Puratos India, a fully owned subsidiary of the Belgium-based Puratos Group, World’s second largest Bakery Ingredients major, launched ‘The Breads of the World’ concept to meet the growing consumer demand.
Dhiren Kanwar, Country Head, Puratos India said, “This concept will enable supermarkets and bakery chains to create a wide and unique range of original (taste, texture and shape as in the country of origin) and enjoyable breads from all over the world. Here, every bread has its unique story. All thanks to ready to use mixes & communication by Puratos”
Puratos India has a R&D centre in India which tailors the products according to Indian taste, value and functionality. Puratos India has adapted two varieties – Easy Ciabatta and Easy Focaccia – of trends to give Indian customers a global experience. Both varieties have a shelf life of six months.
Easy Ciabatta is Italian bread that originates from the province of Lombardy. The brainchild of ArnoldiCavaliari, it was Italy’s perfect response to the deep market penetration of the French baguette, that threatened to monopolise the Italian sandwich industry. Ciabatta saved Italy; and Italy gave it to the world. Easy Ciabatta is made from refined wheat flour and yeast; the soft bread can be used to make both vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches.
Easy Focaccia is creation of the northern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, it is a flat bread that is cooked on a fire stove. Focaccia is made of wheat flour and yeast and seasoned with olive oil. The dough can be flavoured with herbs like oregano and topped with Parmesan cheese.
Puratos has been innovating to assist professionals to grow their businesses and introducing pioneering technologies to improve the quality of their products. In India, Puratos is the only company to provide services across all three verticals, i.e. Bakery, Patisserie and Chocolate. Puratos India has a strong focus on product innovation of bringing new varieties, new technologies and new types of products to market therefore offering a lot more to customers in India. Puratos India has launched close to 75 products in the span of five years in India and will continue to grow the portfolio. They have a full fledged R&D centre in India which tailors the products according to Indian taste, value and functionality.
The Indian bakery segment rose above the slump in the economy in 2013-14 to produce impressive double digit growth. This growth, expectedly, was driven by the rapid expansion of modern retail outlets, increasing disposable incomes and the overriding need for convenience by the end consumer.
With the Indian baked goods category consisting of largely un-fragmented segment, the unpackaged / artisanal bread continued to dominate the market a with a share of 56%, while packaged industrial bread held steady with a share of 44%.
Customers are now beginning to choose healthier bread options, a trend which is visible from the rapidly rising share of whole wheat and multigrain bread segment (6% in 2013-14), while brown bread carved out a healthy 11% market share and white bread held steady at 81%.