Del Monte to introduce its health snacks in India

Soon, instead of a pack of potato chips or puffs, you can buy a pack of fruits to alleviate your snack appetite. California-based food and beverages company Del Monte plans to enter the Indian snacks market with a range of fruit-based packaged snacks over the next six to 12 months.

In the Indian market, the company would take on the likes of PepsiCo, ITC, Haldirams, Britannia and Parle. Currently, India’s health snack market accounts for only about five per cent of the estimated Rs 10,000-crore snack food market.

While the average cost of health snacks is about Rs 15 for 12-15 gramme packs, Del Monte plans to launch 40- and 50-gramme packs at Rs 20-30. Traditional snacks such as potato chips, puffs and nuts, however, cost much less. “Pricing is important, along with innovation and uniqueness,” said Yogesh Bellani, chief operating officer, FieldFresh Foods, the 50:50 joint venture between Bharti Ventrues and Del Monte Pacific.

After testing the market for about six months, the company has planned to launch packaged fruit-based health snacks, primarily targeting ‘munching on-the-go’ youth, he said, adding the youth sought options that were different in taste, refreshment and nutritional essence.

Globally, Del Monte sells fruit, fruit chillers, fruit salads and fruit gels, though in bigger packs. “Packs of 40 gramme and 50 gramme would be launched for the first time,” Bellani said. In India, Del Monte already sells packaged fruits such as pineapple slices, peach halves and fruit cocktails — in pack sizes starting 340 grammes. The packaged fruit market in India is estimated at Rs 300 crore, and is growing at 15-18 per cent, said Bellani. About 55 per cent of the packaged fruit was imported, he added.

Del Monte’s health snack products would include packaged fruits (apricot, mango and papaya), dried fruits and dried fruit prunes. “We are not in competition with the normal snacks players. We are trying to develop a completely new segment in the Indian snack market,” Bellani said.

He added entry into the health snack market was expected to double the company’s revenue in the packaged fruits segment, which currently accounts for about 15 per cent. About 30 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from beverages, 30 per cent from culinary and about 25 per cent from the Italian range.

Initially, the health snack products would be sold at school, college and office canteens, cafes and railway canteens. “We will not invest in developing an entirely new distribution network. Instead, we will leverage our existing ones,” he said. Since these canteens and cafes already sold other Del Monte products, adding some more would be an easy call for the company, he added.

“We are not planning to cater to roadside retailing stores at the moment. There’s a lot to cover in the B-to-B and B-to-C segments,” he said. “Aluminium can packaging gives us enough scope to experiment with products, and localisation is a key factor,” Bellani said, adding the company would continue to focus on cities with populations of about a million. “There’s a lot to be covered,” he said.

The company also plans to launch at least five products in existing categories. In culinary, it would introduce mayonnaise and a range of salad dressings and toppings, Belani said.

While PepsiCo has been selling ‘Aliva’ and the Lays Baked as health snack products, Britannia offers NutriChoice and Parle offers the Monaco smart chips.

FieldFresh sells fresh and canned fruit, penne pasta, snack dressing, mango pulp, tomato paste, jalapeno, fruit cocktail and whole corn kernels to more than 2,000 hotels, restaurants and bakeries in India.