MANAGEMENT

CASE

Harvest Gold: Delhis No. 1 Bread

describes a real-life situation

faced, a decision or action
taken by an individual
manager or by an organization at the strategic, functional or operational level

Noria Farooqui

t was 10 in the morning of a hot day in May 2010. The heat wave of Delhi was
driving people mad with no signs of rain, and adding fuel to the fire was a
terrible traffic jam ahead. Taab Siddiqui had to catch hold of her team to assign
some work to them as she would be away for a couple of weeks from May 24, 2010
onwards. She had planned a trip to South Africa, after having a really hectic closing
of the financial year.
While moving towards the corporate office at Mahipalpur (Extension), perhaps the
most congested area of South Delhi near the airport, her car crossed the BRT corridor near Chirag Delhi flyover and stopped at the traffic signal. While crossing the
signal, fiddling with her blackberry phone, she looked out of the window and started
wondering what the green colour meant to her as a business woman and to Delhi as
a city.
During that time in Delhi, the government was giving a lot of emphasis on protecting the environment and saving the ecosystem by planting trees and adopting practices to create a green atmosphere. The major reasons were the forthcoming
Commonwealth Games and the increasing pollution in the city. Small hoardings
were installed across the city with slogans such as GREEN DELHI CLEAN DELHI,
GO GREEN etc. Marketers were trying to sell green marketing concepts, finding
innovative ways to show their concern for the environment.
But for Taab Siddiqui, green colour answered many of her critics queries there
were persistent mails from people who thought that her soft bread contained egg.
The fact was that egg was never used as an ingredient in the Harvest Gold bread and
to highlight the vegetarian character of its products, the company started printing a
green mark on the packing.
KEY WORDS
Indian Bakery Industry
Green Marketing
Procurement
Packaging
Quality Standards
Cost-cutting Measures

She had to reach the office by 11 am as she had invited Equus Red Cell, the Ad shop,
for launching their website. This was an important meeting for building the brand
image of the company. Moreover, she was planning to go national and hence to be on
par with the other competitors, internet presence and social networking were a must.
As her car drove into the parking area, she heaved a sigh of relief that she could
escape from the peak traffic and was still running ahead of her schedule; she could
thus afford to spend a couple of minutes with her staff as she had to inform them
about a new product. She walked in and called everybody in the Conference Room
to announce the breaking news, particularly to the male employees. I have a good

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

117

piece of news to share with you; we are entering into a

challenging segment of semi-cooked rotis in certain parts
of Delhi to start with! Now all men should stop pestering their mothers and wives to make garam rotis1 for
them, she jokingly warned them. The launching of this
product was quite close to her heart because she personally hated making rotis during her earlier days. After getting back from her tour, she had thought of giving
a green signal to this daring product of her company.
Piyush, the executive assistant to the lady, standing behind her, was quite apprehensive about the product. Is
this roti business really going to work? There can be other
ways of empowering the Delhi women. We all reach
home late and the least that we would want is a freshly
cooked meal with fresh chapatis, he thought.
It was honestly a challenging step of experimenting with
the sensitive Indian consumer, and that too men. Previous records showed that this venture was quite popular
in the West but in India it was still a question of value
system for every household. But that was what Harvest
Gold was known for: Challenging the Challenges. If
the company failed then what would happen? Perhaps
they would stop this venture and move ahead with some
learning as this would not be the first time they were
failing. A couple of years ago, they had tried selling
mineral water but that had not gone well with the people. The business was not a success and they had to
promptly shut it down. The problem lay in the logistics.
Another issue for the company was the implementation
of CNG norms2 along with its other contemporaries,
it was constantly bugged by the Delhi Government officials who wanted them to have CNG fitted trucks to
carry their products, and these companies had no choice
but to follow rules. Their concern was that, how on earth
would their products reach the breakfast tables of the
customers on time if the trucks had to stand in long
queues for CNG refueling, which was inevitable due to
limited CNG stations. What would happen to the
Dilliwallahs3 who wanted to have only Harvest Gold?
Managing the current distribution system was really a
1

Hot Indian breads made of wheat flour. Most Indian people prefer to
have them hot.

