Dr. Ashok Kumar Tyagi: Enabling The World To Experience The Taste Of Indian Tradition
Dr. Ashok Kumar Tyagi
Executive Director
With the proper organization in place and a vision to increase its market share continuously, the company has already made its road to expand production through inhouse expansion as well as third-party operations and grow inorganically through acquisitions. Over the years, Dr. Tyagi has received multiple prestigious awards for his exceptional contribution to the industry. Recently, he has received Food Industry Icon Lifetime Achievement Award from India Food Forum, the Business Leader of the Year Award from ET NOW, and the CEO of the Year Award from India Food Safety Summit. Let’s hear it from the industrious leader as he talks about his journey and more.
Take us through your professional journey and prior industry experience.
I began my career in 1984 with a multi national companynamed Wimpy International, a division of the United Biscuit Empire, in the UK. In 1988 I joined Uncle Chipps as its Technical Manager at the Noida
plant where I was responsible for leading the complete operations of the unit and was eventually promoted to DGM. My contribution was recognized by Management through fast track promotions and soon I was made overall in charge of four plants along with additional responsibilities of Sales & Marketing and Finance as Vice President and later as the President of the company. In 2000, I joined Amrit Food as its CEO and my last designation in the company was as its Executive President when I left it to join Haldiram.
How would you define Haldiram Snacks as an organization and its position in the market?
Haldiram is a brand that began its operations from a small tuck shop in Bikaner, Rajasthan. This journey was started by Shiv Kishan Ji who moved to Nagpur and Manohar Agarwal Ji who started a setup in Chandni Chowk New Delhi in the early 80s. Haldiram was the first brand that incepted the idea of flexible packaging of Namkeen in the early 90s. In the year 1993, wet began the export of Haldiram Namkeen to the US markets.
Tell us about your flagship offerings and what value additions can customers expect from your products.
We offer varieties of products in Namkeen, Sweets, Western Snacks, Rusks, Cookies, vermicelli, Papad, RTE, Frozen products, Syrups, and many more. Our customers have faith in our products taste, quality, and hygiene; we do not compromise with value for money offerings for our consumers. Our product caters to all ages and income group, and are consumed by different genres of people in society.
Tell us about the toughest challenge you have encountered in your journey so far and how did you
Our adaptability to changing market scenarios and anticipation of consumer preference has been our strength so far
How would you define Haldiram Snacks as an organization and its position in the market?
Haldiram is a brand that began its operations from a small tuck shop in Bikaner, Rajasthan. This journey was started by Shiv Kishan Ji who moved to Nagpur and Manohar Agarwal Ji who started a setup in Chandni Chowk New Delhi in the early 80s. Haldiram was the first brand that incepted the idea of flexible packaging of Namkeen in the early 90s. In the year 1993, wet began the export of Haldiram Namkeen to the US markets.
Tell us about your flagship offerings and what value additions can customers expect from your products.
We offer varieties of products in Namkeen, Sweets, Western Snacks, Rusks, Cookies, vermicelli, Papad, RTE, Frozen products, Syrups, and many more. Our customers have faith in our products taste, quality, and hygiene; we do not compromise with value for money offerings for our consumers. Our product caters to all ages and income group, and are consumed by different genres of people in society.
Tell us about the toughest challenge you have encountered in your journey so far and how did you
overcome them.
I believe competing with international brands in both packed foods, snacks, and QSRs throws enormous challenges as a domestic brand, and competing with them in the Indian market without advertising is a success in itself. And Haldiram has been able to overcome every challenge and make a leadership position in the Indian market.
What has been the mantra behind the enormous success of Haldiram Snacks? Also, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate?
A market is a dynamic place that keeps changing its consumption pattern, taste, healthier option, and new categories are always evolving. We as market leader, read the phenomena and works towards it; our adaptability to changing market scenarios and anticipation of consumer preference has been our strength so far.
Consumer delight and differentiation of products in terms of taste and hygiene are key parameters for the success of any brand. This also follows with time totime innovation to satisfy the needs of customers. Moreover, I believe the automation of processes will lead to consistency in quality and hygiene due to minimum manual intervention.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Tyagi, Executive Director, Haldiram Snacks
A graduate in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics and a Master in Food Technology from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Dr. Ashok is specialized in Food Processing, Technology of Milk and Milk Products, Food Chemistry, Food Micro-Biology, Chem. & Micro Evaluation of Foods. He also has an MBA and Ph. D. in Business Administration.
Awards & Recognition:
•Agribusiness Award 2018 for recognizing agribusinesses par excellence at Indian Agriculture Research Institute,
•CEO of the Year 2018 by India Food Safety Summit & Excellence Awards 2018 in New Delhi,
•Global Business Icon Award for Brand of the Year from Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare 2019,
•Food Service Retail Icons of India Award from Pepsi-Images Food Service Award 2022
I believe competing with international brands in both packed foods, snacks, and QSRs throws enormous challenges as a domestic brand, and competing with them in the Indian market without advertising is a success in itself. And Haldiram has been able to overcome every challenge and make a leadership position in the Indian market.
What has been the mantra behind the enormous success of Haldiram Snacks? Also, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate?
A market is a dynamic place that keeps changing its consumption pattern, taste, healthier option, and new categories are always evolving. We as market leader, read the phenomena and works towards it; our adaptability to changing market scenarios and anticipation of consumer preference has been our strength so far.
Consumer delight and differentiation of products in terms of taste and hygiene are key parameters for the success of any brand. This also follows with time totime innovation to satisfy the needs of customers. Moreover, I believe the automation of processes will lead to consistency in quality and hygiene due to minimum manual intervention.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Tyagi, Executive Director, Haldiram Snacks
A graduate in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics and a Master in Food Technology from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Dr. Ashok is specialized in Food Processing, Technology of Milk and Milk Products, Food Chemistry, Food Micro-Biology, Chem. & Micro Evaluation of Foods. He also has an MBA and Ph. D. in Business Administration.
Awards & Recognition:
•Agribusiness Award 2018 for recognizing agribusinesses par excellence at Indian Agriculture Research Institute,
•CEO of the Year 2018 by India Food Safety Summit & Excellence Awards 2018 in New Delhi,
•Global Business Icon Award for Brand of the Year from Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare 2019,
•Food Service Retail Icons of India Award from Pepsi-Images Food Service Award 2022