Greendot Health Foods: Pioneer in Innovating Healthy, Delectable Snacks with a Fusion of Indian & International Cuisines | CEOInsights Vendor
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Greendot Health Foods: Pioneer in Innovating Healthy, Delectable Snacks with a Fusion of Indian & International Cuisines

Greendot Health Foods: Pioneer in Innovating Healthy, Delectable Snacks with a Fusion of Indian & International Cuisines

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Vikram Agarwal,Managing Director

Vikram Agarwal

Managing Director

The trend of manufacturing healthy snack foods with low fat, low calories and low trans-fat is presently on the radar in India because majority of the populace prefer leading lifestyles with a salubrious regimen yet with exotic tastes and flavours. To entrench its goals of foraying into this healthy snack foods segment, Greendot Health Foods Pvt. Ltd. (GHFPL) unveiled its flagship brand ‘Cornitos’ in 2009 with the key product ‘Nacho Crisps’. Nacho Crisps in fact outclassed as a guilt-free snack for the then youth which was created by tapping the variegated flavours of Mexican cuisine and blending it with the spicy and tangy flavours of Indian palate. Prepared from 100% Corn, along with healthy, pure and natural ingredients, Nacho Crisps are completely free from gluten, artificial colours, preservatives, trans-fat and cholesterol, but are rich in protein.

With the recent mayhem that a multitude of chronic diseases linked to GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) foods, GHFPL ascertains to deploy only non-GMO corn into its snack foods besides demarcating as the only Indian company that uses the purest corn oil. In fact, the firm audits all its suppliers of corn and their facilities every year for quality standards and also ensures that its corn oil vendors produce only unadulterated corn oil with no blending. Cornitos Nacho Crisps has recently launched Veggie Nachos – Beetroot, Spinach, Melange, Quinoa blended with Corn Masa. Cornitos best selling flavours are Sizzlin Jalapeno, Cheese and Herbs, Tomato Mexicana, Tikka Masala and Cheesy Sour Cream and Onion, the most plumped for gluten-free, healthy products by the consumers today. Not just Nacho Crisps, but the firm has engraved its expertise towards other snacks including dips, taco shells, Mexican delights and combo packs along with its recently launched nutritious
nuts& seeds bracket including cashews, green peas, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and peanuts.

"Prior to embarking on to the healthy snacking segment, we executed a comprehensive market study on the trends, preferences and tastes of the consumers"

GHFPL, an ISO-22000, Halal and BRC certified company with FSSAI and US FDA registration,came into existence under the leadership of Vikram Agarwal (Managing Director, GHFPL) as the FMCG company of Globe Capacitors. Read the excerpts here under of an exclusive conversation of Vikram with CEO Insights to get enlightened more on Greendot Health Foods and its flagship brand Cornitos.

Despite snack foods industry being a niche segment back then, how did your avenues propel the business of Cornitos towards the aspect of health?
While being associated with Globe Capacitors across the electronics sector, I had to travel to different countries for marketing purposes and gained diverse experiences. Exploring multiple local cuisines during these trips was always at the kernel of my penchants and it was Mexican cuisine that intrigued my senses of taste and I found it quite akin to the Indian palate. After researching on infusing Mexican and other cuisines with the Indian palate, I gradually introduced 10 flavours in the Nacho Crisps category entailing almost all the palates from north to south and east to west in India. In addition, the Japanese cuisine also piqued my interests and we were the only brand that launched ‘Wasabi Nacho Crisps’ and ‘Wasabi Peas’ imparting authentic Japanese flavours. Innovations like this across new products happen every six months in accordance with the consumer demands.

Alongside our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Roorkee spanning across 9000 m2 area furnished with automatic production lines assures totally untouched processes right from cooking of corn in traditional Mexican style till packaging of products, making our product more scrumptious and healthy.

How do you blend the international cuisines into the Indian palate?
I firstly provide insights on the ingredients as per the country or region set on the schedule to the R&D team for them to proceed with
the product development, palate test and sensory evaluation. Post which we garner consumer insights and flavour samplings across food trade shows in different cities, conduct few tests, receive feedback from customers on their liking for that particular flavour and accordingly launch it. It takes almost six months for this entire process to unfold.

How did you establish you brand among the niche market segment?
Instead of sticking to the cliched avenues in the industry, we strongly believed in blue ocean strategy and created a proprietary space for Cornitos envisaging to be recognized for our quality, services and innovations across the snack foods sphere. Prior to embarking on to the healthy snacking segment, we executed a comprehensive market study on the trends, preferences and tastes of the consumers and strategically enhanced our productivity and distribution across this segment.

We made a unique marketing strategy to collaborate only with high-end retailers and modern trade stores that were looking out for healthy food products. Gradually, we tied up with airlines, Horeca, multiplexes and cafes and have grown to export around 20 countries globally. Leveraging our team’s excellence, distribution partners and retail tracking system software, we are striving to make our products available at every store in India both offline and online.

Kindly delineate your future roadmap.
By investing in the latest technologies and business lines, we are aspiring to diversify into new product categories in food across India and the world, develop novel snack products from our existing corn, nuts, pumpkin & sunflower seeds bracket and also reap Rs.100 crore revenue in near future.

Key Management:
Vikram Agarwal, Managing Director
Savouring diverse cuisines across the globe, Vikram assures to create innovative, healthy snack foods under GHFPL’s brand 'Cornitos' by blending the right international cuisine with the right Indian palate.

Offerings: Nacho Crisps, Taco Shells, Dips, Mexican Delights, Nuts & Seeds, Combo Packs & Festive Packs

Office:Faridabad

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