CNG(Compressed natural gas) is an alternative fuel and is widely accepted by vehicle owners because of low cost and clean burning
aspect.The government has made this option mandatory for trucks
and autorickshaws, i.e., they have to get their vehicles CNG fitted.

People belonging to Delhi.

118

hard task for them. For that matter it was a crucial issue
even for other food companies like Mother Dairy and
Perfect Bread because their business too depended on
good logistics.
The most important issue for the company was expanding in other parts of the country and managing the distribution of fresh bread in such a way that her customers
got the product at the right time and were not attracted
to the alternate options offered by the retailers. Now the
task ahead was to develop a business model for gaining
national presence it could be franchising or contract
manufacturing.
Harvesting gold in the Delhi market during the nineties, but strapped by the investment ceiling of Rs 30 million in the reserved sector of bread manufacturing,
Harvest Gold realized that the future lay in franchising
its brand and technology across the country.
Taab Siddiquis strong conviction for outstanding quality had brought laurels to the organization, which she
did not want to lose just by expanding the business. In
fact the organization faced a major challenge when it
started outsourcing the jobs. Their major objective was
to fulfill the need for a good quality product involving
low cost techniques that the customers could trust. (See
Appendix I for cost control methods). What differentiated them from others was quality, and their endeavour was to follow it 365 days.

HARVEST GOLD: ORIGINS

Adil Hassan was a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi,
who switched to making bread with an investment of
Rs. 10 million. After his marriage with Taab Siddiqui,
an MBA from Aligarh Muslim University, in 1988, they
had shifted to Singapore but returned to India in 1992 to
make their living in Delhi. They hit upon the idea of
bread-making when they failed to find fresh and decent
bread in Delhi. So, they decided to make bread and the
rest, as they said, was history.
Adil Hassan and Taab Siddiqui commissioned their
plant as Harvest Gold Foods India Pvt. Ltd. and commenced production in June 1993, at its state-of-the-art
facility at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan (installed capacity: 75,000
loaves of 800 gm each a day) with a premium range of
Harvest Gold white bread in 400 gm (Price Rs 7 a loaf)
and 800 gm (Rs 13). The product was an instant hit with
HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

a Rs. 400 million turnover in just five years. They further diversified into related products like hamburger
buns, pizza base, etc.
Earlier there was a domination of two manufacturers
Modern and Britannia. Demand was high and supply
inadequate; hence whatever was produced was sold.
Bread was sold in wax papers. People used to stand in
queue for hours for delivery vans to get their loaves.
Such was the dominance of Britannia and Modern
breads. Other competitors like Taaza and Bakemans
were not so popular. Since the national players were Britannia and Modern (now limited to a few parts of the
country), every state had its own local brand. Short shelflife of bread made it difficult for big players to distribute bread at distant places. From 1995-96 up to 1998-99,
Britannia bread market share witnessed a fall due to the
stiff competition from Modern Foods. Still Britannia
could manage to regain its shape due to the takeover of
Modern Foods and the time spent in its restructuring.
Again that could not last long and Britannia faced some
problem in its distribution of bread. This particular crisis was the reason behind Harvest Golds success as the
market leaders were fighting with their destinies.
Harvest Gold did not have any distributor for its bread
at that time; so, it approached the distributors of Britannia and Modern. These distributors agreed to keep a
stock of Harvest Gold bread and sell it whenever there
was a demand for it. It also approached the Nirulas for
keeping its bread on their counters. But everything took
a turn when customer response turned out to be overwhelming. Within a span of two years, there was no looking back for them. Harvest Gold was 17 years old with a
turnover of more than Rs. 1.2 billion with one plant, one
city, and one product. Its only plant was in Bhiwadi from
where all its products were distributed. What was most
remarkable was the companys distribution system the
trucks were painted with Harvest Golds name and logo
a true example of mobile branding. This was a case of
a local player taking on a big brand and emerging as
the market leader within a span of just one to two years
of launch. Other than the normal white bread, it also
made sandwich bread, Bombay pav, burger bun, brown
bread, kulcha, pizza base, sweet bun and milk rusk,
daliya (Porridge) bread, garlic bread, and multi-grain
bread and sold its own atta (wheat flour). Their label
accounted for 80 per cent of the bread consumed in Delhi
and NCR and headed a Rs. 1.2 billion (and growing)
VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

