Britannia Industries, India’s renowned biscuit maker, is currently exploring potential joint ventures to enter high-margin categories such as chocolates, fresh dairy, and salty snacks, as revealed by Varun Berry, the company’s vice-chairman and managing director.
The maker of Marie Gold and Good Day biscuit brands has enlisted the global consulting firm Bain & Co to prepare an aggressive ‘go-to-market’ project by leveraging data-driven strategies, as informed by Berry.
The Nusli Wadia-owned company is looking to map its target market segments closely for mounting an effective challenge to existing players in the new categories. It will also hire talent to build the sales team, Berry said.
“While our current focus is to pause and consolidate, we remain vigilant for opportunities to fuel portfolio growth,” said Berry, credited with Britannia’s transformation from a biscuit-centric entity to one with a broader product range. He assumed the role of vice-chairman in 2022, after Rajneet Kohli of Domino’s Restaurants was appointed as CEO.
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“Chocolates is a big market but difficult to penetrate and therefore, it will only be through a JV if and when it is possible,” he said. “We are present in multiple categories and want to get them larger before going to others. The go-to-market strategy with the help of Bain will help identify blank spaces more precisely to ensure improved distribution of its products across markets,” he added.
Meanwhile, dismissing market rumours of a stake sale in Britannia to large players or private equity firms, Berry said, “There is no truth to this and absolutely no chance of that happening.”
While aspiring to evolve into a comprehensive food company, Britannia’s current focus lies in expanding its existing categories, including biscuits, cakes, rusks, croissants, energy bars, protein bars, cheese, milkshakes, and yogurt.
“Pause and consolidate is all about ensuring better focus. We are currently going to do that better with scale; about scaling up, for example, cheese is now a INR 100 crore business,” he said.
Britannia’s leading biscuit brands encompass Marie Gold, Tiger, NutriChoice, 50-50, Treat, Pure Magic, Milk Bikis, Bourbon, Nice Time, and Little Hearts.
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