“Increase wants, create needs and consumption. So far India has only been consuming daily needs. It is time to create more needs,” said Kishore Biyani, founder and CEO, Future Group at Food Forum India 2009 in Mumbai.
Biyani further said that he is not disappointed due to the ongoing economic meltdown, rather he mentioned that it is a healthy period since correction of whatever was in excess was not getting rectified otherwise.
According to Biyani, food retailing is one of the safest businesses but what it perhaps requires is to give proper attention to keep the cost under control with regards to making a particular product reach the customer. “Those who are planning to add private labels should take care about the volume and cost of production,” suggested Biyani.
He stated that for the success of a food court format in India, it is better not to ape the western formats, rather follow what traditionally India has been doing – having food stalls which are manned by the stall owner.
Apart from introducing a private brand of toothpaste, Biyani informed that they are strengthening their private labels in the space of beauty, men’s grooming products and ready-to-eat foods.
He made a witty remark responding to a query related to an estimated time by when the recession would fade out and said, “I guess the day we stop reading the newspapers and watching television news; recession will automatically disappear.”
— Zainab Morbiwala, Mumbai Bureau