business that employed 800 people and supplied 2,50,000

loaves per day. Each 380 gm loaf was priced at Rs 11
and 800 gms at Rs 20 in Delhi. For other states, there
was an addition of Rs 1 or 2 per loaf.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
The Indian bakery market was valued at Rs. 32.95 billion in the year 2008 and was expected to reach Rs. 43.08
billion by 2012. The market was split into rural (22.5 %)
and urban (77.5%). The two major bakery products,
bread and biscuits, held about 82 per cent of the market
share.4 The per capita consumption of bread in India was
only around 1.5 kg to 1.75 kg in various zones.
The consumption pattern in the four zones of India was
27 per cent in the North, 32 per cent in the South, 23 per
cent in the East, and 18 per cent in the West.5

Size of the Indian Bread Industry

The four million tonne bread industry was growing at
the rate of 6 per cent and was expected to grow at the
same rate in the medium term. However, the organized
sector was growing at the rate of 8 per cent. In 2006-07,
the total production of the organized sector was estimated at 1.8 million tonnes.6
The bread industry consisted of organized and unorganized sectors, contributing around 45 per cent and 55
per cent of the total bread production respectively. The
organized sector consisted of around 1,800 small scale
bread manufactures around the country, besides 25
medium scale manufacturers and 2 large scale industries which were permitted to continue on the basis of
their installed capacity in 1976 when the Government
of India reserved bread industry for the small sector.7
The unorganized sector including the neighbourhood
bakeries, etc., consisted of an estimated 75,000 bread
bakers mostly located in the residential areas of cities
and towns. Thirty-five per cent of the total production
came from the small scale sector with about 1,500-1,800
units in operation.
4

Sourced from the website of business standard,http://www.businessstandard.com/india/news/kitindian-bakery-market-in-2008/333773/=,

May 28,2010

Sourced from the website of Ministry of Food Processing Industry,

India http://mofpi.nic.in/images/file/volume 2.pdf=, May 28, 2010.

Ibid

Ibid

119

Operations
Procurement at Harvest Gold
The flour was procured by the Purchase Department at
Bhiwadi through the millers and suppliers who first sent
the flour samples to the Quality Control (Standards)
Department, where these samples were tested on various quality parameters. If a sample met the required
specification, it was accepted. The rates were then decided by the Purchase Department and finally the order
was placed. The company maintained the suppliers
profiles and the orders were placed only when required.
Price
The price of wheat flour (See Appendix 2) was determined on the basis of the price of wheat, atta, suji, and
bran prevailing in the market on a day-to-day basis.
Maida, atta, bran, and suji were made out of wheat in the
ratio of 55:15:25:5. At Harvest Gold, the formula used
for calculating wheat flour rate was:
Wheat flour
rate/kg

= wheat rate/quintal (atta rate/kg.*

0.15 + suji rate/kg. * 0.05 + bran
rate/kg. * 0.25)/55

The wheat flour was tested on various quality parameters before procurement. These parameters played a
very important role in deciding the products to be prepared, e.g., bread-making required strong gluten, more
than 12 per cent protein, hard wheat, etc. Following
quality parameters were required to be satisfied:
Wheat Non-grade Data

Hardness: This was an important parameter for product development as soft, medium-hard, and hard wheat
was required for biscuits, chapatis, and bread respectively.
Alkaline water retention capacity (AWRC): It was an
important parameter for evaluating the quality of biscuit and had a negative correlation. A value of less than
60 per cent was considered ideal for making good quality biscuits.
Flour Data
Extraction rate: Milling industry was interested in
higher extraction rate (flour recovery). An extraction rate
of 55 per cent was generally preferred.
Dough Properties
Alveo graph parameters: The alveo graph was used
mainly to evaluate bread-making potential of wheat
flour. The four alveo graph parameters were:
P
L
P/L
W

Peak (mm)
Elasticity (mm)
Ratio of peak and elasticity
Overall resistance

The flour with high L and low P was generally weak

whereas the flour with low L and high P was over-stable and thus neither of them was considered suitable
for good bread-making.
Quality Evaluation

Protein content: This is an important parameter for

making different products of wheat. For making good
quality bread, chapati, and biscuits, the protein requirement was greater than 12, 10-12, and less than 11 per
cent respectively.

