Kohinoor Foods to launch Thai, Italian ready-to-eat meals

Kohinoor Foods, a major player in the packaged Basmati rice segment, plans to manufacture Thai and Italian ready-to-eat packaged foods at its two existing facilities in Haryana by end-2010. These facilities currently manufacture the company’s frozen foods and ready-to-eat packets, which primarily cater to the north Indian market.

“We focus on north Indian food. We have a few south Indian offerings as well. But international food is something we are seriously looking at — like Thai and Italian cuisine,” Business Head (Foods Division) Nishant Arora says.

With the addition of the new international foods segment, the company plans to churn out 40,000-50,000 meals (packets) a day, against the 15,000 meals that are being manufactured in their frozen foods division. The company hopes its ready-to-eat foods — both domestic and international — would account for 33 per cent of its turnover, which currently stands at Rs 640 crore. Kohinoor plans to use its 300,000 retail outlets to market the new range of Thai and Italian ready-to-eat meals.