In India, the American brand Del Monte has presence in various categories which includes fruit juices, sauces, dips and spreads, packaged fruits and vegetables and its Italian range of products such as pasta and olive oil. Fieldfresh Foods, the joint venture of Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Pacific Ltd, will look to dial up health and wellness in its product portfolio, in line with consumption trends.
FieldFresh Foods, CEO, Yogesh Bellani said that the company is looking to intensify its focus on adding healthier variants of products in its existing categories this year. He further added “Some of our products such as juices and olive oil are already naturally aligned towards health and wellness. Our Endeavour is now to make a stronger statement in the health and wellness space, which is an important commitment for us as a food company.”
“While we are focussing on growing our B2C distribution directly in the top 50 metros, for other regions we are focussing on widening our indirect distribution through wholesale distributors and super stockists,” Bellani added.
FieldFresh Bellani further added “We will look at introducing at least five-six products this year with a more pronounced focus on health and wellness across categories. We could also look at bringing a sub-brand from the global portfolio of Del Monte, in this regard.”
The company, could for instance, look at strengthening its presence in segments such as low-fat mayonnaise and 100 per cent whole-wheat pasta.
The company has also launched its range of fruit juices in the one-litre carton format for the B2B segment recently. So far, it was only offering juices in cans.
The one-litre carton segment is pegged at ₹1,000 crore in terms of retail sales value.
“We are one of the most widely distributed brands in the B2B food services segment with presence in over 350 towns in the country. Cans are typically more preferred for single-serve and on-the-go consumption. So we wanted to leverage on our strong distribution and decided to launch our juices range in the tetrapak format to cater to restaurants and hotels,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company has also stepped up its focus on growing distribution of its B2C business.
Asked about revenue targets for this fiscal, he said: “We feel there is huge potential for growth in the country and we will continue to target strong double-digit growth for the next few years.”