Loaf volume and bread quality: For the evaluation of

bread quality, parameters like loaf volume, stickiness,
appearance, crust colour, crum colour, texture, taste, and
aroma were considered and among all these parameters,
loaf volume was considered the most important and was
given maximum weightage while evaluating bread quality. The quality of flour for bread-making was tested not
only in the labs but also on the floor, by making bread
out of the various samples sent by the vendors. For gaining national presence, the biggest challenge ahead for
them was to standardize the different flour quality available in different states of the country.

Sedimentation value: This parameter indicated gluten

strength. For making good quality bread, chapati and
biscuits, the requirements were strong, medium-strong,
and weak gluten respectively.

Biscuit quality: For evaluating the quality of biscuits,

spread factor was calculated by dividing the diameter
of the biscuit with its thickness. The quality was considered poor, average, good, very good, and excellent when

Moisture content: The acceptable limit of moisture content was less than 12 per cent. This parameter was very
important for storing wheat in the godowns/silos. The
moisture content depended on the weather conditions
at the time of harvesting. Higher moisture content adversely affected the keeping quality of wheat.

120

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

the spread factors were <6.0, 6.1-7.0, 7.1-8.0, 8.1-9.0 and

>9 respectively. Like bread, there was scope of improvement even in the quality of biscuits, which was required
for taking them to the international level. Soft wheat flour
with weak gluten strength and low protein content were
the basic quality requirements for making good quality
biscuits.

Quality Assurance
Quality had always been the central force for any business proposition. Harvest Gold had adopted a strict
quality policy in its unit, which was well monitored by
the Quality Control & Assurance (QC&A) Department.
The quality was stringently checked at different levels
of production, which included:
Primary inspection of raw materials
Quality assurance during work-in-process
Quality check of finished material.
Besides this, the Quality Assurance Department paid
meticulous attention to post-production handling and
packaging of their products to improve breads shelflife. Due to the companys adherence to the quality of
products, it was accredited by the prestigious ISO certificate. Raw material was procured from various vendors who had to follow strict norms and adhere to
various standards of quality. The company did random
sampling of raw materials and checked samples in its
own R&D lab and stored in dry cool and sanitized stores
in its own facility.
Commercial bread-making was held to strict government guidelines regarding food production. Further,
consumer preferences compelled bread producers to
maintain a high quality standard of appearance, texture,
and flavour. Therefore, quality checks were performed
at each step of the production process (Appendix 3).
Producers employed a variety of taste tests, chemical
analyses, and visual observation to ensure quality.8
Moisture content was particularly critical. A ratio of 12
to 14 per cent was ideal for the prevention of bacteria
growth. However, freshly baked breads had moisture
content as high as 40 per cent. Therefore it was imperative that the bakery plants be kept scrupulously clean.
The use of fungicides and ultraviolet light were two
8

Sourced from the website http://www.madehow.com/volume-2/

bread.html=, May 29, 2010.

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

popular practices. Most of the commodities and raw

material had seasonal cycle of prices as they peaked and
fell in intervals. Hence they could book maximum
amount of their requirement when prices were low.9

PACKAGING AT HARVEST GOLD

Bread was generally a highly perishable item, having a
shelf-life of a maximum of 72 hours in a tropical country like India. The government had made it mandatory
to stamp the date and time of manufacture and expiry
on the packet. Therefore, once the bread was baked and
packed, any baker would make it a point to see that it
reached the market at the earliest.10 The people at Harvest Gold thought of grabbing the opportunity of introducing an innovative packaging mechanism for their
product. It thus pioneered in introducing transparent
sheets where consumer could have a look at the product without opening the pack. At a time when the competitors were using wax paper for packaging, Harvest
Gold started using a clear, cellophane wrap with a signature red base. Then, the expected happened tangy
dollops of plagiarism pervaded the bread market. Soon,
shop shelves were stocked with cellophane-wrapped
bread-brands with logos, packaging, and even names
having the same touch and feel as Harvest Gold. Taab
Siddiqui and her team were confident that they still did
not taste like their bread. But they felt the need to create
a brand in the minds of the consumers. By the end of
1997, it became clear that to stand apart from the nationwide bin of wannabes Honey Dew Gold (Delhi),
Taaza Gold (Faridabad), Golden Harvest (Calcutta),
Spenser-Gold (Goa), Everest Gold (Chandigarh), etc.
Harvest Gold would have to knead out a unique brand
strategy for generating consumer pull.

