Seasoned to Perfection

It’s easy to let stagnation dictate your course when you’ve done it all and figured out India’s taste buds. However, for the iconic Indian snack manufacturer Haldiram’s, and its Executive Director Ashok Kumar Tyagi, this was not an option.

Over the past decade, Haldiram’s has reinforced its leading position in two key segments: traditional Indian snacks and western salty snacks.

“Haldiram’s has grown around 30 times over the last 17 years. It’s the market leader in the Indian snack industry despite steep competition from multinational companies and homegrown players,” Tyagi says.

Tyagi first started his career with the iconic British brand Wimpy International, which was part of United Biscuits. But his fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) breakthrough came with Uncle Chipps when he established the company as the market leader in potato chips. After the successful acquisition of Uncle Chipps by PepsiCo, Tyagi moved to Amrit Food and finally settled into Haldiram’s.

Tyagi is a big proponent of sales and distribution and today, Haldiram’s products can be found in millions of outlets across India.

Tech-forward Snacks

Technology is not something you readily associate with legacy companies like Haldiram’s, but it’s the secret spice to Tyagi’s snack behemoth.

“In the last few years, we’ve digitized our operations. We’ve implemented a distributor management system, a Salesforce automation system and other business intelligence tools. On the supply chain front, we’ve implemented sales forecast tools, and products and planning tools.

“In manufacturing as well we have upgraded the system to Industry 4.0 standards. For the last three years, we’ve been using real-time data to make real-time decisions. Along with this, we’ve also shifted our enterprise resource planning from Ramco to SAP HANA.”

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“Our association with Haldiram’s is filled with gratitude and pride. We remain inspired to work with them given their focus on new product development, quality and sustainability. Our journey with them continues.“ – Kaushik Nag, CEO – Flexibles & CPP, Jupiter Laminators

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Innovation is the other part of Tyagi’s two-pronged approach to market consolidation and it’s now the key differentiating factor for Haldiram’s.

Despite the settled and recognized products, Tyagi has kept experimenting with new flavors to delight customers. New snacks like Punjabi Tadka, Punjabi Pakora and Roasted Chana Cracker Heeng Jeera are all success stories. Product innovation leads the way for packaging innovation and food safety.

“We never compromise with food safety and at the same time, we try to optimize our cost to make it affordable for the Indian consumer. It’s followed by a strong sales and distribution network for traditional snacks. I don’t think anybody has a similar scale of sales and distribution systems or packaging innovation as us,” Tyagi reiterates.

Looking outward, Haldiram’s also acquires businesses that give it leverage on regional markets and specific snack categories. Recent acquisitions of Aakash Global Food and Babaji Snacks prove the company is still in expansion mode.

Business Partners

Haldiram’s collaborates closely with its vendors, allowing both parties to grow over mutual strengths and values. It takes help from seasoning partners to improve taste and work with innovation partners to assist the R&D team. The feedback loop helps Haldiram’s to improve its stock keeping units and distribution.

“We might upgrade equipment every 10 years so we have to intelligently connect with our business partners to see what kind of development is being done worldwide and discover how we can pick manufacturers that suit our use cases. We have 50-to-60 machine manufacturers and 12-to-15 seasoning partners. We have similar numbers for packaging as well.”

Tyagi counts around 15 critical suppliers for the additional value they bring to Haldiram’s beyond the order deliveries. These suppliers are generally required for machinery and packaging categories, with vendors such as Jupiter Laminators proving critical.

“For any FMCG, especially in salty snacks, I would say that innovation is the most important factor, followed by taste and quality,” he explains. “Then, the safety of the product comes in and finally, a strong sales and distribution network bolstered by technology.”

Haldiram’s as a company has everything by its side – a legacy stretching close to 90 years and the trust of millions of loyal customers. It’s difficult to maintain the same growth story when you’ve reached the top, but with Tyagi in the driving seat, Haldiram’s prospects look as appealing as ever.