Established in 1982 by the name of Davars MP Organics, Tropilite Foods (TFPL) has emerged as one of the most reputed manufacturers and suppliers of food and bakery ingredients in the country. The company offers range of products that include non-dairy whip toppings, cake and confectionary premixes, bakery fillings and toppings, cooking cream, mayonnaise for the hospitality industry. Apart from these it also caters to ice cream industry with ice cream stabilisers and emulsifiers. Tropilite Foods has a stateof-the-art manufacturing facility located at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, which is a centrally located place and ideal for logistics for all the major locations in India.
The company has a well-equipped R&D, wherein it develops innovative and cost effective solutions for the food industry as a whole. In addition it has a quality control (QC) and application lab which makes sure that none of the substandard product moves out of the factory premises. With total staff strength of 300, TFPL has employed 140 in sales. Apart from that it has eight senior scientists working in R&D. Being an R&D driven company it used to spend approximately 4% of its turnover on research and development. In an email interaction with
NuFFooDS Spectrum Puneet Davar, CEO, Tropilite Foods, shared the market trends for ingredients to food and bakery industries.
What kind of dairy and bakery ingredients do you produce at Tropilite Foods?
Tropilite Foods has vast range of product catering to ice cream industry, ketchups, confectionary and HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Café) segments. We provide food stabilisers to ice cream and ketchup industry which are basically performance-based ingredients and helps in providing and maintaining texture by water retention technique and keep the free moisture intact in the food.
For bakery we have a vast range of premixes for manufacturing all varieties of sponge cakes, muffins, brownie and lava cakes. Apart from this we also provide various toppings for bakery including non-dairy whip toppings, colouring for cakes, gels and emulsions.
For HORECA we manufacture nondairy cooking cream, which is an economical replacement of dairy fresh cream in tetra pack. It’s the only available product in tetra pack in nondairy segment. Also we have recently launched egg free mayonnaise for hospitality industry in 1 kg pack.
Apart from this we do regular innovations and provide industry with the tailor-made solutions for our key customers. Tropilite Foods is the only company which has entire range of bakery ingredients as well as cater to HORECA segment. All our competitors have either dry products or toppings in their range. None of the company has entire range with them. Apart from this we are the only company who has two sales verticals which is bakery and HORECA.
We do tailor-made products for key customers which are unique in itself. For this we have a team of R&D specialists working on various innovative projects in co-operation with marketing. We always aspire to launch new concepts rather than products. We are also proud to say that we are one of the few companies in India who are exporting bakery ingredients competing with European giants.
How do you see the market for ingredients for dairy and bakery industry?
The food ingredients, including both dairy and bakery, market has evolved in a big way in India in last 10 years. With the growing demand of bakery products in India and change in food habits our customers are demanding more on innovative and convenient solutions.
Why have you looked at these two areas – dairy and bakery? We started with manufacture of dairy ingredients in 1982 when all the ice cream ingredients were being imported. Dr G S Davar being a food scientist developed the import substitutes for these and that’s how we entered in dairy ingredients. Thereafter in early 2000’s we entered bakery markets through launch of eggless cake mixes as at that time we realised that bakeries in India were facing problems in manufacturing egg free cakes despite the demand from market as India is a vegetarian country. That’s how the journey started and evolved with new product additions and now we have more than 100 SKU’s in bakery ingredients.
What next after launch of Svenson’s brand?
Svenson Brand is launched keeping in mind the convenience ingredients to the hospitality industry. We plan to launch two new innovative products in the brand every year. Also we plan to enter the consumer market with our range of cake premixes.
With the growth of food processing industry how do you see the competition?
With the change in lifestyle there is an increase in demand for processed food and also hospitality industry is growing at almost 24% year-on-year thereby making Indian market attractive for all the global ingredients players. Also India being the fastest growing economy and with youngest population in the world we expect all companies to enter India with innovative solutions. With entry of competition the market will tend to become cost competitive market.
How do you wish to promote your range of products?
We have a vast distribution network across India with more than 250 dealers and resellers. Also we have a sales team covering Pan India who reach customers directly. Apart from direct customer connect we promote our products through various food exhibitions, food magazines and direct customer seminars.
What are the current market trends?
The trend is fast changing with regular introduction of ready to use products especially for QSR segment. The major players in the segment are Rich Gravies, Pilsbury, Puratos and Danisco.
Your views on synthetic vs natural ingredients.
In food ingredients categories most of the ingredients, which are currently being used are either natural or derived from natural sources. In categories like colours, flavours and preservatives there are synthetic ingredients being used but there are always natural alternatives available to replace them.
A restaurant in the US said it will replace over 150 ingredients with naturals. You do see a similar trend in India soon?
Yes, with more and more people becoming health conscious, there will surely be a trend to reduce use of synthetic colours, flavours in India.