MARKETING
Some ad practitioners were of the view that wit must
come at a later stage, when the brand was already established, and was seeking to build a connection with
the consumer. But in the case of Harvest Gold bread,
the company and the advertising agency, Equus Red
Cell, decided to go the funny route right from the start
with a tone and language the consumer would under9

Sourced from the website http://www.shumaonline.com/html=, May

29, 2010.

10

Sourced from the website http://aibma.com/industry/html,=, May 29,

2010.

121

stand, and capturing the issues they could relate to.

Swapan Seth, co-CEO at Equus, who had handled the
account since 1997, was of the view that selling a bread
brand on the basis of milk content or preparation techniques would be boring and silly.
The campaign comprised weekly 80cc and 60cc print ads
that were similar in look and feel, and used a limerick to
parody or comment on an everyday issue, be it Bill Gates
or the Delhi winter. The advertisement even made a dig
at itself: Bakwaas Advertising. First Class Bread.11 Humour worked in this case because it used the lowest common denominator; so, it was almost like the voice of the
consumer (See Annexure).
Using humour for a brand even a low-cost, low-involvement one was risky. But, at the heart of great
brands lay the ability to take risks and luck favours
only the brave. The brand had over 92 per cent share of
the organized market for bread in Delhi, and was a cult
brand. Still, it took great courage and tremendous trust
in the agency on the part of the client to back a campaign that took a risk.12
In 1998, on a Friday, when the premium white bread
manufacturer Harvest Gold Foods India Private limited
unwrapped the first of its year-long, Rs. 2.7 million advertising campaign, its aim was clear: the Delhi-based
brand was determined to become the toast of the countrys bread basket. With the sales restricted to Delhi and
its environs, growth in the nineties had risen by a hearty
65 to 70 per cent a year, and the sales were projected to
touch a buttery Rs. 500 million in 1997-98.13
Realizing that it was often the domestic help who was
duped into buying the cheaper Harvest Gold duplicates,
the company had to ensure that the consumers began
demanding Harvest Gold by name.
With the company hoping to earn a good part of its
bread-and-butter from Harvest Gold franchisees across
the country, the brand needed to establish a communication platform which would spread smoothly from local to national coverage. The media buying was ingenious too. During that time, the brand was distributed
only in Delhi and its environs. Therefore, the Harvest
11

Bakwaas is a hindi word which means worthless.

12

Sourced from the website http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/catalyst/2002/12/26/stories/2002122600040100.html,= april 19,2012

13

http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/19980223/05455374.html

122

Gold advertisement appeared in a fixed position, on the

back page of Delhi Times, and only on Fridays when
the readership peaked for a full 52 weeks (See Annexure).
Keeping in mind the cost-effectiveness of the advertisement, Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus believed that in any parity-driven commodity, communication was a key discriminator. Both the agency and the client wanted the bread
to come alive in a funny, exciting, smart, and sexy manner. Behind their back, people used to comment on their
ads being very silly. Many, however, thought of taking
a clue from them and prepare funny ad content. They
would thus have ads such as Milk content ki14 no information, softness ka15 no mention, I said Chaddo na, bread
khao.16 Why create tension? But when you go to pick
up bread, ik gaal must be saaf17 and clear That Harvest
Gold is what you buy. Not just any bread, my dear.
Harvest Gold was totally focused on quality. It mentioned the product details on each of its bread packets
Harvest Gold Industries Private Limited proudly
present, HARVEST GOLD, a fine quality white bread
baked in a state-of-the-art plant with quality testing conforming to the American Institute of Baking standards.
Harvest Gold is brought to you in an international quality pack to ensure freshness and hygiene.(See Appendix 4 for food safety and standards.) Even their customer
care number and email ID were mentioned on the packets of their product to entertain feedback from the customers.

