer Education), an NGO for the benefit
of consumers. Under the comparative product
testing and service evaluation of Jago Grahak Jagao
campaign, the consumer voice team evaluated
nine brands of mixed pickle in oil from Delhi and
NCR market on value-for-money parameters,
microbiological parameters and sensory parameters.
On all these parameters, Mother’s Recipe brand of
mixed pickle had the highest acceptable rating, and
has been recommended as the ‘Best Buy’.
We at DBL–Foods (Mother’s Recipe) are proud
to have such high quality products in our portfolio
and will continuously strive to give consumers
the best products, which is the only reason for the
consumers to pick our products from retail shelves.
What is your strategy for retail outreach and
who are your top retailers?
In general trade, the expansion of retail outreach has
been a continuous effort. Today we have a coverage
of more than two lakh retail outlets in all the
metros, tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and have a presence in
most district headquarters.
In modern trade we are listed and present in all
the modern trade outlets such as Future Group’s
Big Bazaar and KB’s Fair Price Shop, Star Bazaar,
HyperCITY, Spencer’s, ABRL More and Hyper,
Easyday, SPAR Hyper, Vishal Megamart, Reliance
Fresh, Reliance Mart and all C&C stores such as
Metro, Wal-Mart and Reliance, and discount stores
such as DMart, Kannan Dept stores, Saravanna
Stores and regional stores such as Heritage,
Foodworld, Lulu Hypermarket, Ratnadeep stores, etc.
Also, Mother’s Recipe products are present with
more than 40 e-grocers in the Indian market such as
Bigbasket, LocalBaniya, Aaramshop, etc.
What are you doing to make your products
more appealing to consumers?
We spend endless months in perfecting our
offerings and establishing higher quality
benchmarks. At DBL Foods, we have a systematic
process wherein our R&D and product development
personnel visit the area of the original source of
recipe and study the local mother’s methods of
cooking / preparation and the ingredients. We then
develop the recipe to the nearest levels of the original
taste of the region for commercial production and
present it in the right format and packaging.
How important is it for your products to have
superior packaging and labelling and what
steps have you taken on these fronts?
We at DBL Foods believe that in the traditional
foods arena it is critical to differentiate Mother’s
Recipe products from the others. We make special
efforts and walk that extra mile to portray the
product’s original source. Similarly, usage of natural
and high-quality ingredients is given top priority
so that consumers get the true taste of home-made
food. Hence, packaging development is done on a
continuous basis. Helping us in these new packaging
developmental work are the various leading
packaging and design agencies.
When it comes to end consumers, what have
been your significant learnings?
The surprising thing about most packaged food products
is that the average Indian consumer was not prepared for
the product and hence most of the sales have been in the
export market. Also, the housewife till recently, was not
willing to accept a completely or semi-prepared product
to feed the family due to apprehensions of reducing her
role as the family’s provider.
There are also quite a few misconceptions in
the minds of the average Indian consumer. They
include: packaged foods contain preservatives; they
are not nutritional in comparison to fresh food;
Today we have
a coverage
of more than
two lakh retail
outlets in all
the metros,
tier 1 and
tier 2 cities,
and have a
presence in
most district
headquarters

3. Supplier
50 | Progressive Grocer | Ahead of What’s Next | September 2015
packaged food do not have enough value for money;
most packaged food is routine food such as dal,
sambhar, palak, etc, and is not a novelty; availability
is limited majorly in modern format stores. These
challenges need to be addressed by the industry.
Which are your new products and categories
in the pipeline and which existing categories
are moving faster?
Mother’s Recipe, with a strong distribution in
place, is ready to launch new product categories
in the coming years. Mother’s Recipe RTE foods
in the domestic market are slated for launch
this year with 10 exciting variants. Our RTE
products are easily microwavable, 100% natural,
have no preservatives and no artificial colours or
flavours. We feel that the RTE food category has a
tremendous growth opportunity in the near future
due to a growing youth population, expansion of
the working women segment, increasing work and
study commitments, declining culinary skills, the
rising need for convenience, and surging disposable
incomes. These factors, along with clever and
innovative marketing, will lead to a higher demand
for heat-and-eat products.
