Himalaya International- A Case Study of Frozen Food Business
1. “We are not merely a food unit, but also a compassionate, conscious, and burgeoning corporate Institution.” Presented by SHUBHAM MEHTA MBA-Rural Management KIIT School of Rural Management Bhubaneswar
2. Evolution . . . Man Mohan Malik, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Himalaya International entered into business at the age of twenty. Six years of multiple debacles in diverse businesses, Textiles to Bullion, Commodities to trading at stock exchange did not decimate his will to succeed. SanjivKakkar, Co-Founder, President & COO: A man having 6 Years of experience with multi-national shipping companies in top responsible positions, joined hands with Mr. Malik in 1986jointly charted the future course of Himalya. Diversifying from Chemicals to food business in 1995, they set up a new composite project to grow Mushrooms & to process frozen vegetables and went on to contract farming baby potatoes. 1996, The company started its Food Marketing operations of in United States. The company now has its Registered Office at New Delhi and Head Offices at Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh (India) and at Princeton (USA). Himalya is publicly traded company on all major stock exchanges of the country.
3. Operations . . . Mushrooms:Prodeces three varieties of Mushrooms; White (Agaricus), Crimini (Italian Brown) and Portobello as frozen Buttons, Slices, Dices & de-stemmed Caps. Contract farming: Himalya has created partnerships with local farmers to produce all it’s raw material requirements from Vegetables to pure Buffalo milk. Specialty Vegetables: The company process Vegetables & Baby potatoes grown especially in Sub-Himalayan terrain. Buffalo milk Italian Cheeses: Most recently the company ventured to RaffaeleCioffi, a fifth generation cheese producer from the coast of Sorrento in Compania region of Italy for manufacturing the real, authentic Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheeses. Ethnic Sweets and Appetizers fall under the company’s prepared food line. “Environment is Sacred” is the philosophy of the Company. In 2002 the Company’s Founder Chairman himself, created a breakthrough technology to turn spent mushroom substrate, an environmental hazard, into an environmental asset. “People First”: Himalya constantly promotes literary programs and leadership exercises for the better future of all beings.
21. Laboratory capabilities. . . Microbiological laboratory: Microbiological testing is carried out of all finished products. This testing includes Total Plate Count, E.Coli, Coliform, Staphylococcus, Yeast & Mold, Listeria & Salmonella. & In addition environmental sampling, Personal & Equipments Swabs, water testing are carried out. Instruments used are BOD incubator, Laminar air flow Autoclave, Colony counter, Hot air oven, Microscope, Distillation unit & Hot plate etc. Chemical Analysis: Milk & milk products testing, which includes Fat, Protein, SNF, Moisture, pH & all types of adulterations tests in milk. HPLC system (Perkins Elmer) for cow milk adulteration in buffalo milk & also glycoalkaloids testing in Potato. Water testing includes Water hardness, Chlorination & Residual chlorine content & also testing of Packing material.
22. Milestones. . . 8 February 2000, took over Mushroom Associates & Goodwin Refrigeration. 2 August 2000, took over S & D Mushroom Inc. 13 September 2000, took over Ocbs & Promoters October 2000, The company launched ‘Efoodcommerce.com’, a unique B2B portal in USA. The main objective of the portal is to bring all components of food trade on one crystal clear platform, empowering the participants to do business with complete, real time knowledge at much lower costs, by eliminating the existing inefficiencies of the trade. October 2006, took over Castle Gourment. November 2008, The company launched plain fruit yoghurt containing pieces of real fruits under the brand name ‘Himalaya Fresh’ and breaded appetizers in the domestic market, primarily in north India through modern trade segment by inking tie-ups with retail giants such as Reliance Fresh, Bharti Wal-Mart, More — AV Birla Group, Metro Cash & Carry.
23. May 2009, Himalaya International became 1st company to make its employees share holder in its business under ESOP plan. August 2009, Targeting to its middle and upper class consumers company launched its new range of frozen Parathas, Chapattis & ready to eat curries under the brand name ‘Himalaya Fresh’ . October 2009, under the brand name - ‘Daily1’ the company launched a new series of micronutrients enriched health based caplets for men and women. November 2009, the company set up a Rs. 110 crore plant having installed capacity to process 20,000 kgs of almonds daily and shall produce 400,000 nutrition bars / day on state of the art high tech line at Behrod, Rajasthan on Delhi-Jaipur National Highway-8. The company’s revenue increased from Rs.17.2 crore in FY 2005 to Rs. 57.3 crore in FY 2009.
24. April 2010, Going into a technical alliance with ‘Preferred Vegetables (USA)’ the company launched a new range of fruit blended yoghurts for the 1st time in Indian metro cities. July 2010, company made partnerships with Delaware North Companies Australia - A global leader in hospitality & food service and TajSATS - a leader in airline catering for 2010 Common Wealth Games and the company has also installed 100 food carts in National Capital with a capital investment of Rs. 10 crore. September 2010, the company commissioned a food processing plant with combined production capacity of more than 75000 Tons per annum in Mehsana district of Gujarat. Recently ventured with RaffaeleCioffi, a fifth generation cheese producer from the coast of Sorrento in Compania region of Italy for manufacturing the real, authentic Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheeses.