DISTRIBUTION
The marketing system in the bread industry was based
on a strong retail-wholesale distribution network and
being a highly price-sensitive low-margin food product
with very short shelf-life (about four days on an average) and the resultant return of more than 10 per cent of
dispatches, the industry was witnessing a very competitive environment with the result that inter alia the consumers choice and preferences played an important role
in the sales pattern of different brands of bread in the
market.18

14

Ki here means has

15

Ka also here means has

16

Chaddo na bread khao means leave it and have bread.

17

Ik gaal must be saaf means one thing should be clear.

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

Harvest Golds success largely depended on its excellent distribution system enabling fresh delivery of various items. Its competitive advantage lay in owning the
distribution system and continuous upgrading with innovation and latest technologies. The best thing about
Harvest Gold was its small size which facilitated smooth
distribution of its products. However, for having national presence, there was no option other than outsourcing
of the distribution.
The owners of Harvest Gold recalled the days when they
had to sell the breads on the traffic signals to generate
an awareness besides increasing sales. Those were the
toughest days of their lives not in monetary terms but
in terms of having a burning desire to become a successful entrepreneur.
The couple had recently returned from an extensive
world tour where they had been looking for the latest
professional practices in distribution of fast-moving consumer goods with emphasis on bakeries. Many millions
of Rupees-worth of cost-saving opportunities and service improvements were identified e.g., attractive
schemes for big retailers, capturing the shelves of modern trade channels, improving on management information system, excellent demand forecasting and special
delivery vehicles on different occasions, sticking with
the policy of cash on delivery (COD) for big retailers
and three to four days credit policy for small retailers.
A long-term strategy was created that affected everything in the supply chain from the profitability of individual products, through breadroom operations, even
to examining running costs of individual delivery vehicles. There was a firm opinion in the industry that distribution was a major driver of manufacturing efficiency
and once a person understood its role in fresh food he
could not afford to get it wrong.
Generally there are two peak slots when bread is distributed, morning and evening. Harvest Gold used to
dispatch hundreds of thousands of loaves daily to hundreds of sales outlet. One was the morning sales slot,
i.e., Harvest gold dispatched hundreds of thousands of
loaves daily to several thousand sales outlets with each
outlet having two sales peaks one was the morning
sales slot from eight till ten and the other was the evening
18

Sourced from the website http://www.fnbnews.com/article/

detnews.asp?articleid=18007&sectionid=32, April 19, 2012.

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

customers slot from four till seven. Breads were quickly

and safely loaded defective breads used to immediately
get either exchanged or returned.
While holding MDPs and workshops, Harvest Gold
realized and identified various issues that could be addressed so as to make the strategy successful. They began by holding as well as participating in a couple of
supply-chain workshops to identify problems and issues, e.g.,
Stock item profitability
Fleet maintenance approach
Costs of transferring product between plants to consolidate orders
Cost to serve various customers and channels
Distribution channels such as retail, industrial, food
services
Profitability of different customer types.
Analysis of the different customer types and the relative distribution issues associated with each helped them
articulate the cost-to-serve improvement opportunities.
So, while the supply chain of other products could plan
in terms of weeks and months, a big baker had to think
in terms of hours and minutes. This task was compounded by the large reverse logistics effort required
due to the fact that bread was generally sold to major
supermarkets on a sale or return basis and because it
was sold in crates that stacked on to dollies requiring
return to the bakery. Empty shelves meant lower sales;
so, grocery category managers always aimed to have
their shelves fully stocked during peak demand periods an interesting problem for merchandisers when
one remembered that bread demand was compressed
into these two daily time slots. So, supplying enough
bread to fill shelves was a critical tactic in the overall
strategy.19

Handling and Logistics

Logistics played a key role in the bread industry, as a
proper logistic support enabled the producer to transport his products in the market at the right time. A producer had to see that all the packs were stacked in solid
containers steel or plastic crates in order to avoid
compression of bread (reduction of volume) during
19

Sourced from the website http://www.logisticsbureau.com.au/archive/

Bread_Supply_Chain.htm =, April 22,2012.

