00:00 Hello and welcome you watching NDTV Prophet. I am Mahima Vachrajani. Well, Bangalore based
00:04 ID Fresh Foods has announced that they have started work to launch its own brand of spices
00:10 and masala. The announcement comes at a time when top spice brands from India are facing
00:15 troubles over quality concerns. Now to discuss more about this we have with us Mr. P.C. Mustafa,
00:21 founder of ID Fresh Foods who joins us to give us a taste on how things are panning
00:26 out for the company. Welcome to the show sir. Thank you Mahima. Right, so my first question
00:32 to you is can you give us a brief as to what kind of masalas you are planning to launch,
00:36 what are the timelines looking like and you know what kind of products will you be launching?
00:41 We are looking at launching fresh spices in the market and it will have two categories
00:47 that we are looking at. One would be the current masala powders you know which people are used
00:54 to which will include chilli, turmeric, coriander as well along with other blended masalas.
01:01 But at ID we always look at something different and something unique. So we are also looking
01:07 at launching the masala paste in the market. Understood sir. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. The
01:13 masala paste that our grandmothers used to make at home that's what we are planning to
01:17 launch along with the current masala powders. Understood. So Mr. Mustafa I am trying to
01:20 understand that were you always planning to do this or this is on the wake of all the
01:25 regulatory overhang that is there on masalas right now? No, we have been working on it
01:29 for almost like 3-4 years now to get this right. Okay and also if you can tell me that
01:36 how do you plan to differentiate yourself with the masalas that are already present
01:40 in the market? So I would say four aspects. One as I mentioned earlier we will have a
01:48 masala powder and a masala paste. In masala powder there is a pre-differentiation. One
01:56 would be our products will be fresh in the market. We will not have to keep the products
02:01 for many months. We should be able to give a weekly fresh masala made and being used
02:11 immediately for a consumer. That has been ID's philosophy throughout the journey. So
02:16 we sell fresh. Second part would be from a sourcing perspective we would be using IPM
02:24 technology wherein an integrated pest management solutions are in place to avoid pests or overdose
02:31 of pests in the final product. And from a sterilization perspective especially with
02:38 the current controversy in place we plan to use a steam sterilization not the chemical
02:44 based sterilization. So these are the three differentiating factors for ID masala powders.
02:50 Understood so I am just trying to understand here I don't know the science behind preservating
02:54 but from what I understood is that ethanol oxide is used to preserve those masalas. But
02:58 since you are saying that you know you will be serving it fresh the shelf life will not
03:02 be longer so then you will be not using any kind of preservatives or will you be using
03:07 a milder preservative if yes then what kind of preservative will you be using? So I want
03:13 to share a quick story with you. We open a factory for school kids to come into the factory
03:19 and inspect us. So this is a small kid who came to the factory and asked me this question
03:25 right. Do you have a little bit of preservative or no preservatives? You are actually asking
03:32 the same question now. At the ID we actually fight a war against chemicals and preservatives
03:36 in the world. So the answer is zero preservatives. Understood well that is very well put Mr.
03:44 Mustafa. Also I am trying to understand what kind of marketing strategies will you adopt
03:48 to you know promote your product because there will be something will be like a changing
03:53 will be changing the market landscape for masalas altogether. So what kind of marketing
03:59 strategy will you be taking up? Our USP will be chemical free or pesticide free this one
04:08 and zero chemicals and most importantly fresh. Fresh masalas is our USP. Understood and.
04:17 The masala powder. The masala paste is a completely innovative different product. The same in
04:23 the masala paste our grandmothers used to make at home using that stone grinders at
04:27 home right or stone plates at home. The rollers and plates right. That is the brand used in
04:35 the masala paste category. Understood understood and lastly Mr. Mustafa my pressing question
04:41 to you would be that when do you plan to you know list yourself any like recent plans that
04:47 you have come up with to raise funds via IPO. We are looking at the IPO in 3 years. So we
04:54 wanted to exit FI27 with a 1000 crore plus run rate with a high debited debit. That's
05:04 when we will go for IPO. Understood I take your points 3 years yet to go for you know
05:10 for ID fresh foods IPO. Well Mr. Mustafa thank you so much for taking our time and speaking
05:15 with us at NDTV Profit. It was a pleasure talking to you. Thank you again for this wonderful
05:19 opportunity. God bless you all. Jai Hind.
05:21 [Music]
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