The food express
Manufacturers should attempt to study the RTE industry to
gain a firm footing. Vijay Sardana explains why
Let's begin with a quiz! Who invented
idli, dhokla, samosa, kheer etc., and in
which year? Also, name any Indian
state, which does not have even a single
convenience food in people's food habits?
Perplexed, are you? Don't be and if you are
looking for the answers, I suggest you refer to
history books to find out what people ate in
battlefields during Mahabharata and
Ramayana days. Now, you would ask, what
has that got to do with the Ready-to-Eat
(RTE) foods concept? Think deep and you
will realise that the RTE food theory is
nothing but an ancient food solution for
today's modern world.
The most important aspect of RTE food
business is to understand the scope and
opportunities in this sector. Starting from
home-made recipes to factory-made foods, all
can be classified under RTE foods. As a result,
it all depends upon what is your preference as
a consumer.
Features of RTE foods
According to one consumer research
conducted by an author on RTE foods, the
most prominent feature in these foods must
be convenience. Depending upon the eating
habits of a consumer, the convenience can be
in the form of time saving, energy saving or
effort saving or it can be combination of any
of these features. For example, if you are
eating some of the most popular RTE food
items in India like samosa, poha, dhokla, idli,
vada, burger, pizza, etc., imagine the amount
of efforts that are required to prepare these
items at home. In the form of RTE, the
consumer enjoys, besides taste, convenience
in the form of time, energy and efforts.
Thus, from all above examples, one point
is clear that a true RTE food must:
• Save time
• Save efforts and
• Save energy at the time of consumption
Scope of RTE Foods
RTE foods reflect the growing aspiration of
consumers and their changing lifestyles. In
order to make success in the RTE food
business, one must understand not only the
food needs of consumers, but also their overall
lifestyle. This helps in better positioning and
acceptance of the product by the consumers.
In fact, the scope of the RTE food is going to
increase because of the following factors:
• Increasing urbanisation
• Shortage of time both for food preparation
and food consumption
• Expensive energy
• Lack of cooking skills
• Improved availability of cooking gadgets
• Increasing demand for new taste
• Taste diversification
• Convenience is symbol of modernisation
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