In the culinary & cooking pastes category,
Mother’s Recipe already has Ginger, Garlic,
Ginger-Garlic and Tamarind pastes. We will be
adding new products to aid consumers. These
products are being prepared using the most natural
methods and without adding any preservatives, so
as to give the flavour of home-made freshly ground
ginger and garlic pastes. The USP of our pastes is
that they match both the quality and taste of home-
ground products.
In the ready to cook spice/gravy mixes, Mother’s
Recipe is a dominant player with eight vegetarian
and twelve non-vegetarian variants. We are adding
new interesting products to the range. Research
shows that today’s woman leads a busy lifestyle yet
spends the maximum time and effort in cooking.
She wants to cook for the family new dishes and is
looking for cooking aids that can reduce her time in
the kitchen but at the same time allows her to retain
control over the taste of the final dish. She seeks
help in the kitchen but does not want to be replaced.
Mother’s Recipe ready to cook spice/gravy mixes
offers the right solutions for her needs. Our mixes
help the woman to make interesting dishes (that she
may not be aware/well versed) in a short time and
yet be able to customise it for her family.
In the chutney product category, Mother’s Recipe
has its range of chutneys in all the export markets
and these will be soon made available in the Indian
market with a new range of spreads. We strongly feel
that the availability of good chutneys at home is an
important need, which has not been fulfilled.
Similarly, though we have a strong presence in
the instant mixes category with our instant Poha
Mix, Upma Mix, Dhokla Mix and Vermicelli
Payasam Mix, we will be launching new on-the-go
instant mixes.
Also, Mother’s Recipe has launched its food
services this year and is concentrating on the large
segment of catering and QSRs. We are in talks with
most of the large caterers, five star properties and
restaurants, and will initiate the tie-ups with QSRs
as the products get launched.
What kind of product launch tests you
conduct to assess consumer response?
Since the time we launched Mother’s Recipe
products, we have not withdrawn a single product
or variant. That’s because we do a lot of research
and study on recipe development and test the results
with consumers before launching the product.
Suggestions on the product and variants come from
varied sources such as our consumers, trade partners,
sales personnel and in-house consumer panel teams.
Which are the ways that you collaborate with
retailers to drive product sales?
Mother’s Recipe products are category leaders. In
most of the categories that we are present in, our
market share varies from 25% to 40%. In pickles
we dominate the category and we are the only truly
national brand available across the country selling
more than 43 variants, which will go upto 60 variants
soon. But the challenge is to make available all the
variants in each store. Most of the retailers stock
local variants but don’t stock other regional variants
due to low sales in comparison to the main variants.
Mother’s
Recipe RTE
foods in the
domestic
market are
slated for
launch this
year with
10 exciting
variants. Our
RTE products
are easily
microwavable,
100% natural,
have no
preservatives
and no
artificial
colours or
flavours

4. Supplier
Hence we have
planned for a Mother’s
Recipe pickle festival in all
major hypermarkets. This
collaboration will help to
jointly promote the pickle and
traditional foods category. The
first Mother’s Recipe pickle
festival was held at Magnet
Hypermarket, Matunga Road,
Mumbai. We will hold more such
festivals in the coming days and it
will generate keen interest among
the retailers for the category.
The main objective of Mother’s Recipe pickle
festival is to drive growth in the Indian pickle category;
induce trails of authentic regional pickles among
customers; create awareness and make the range of
regional pickles available and visible and help Mother’s
Recipe range of pickles to increase the shelf space.
Product sampling helps to provide consumers
with a positive product experience, motivates
them to purchase the product and encourages the
consumption of cross-regional cuisines at home.
Events like Mother’s Recipe pickle festival will
make brands and retailers true partners for driving
growth and consumption.
Retailers should be flexible
and should be willing to go
the extra mile for ensuring the
category growth.
What initiatives you take
to make retailers more
knowledgable about
category management of
your products?
Before introducing any new
category at DBL Foods, we
educate our category heads on the
new product by giving them samples, making them
visit the manufacturing locations and ensuring that our
R&D personnel meet the retailers’ category personnel.
This approach also creates a close bond and goodwill
for the brand. We also work with the category persons
for developing the decision tree for the category and
deciding on the best place for the brand and category.
Which are your new innovations in
marketing, branding and packaging?