123

transportation.20
In case of bulk transport, Harvest Gold made use of
trucks and tempos, and in case of smaller deliveries to
the retail shops, the producer used smaller tempos and
bicycles. A producer also had to make sure that all vehicles were thermal proof so that the bread could be maintained at a lower temperature. All the products were
transported preferably in the night or early morning in
order to avoid heat and humidity and also traffic delays.
Even after the product reached the retail outlets, the producer had to educate the retailer to keep the bread away
from direct sunlight. Otherwise the bread would start
sweating and result in fungus formation, reduction in
weight due to loss of moisture, change in the texture,
etc.21
The Bhiwadi plant was the only plant and the product
was distributed from there. What was most remarkable
was the companys distribution system where the trucks
were painted with Harvest Golds name, thus also serving the purpose of mobile branding. The products were
loaded in these trucks and unloaded at various depots
in Delhi. From the depots, the products were carried by
the outsourced trucks to the various corners of the city
as per the demand of the customers. The retailers of the
suburbs in Delhi demanded 400 gms of the white bread
the most whereas the retailers in the posh localities like
Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Greater Kailash, Defence
Colony, and demanded different variants of Harvest
Gold bread. The mode of revenue collection was cash
on delivery from the retailers by these outsourced truckmen. In a very few instances, they gave the product on
credit and that too only for a couple of days.
The breads were packed in plastic crates each of which
was around 1-2 kgs; each person carried 3-4 such crates
on his shoulder. While unloading, the person freely removed the load which on impact with the ground caused
serious cracks after several falls. One crate full of breads
weighed around 6-7 kgs; four crates weighed around
24-28 kgs and would cost around Rs 200. Breakages were
common at the edges.
Around 50,000-60,000 crates were circulated everyday
in the market in a cycle. Breads needed to be delivered
20

Sourced from the website http://www.fnbnews.com/article/

detnews.asp?articleid=18007&sectionid=32, April 19, 2012.

21

Ibid.

124

within 3-4 hours. Therefore, crates were handled

roughly. They were stacked inside a truck and transported to various markets. Normally, no empty space
was left in the trucks. Usually one person on the truck
(3.5-4 ft. high) handed over the crates to two persons on
the ground who carried them to the shops on the shoulder. These crates were dropped from the shoulders (44.5 ft. high) usually on the concrete floor and hence the
impact damaged the crates.
The company organized a design competition among
the students of the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi)
to develop a creative technology innovation so that the
crate could be carried at a lower height thus reducing
the impact level, while not compromising on the quantities carried and also increase the trays resistance to
cracking on falling on the ground. A presentation/video
with reference to the design statement was shown to
the participants who were told that the original crate
must remain the same.

COMPETITORS
Among major competitors of Harvest Gold was the company manufacturing Premium bread under the brand
name PERFECT which figured in most of the Premium
stores and virtually all the 5 Star joints in Delhi. It had
started its business in 1993 with a small plant, Seeta
Foods Pvt. Ltd., located in a small industrial town,
Hathin, Faridabad with a very minimal turnover. In a
span of just a few years, by adding on two most modern
plants, LR Foods (established in 1997) and Harpreet
Foods Pvt. Ltd. (established in 2000) at Faridabad, and
further coming up with Perfect Bake in 2006, LR Foods
Pvt. Ltd. had garnered 45 per cent of the market share
HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

of Premium Bread in Delhi.22 They covered the National

Capital Region including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida,
DLF and all other adjoining cities and were also operational in Agra, Ferozabad, Bharatpur, and Alwar district in Rajasthan. Its competitor, Britannia, had its major
contribution to its revenue from biscuits. So, bread marketing had taken a backseat; in fact there were lot of complaints from people who were not able to get fresh bread
from Britannia.
Another competitor was Modern Foods. In West Delhis busy Lawrence Road industrial area lay the remnants of a shattered divestment dream. Bleary-eyed
guards there had been no power for the last two days
opened the rusted iron gates of what was once the
Modern Food Industries Limited (MFIL), but just to say
that the leading bread manufacturer had downed its
shutters. Modern Foods, which once had a 40 per cent
share in Indias bread market, no longer dominated the
show. Inside, the factory doors remained sealed as pigeons fluttered in and out of empty dark halls that had
been stripped long ago mute testimony to a well-publicized takeover of the first public sector company in India in 2000 by the Hindustan Lever Limited (now
Hindustan Unilever Limited), also its only bread maker.
But if the plant was defunct, strangely enough, Modern
Breads was still present on breakfast tables across the
country. The companies MFIL, merged with Hindustan
Unilever Limited (HUL) in September 2006 and all MFIL
employees, now 392 from an initial strength of 2042,
were now HUL employees. In short, high costs and an
unmanageable work force in a low-margin business had
made MFIL an indigestible deal for HUL. What turned
HUL away from Modern Bread was that the brand had
no distribution network of its own; moreover, it lacked
quality standards and grappled with trade union troubles and high production costs. Still worse was the work
ethic and culture which did not synchronize well with
that in HUL. Though HUL created a distribution network and adopted a franchisee route to reach markets
with standardized quality norms and made an operating profit in 2002 (and a 19% growth in sales), it was
rocked in 2003 because of political reasons.

