Food Service India to invest up to ₹100 crore to cater to hotel/restaurant sector demand

Food Service India Pvt Ltd. (FSIPL), which caters to the ready-to-cook and processed food sourcing requirements of the HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering) industry, has announced to invest upto ₹100 crore by 2028 to meet growing demand from this segment to deal with food price inflation and labour shortage, its Chairman & Managing Director Ajay Mariwala said in an interview. 

“FSIPL has been at the forefront of providing innovative and ready-to-cook solutions to the HORECA industry, driving growth for our customers,” said Mr. Mariwala. 

“We are helping them to manage inflation and to address the issue the less availability of labour. Also post Covid all institutions (institutional buyers) have decided to simplify their operations by sourcing processed and ready-to-cook products,” he said. 

“The ready-to-cook segment is witnessing a surge in demand as restaurants, cloud kitchens, and food chains are seeking solutions to streamline operations while enhancing menu creativity,” he added. 

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) recently projected India’s food service market to reach ₹7.7 lakh crore by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 8.1%. 

However, the company is growing at a much higher rate of 33% CAGR except for the Covid years. It is now eying a growth of 35% provided the sector does well. 

In line with this FSIPL is targeting a revenue of ₹310 crore in FY25 as compared with ₹240 crore in FY24. 

From now till 2028 the company plans to increase its production by adding more lines at existing facilities and to set up new lines. 

It has decided to increase its premium offerings as people as expected to consume more high-end food in line with their rise in income.

“With our expansion plans, we aim to lead India’s food service transformation and help businesses to grow,” he said. 

The company’s product portfolio spans six categories: seasonings, spices, gravies and sauces, beverage mixes, sweet goods, and single-ingredient products under the FX label. 

The FX products include canned fruits, vegetables, pasta, and breadcrumbs, sourced from a network of over 30 factories across India, Mr Mariwala said. 

“We meet the unique culinary needs of over 40,000 customers, ranging from leading hotel chains, cloud kitchens and quick-service restaurants and upto top 300 hospitality brands and chains across India,” he added. 

Besides suppling ingredients, the company helps its customers in development of menu, streamlining processes, staff training and backend operations.

Now having supplies to over 550 cities & towns in India the company aims to scale up this number to about 3500 cities by 2028 when it targets a revenue of ₹1,000 crore.

“Our main focus will be to continue to expand our product range. The food industry that caters to the institutional segment is growing significantly because of travel and work from home has stopped. So people are eating out more and ordering more,” Mr Mariwala said.  

“There is a massive opportunity now in tier 2, 3 and 4 towns, where the aspirations are growing for people to taste newer foods,” he added.