Tuesday, November 14, 2017

FOOD SPECIAL .....Rice To The Challenge

Rice To The Challenge


The story of Faasos Rs 65 crore biryani empire
How Faasos went online to build its biryani brand Behrouz click by click.


“If Dominos could build a global market for pizza, why can't Faasos do the same with biryani,“ rea soned the gritty entrepre neur who cofounded the food tech startup Faasos in 2011. With inspiration well in place, what was required next was a brand name and a business plan.
“We were looking for a name with a Mughlai touch and along came Behrouz, which is Persian for prosperity,“ recalls Barman who piloted the launch in three locations in Mumbai last year. Behrouz, he claims, is made with unprocessed spices, best quality basmati rice, without using anything artificial or hydrogenated fat. “It instantly clicked with the consumers,“ he says, adding that there was no looking back.


In little over a year, Behrouz has become an over `65-crore brand, claims Barman, adding that the brand will clock sales of `5.5 crore in October. Though Behrouz is not the first brand to sell biryani online, its claim to fame is being the only one in India to scale across the country. “NCR is our biggest market. We sell about 5-7 thousand biryanis every day,“ he asserts.


Biryani, reckon marketing experts, has the potential to be the pizza of India. “It is seen as a celebration food, is a single pot meal and has a limited number of ingredients,“ says Jessie Paul, a marketing expert. While it has familiarity in the South and East and amongst many communities, there is currently no national player, with the previous contender Ammi's having slowed.“As such it is a made for online national ordering and Behrouz is making the best of the opportunity,“ she adds.


W hile conceding that Behrouz is not the first or only biryani player, Paul reckons that it has the advantage of having Faaso's as its parent and hence access to a successfully managed supply chain and quality process. “If Behrouz is able to overcome supply chain and product standardization challenges, then it can become the Domino's of biriyani,“she adds.


It's not been smooth sailing, though.Barman admits, “The launch was great, but the scale up was a challenge.“ Unlike pizza or a burger, Indian food is difficult to standardise at scale, more so the biryani.Behrouz was tried, tested, rolled back and re-launched for si months in various cities including Mumbai , NCR and Bangalore. The idea was to ensure that all the kitchens are equipped and skilled enough to make the biryani fresh and great. For Barman, making biryani is a perfect blend of culinary art, production science and a tech-product like iteration that he finally cracked around April this year, when he started scaling Behrouz nationally.


In 2011, recounts Barman, a chef from Mominpur, the heartland of Kolkata biryani, shared his secret recipe: “I don't ensure that, God does,' is how the chef replied when asked about the consistency in taste. Barman, however, didn't want to leave anything to chance and so brought a scientific touch to the art: spices were ground and measured to an ounce, the art of soaking, drying and spreading the rice in layers was mastered, a dairy manufacturer was roped in to make a particular brand of pure ghee at scale, a process of layering with exact measures was perfected, and strong visual and sensory cues were created to judge if the biryani is great.


Behrouz, Barman lets on, conducts regular audits, mystery shopping, and tracks user feedback on every biryani it sells. “Biryani is a mix of art, science and passion,“ he says.


Branding experts are not surprised with the success of `digital' biryani. In a world that is progressively getting online, everything will become digital, reckons Harish Bijoor, a brand expert. At a time, when the best place to buy is often online, the best place to make a friend is possibly Tinder, and the best place for marriage one of the slew of digital matrimony sites, di g it a l bi r ya ni i s a welcome thought.


“Behrouz is attempting the McDonaladisation of biryani,“ he adds.


The big fear: taste may be compromised. “Behrouz, however, has proved to be an exception,“ says Bijoor. If a digital biryani brand can promise to have the same taste whether in Bengaluru or Behrampur, then it has arrived, he says, adding a word of caution: future might be a worry whenever the brand enters smaller towns.


Barman, however, believes his biryani brand can stand the test of time and scale.“The target for 2020 would be building a `500-crore brand,“ asserts Barman, as he gets down to add more dum to his biryani.

By Rajiv Singh

BE 8NOV17 

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