I remember, many moons ago, as a younger retailers in Foodworld, I was subjected to a presentation by a Danish company that used to distribute Ice Creams in Europe, and were looking at setting up a similar business in India. This was as far back as 1999. I took them around the Indian cities and markets. It is today a day in 2011, and they have never returned since! Should I laugh or rue the fact that India has changed only at the margins in food distribution.
Similarly, even earlier in 1988,when I was involved with the Indo-Nissin Foods project (makers of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles - then a Unilever JV), I toured with an outstanding FMCG executive by name- Ken Sasahara, from Nissin Japan, (he is today President of Nissin, USA), all over India, and he was adventurous in food exploration. We ate at all types of restaurants, from way-side to 5 star hotels- from Kakeda hotel in delhi, to Dhabas in Punjab to Muniandi Villas and Military hotels in south India. In typical Japanese style he catalogued everything on this laptop.
In a month we were back at our office at Brookefields in Bangalore. As he made his report he asked me- "hey, I have catalogued here 100s of delicious dishes. When there is so much food around, who will want to eat noodles? It will always remain a small category". And so it is. Since Maggi launched in 1983, instant noodles has grown but in the context of the over all food category, it remains minuscule.
Coming back to the ice cream story, the insights from that presentation were startling. The Danish company showed the trends in sales over a year in Denmark. I saw that the sales did not decline in winter and peak in summer, as it does here, to a factor of 10. I saw that in Denmark where it is cold, read freezing, for most of the year, the sales never declined. They themselves could not answer why, and infact it never occurred to them to ask why. It struck me then that their homes, and offices and cars are all climate controlled to 16 to 20degrees at all times. So then what does it matter even if the outside is -20degrees? Our homes in India nor the offices are warmed up in winter. Even in the west and south of India where in winters temperature do not go below 10 degrees, it is considered winter and there is decline in cold beverages and ice cream.
I then begin to think, of the huge carbon foot print that the western countries have compared to India and they consider India polluting? China,USA and Europe account for account for 54% of world's carbon emission. India disconcertingly is in the 5th position, 5%.
Let's not use ice in Coke that is cold, plastic lid off a glass of beverage, cut off the air-conditioning at 6 am, etc. Walk more drive less. These are small things that we can do silently to save our planet. Let's not do it the news papers, let us do it for ourselves, for our own silent satisfaction.
Similarly, even earlier in 1988,when I was involved with the Indo-Nissin Foods project (makers of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles - then a Unilever JV), I toured with an outstanding FMCG executive by name- Ken Sasahara, from Nissin Japan, (he is today President of Nissin, USA), all over India, and he was adventurous in food exploration. We ate at all types of restaurants, from way-side to 5 star hotels- from Kakeda hotel in delhi, to Dhabas in Punjab to Muniandi Villas and Military hotels in south India. In typical Japanese style he catalogued everything on this laptop.
In a month we were back at our office at Brookefields in Bangalore. As he made his report he asked me- "hey, I have catalogued here 100s of delicious dishes. When there is so much food around, who will want to eat noodles? It will always remain a small category". And so it is. Since Maggi launched in 1983, instant noodles has grown but in the context of the over all food category, it remains minuscule.
Coming back to the ice cream story, the insights from that presentation were startling. The Danish company showed the trends in sales over a year in Denmark. I saw that the sales did not decline in winter and peak in summer, as it does here, to a factor of 10. I saw that in Denmark where it is cold, read freezing, for most of the year, the sales never declined. They themselves could not answer why, and infact it never occurred to them to ask why. It struck me then that their homes, and offices and cars are all climate controlled to 16 to 20degrees at all times. So then what does it matter even if the outside is -20degrees? Our homes in India nor the offices are warmed up in winter. Even in the west and south of India where in winters temperature do not go below 10 degrees, it is considered winter and there is decline in cold beverages and ice cream.
I then begin to think, of the huge carbon foot print that the western countries have compared to India and they consider India polluting? China,USA and Europe account for account for 54% of world's carbon emission. India disconcertingly is in the 5th position, 5%.
Let's not use ice in Coke that is cold, plastic lid off a glass of beverage, cut off the air-conditioning at 6 am, etc. Walk more drive less. These are small things that we can do silently to save our planet. Let's not do it the news papers, let us do it for ourselves, for our own silent satisfaction.