We like to think of ourselves as the custodian
of traditional taste. All our communication and
In pickles we
dominate
the category
and we are
the only truly
national
brand
available
across the
country
selling more
than 43
variants,
which will
go upto 60
variants soon
CRAZIEST SNACK FOR
YOUR CRAZY ONES
CRAZIEST SNACK FOR
YOUR CRAZY ONES
FOOD VENTURE
SPECIALIST IN VARIETY FOODS
38/307, Motilal Nagar No.1 ,Opp. Best Nagar , Lane is next to Fire Brigade, Goregoan (W), Mumbai- 62.
Email: foodventure@yahoo.com Web :www.crazypopcorn.com/ www.indiamart.com/foodventureContact Mr. KAUSHIK 9322532258

5. Supplier
52 | Progressive Grocer | Ahead of What’s Next | September 2015
promotions are centered around reiterating this
unique theme. The brand strives to be a part of
every festival and festivities without discriminating
between religion and an individual’s economic
well-being. If India is a land in a perpetual state of
celebration then Mother’s Recipe is a part of it. It
celebrates all festivities where food is an important
part of the celebration and culture. So whether it
is Pongal in Tamil Nadu or Baisakhi in the North,
Onam in Kerala or Bihu in Assam, Mother’s Recipe
is part of the celebrations and centric to the occasion.
The brand has created a series of handcrafted micro
videos, which have the customary wishes for occasions
like New Year, Vishu, Baisakhi and Poila Boishakh.
Like festivals, the brand likes to celebrate special
occasions and topical events and we have adopted
this approach as a big part of the brand’s strategy.
Mother’s Day has been a major promotional day for
the brand. This year we had an innovative promotion
in Mumbai wherein we invited mothers to share or
spend a day with children who have not experienced
a mother’s love.
In 2013, Mother’s Recipe made a move to boost
its digital presence. The brand connects with the
audience online by promoting its products and also
offers useful cooking tips and ideas to add value
to the consumer’s life. Mother’s Recipe recently
initiated a fusion food blogging challenge, inviting
food bloggers to add a twist to Mother’s Recipe
products and cook up something new. ‘The Infamous
Foodies contest’ was well received among the online
food enthusiasts across the country and it saw an
enthusiastic participation.
Mother’s Recipe has won the Bronze for fusion
blogging in the Best Blogs category at the Indian
Digital Media Awards 2015 held at Mumbai. This
is the first award for brand Mother’s Recipe in the
digital space and has been awarded for “the best
engagement of consumers” through innovative and
effective use of weblogs.
How has the growth and development
of modern retail helped in making your
products popular?
Mother’s Recipe products such as ready to cook gravy /
spice mixes, instant mixes and ready-to-eat products are
mainly driven by modern retail trade. These products
are introduced by modern retail and after gaining
popularity they move to the other stores. The influence
of modern retail on consumption behaviour has over the
last two decades led to the emergence and growth of a
number of product categories, primarily driven by the
environment offered by the format. Most supermarkets/
hypermarkets such as Spencer’s, Reliance, More, Big
Bazaar/Food Bazaar, HyperCITY, Godrej Nature’s
Basket, Easyday, etc., offer over 80 per cent of the above
product categories and have helped in the emergence
and growth of various product categories.
How do you see the market moving for your
product lines, what are the major trends and
developments and how are you positioned to
play the market?
The market for traditional foods has been much
localised. It has led to many localised players and
unorganised players who dominate this sector and
contribute 50% of the industry’s volume. This leads
to an uneven playing field for the organised player.
It is easy for an unorganised player to manufacture
today. However, most unorganised players lack
infrastructure in terms of automation, hygiene, lab
facilities, purchase of quality raw material, etc.
Producing quality products consistently comes
at a cost. Hence, an organised player ends up with
a price disadvantage. The only way to fight the
unorganised sector is to continuously educate our
customers, from time to time. This has to be done
through research on identifying consumer’s regional
taste preferences and by delivering the right product.
Today it is easy to manufacture but the foremost
challenge faced by any manufacturer of processed
foods is in converting consumers from fresh to
processed foods. Affordability and cultural preference
for fresh food demands huge marketing costs in
converting consumers to processed, packaged foods,
and we at DBL Foods have the capacity to invest in
marketing, using the best expertise and knowledge. PG
Product
sampling
helps to
provide
consumers
with a positive
product
experience,
motivates
them to
purchase the
product and
encourages
the
consumption
of cross-
regional
cuisines at
home