flour) Shakti Bread and Modern 7 Must Multigrain Bread

in more than 50 towns across the country, including
major metros. Modern Foods is contributing to both
the top-line and bottomline of our foods business, said
Prasad Pradhan, a spokesperson for HUL. Insiders say,
however, that HUL was struggling with the Modern
brand. From 13 units, including those in key markets of
Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Ranchi, Kochi, Kanpur, Kolkata
and Chandigarh, it now had only six operational units
and brand franchisee arrangements with others across
the country.23

Major Brands
The two major players, Britannia and Modern Foods,
had a market share of 10-12 per cent and 7-8 per cent
respectively in 1998. Apart from these two, there were a
few large regional players such as Spencers in South
India, Vibbs in Maharashtra, Kitty and Bonn in Punjab,
365 days in Delhi NCR, Haryana, etc., and Harvest Gold
and Perfect Bread in Delhi and NCR.24

New Variants of Bread

For some time, bread was thought to be fattening, and
many people avoided it in their daily diet. Studies
showed, however, that it was toppings such as butter
that accounted for most of the fat-induced calories. In
fact, bread was an excellent source of low-fat, complex
carbohydrates. The renewed interest in bread had led
to consumers taste for a variety of bread types. No
longer was sliced white bread the norm. Grocery store
shelves now offered myriad wheat breads and multigrain breads.25

ISSUES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Harvest Gold was known in the city as well as in NCR
for its USP in smart marketing and quality control, its
responsiveness to changing market and high class machinery and its straight competition with Britannia,
Modern, and Perfect Bread in Delhi together with some
local players. Having its own distribution was a real

23

The Modern bread brand was available in a wide variety of white sandwich bread, brown bread, Atta (wheat

Sourced from the website of http://www.tehelka.com/

story_main39.asp?filename=Bu210608breakingbondwithbread.asp,
May 31,2010

24

Sourced from the website of http://www.divest.nic.in/comm-reports/

dereports1.pdf page 60=,May 28,2010

22

25

Sourced from the website http://www.madehow.com/volume-2/

bread.html=, May 29, 2010.

Sourced from the website http://www.perfectbread.com/company.php,

June 1,2010

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

125

value addition and its success wholly depended on it.

In this way the company was accountable to its customers in addition to keeping strict control on the channel
members. The customer base was also wide and carried
names like Reliance, IIT Delhi, and Private Hospitals,
etc. The company was quite sure of making the product
available in the morning on the breakfast tables of its
customers. The future task ahead however was to develop a business model for national presence (market
expansion) and it could involve franchising and contract
manufacturing and stringent cost-cutting measures
without diluting the quality and compromising on standards.
The companies which had greater geographical presence
or were multinationals could achieve better price by buying bigger volumes instead of buying for individual
units. Central buying policies were recommended for
such units. Bulk buying resulted in annual contracts for
a period of twelve months with prices being finalized
for the entire period.26
Even a company like HUL known for excellent distribution could not help Modern bread. This was the challenge Harvest Gold faced in going national. Also it had
to be very careful in designing its business models be-

fore launching the bread in the country with different

cultures and languages and above all different tastes.
Bread-making was its core competency which it did not
want to deviate from. They were totally focused on
making good quality bread and increasing their size by
going national only by selling bread and its variants.
The promotion gathered lot of attention from the people as many waited for the advertisement in Delhi Times
Magazine on every Friday. Even kids in the age group of
3-4 years could very well recognize the bread advertisement because of its vibrant colour and style. Harvest
Gold had become a generic name for bread in almost
every household of Delhi and NCR. Moreover, they were
holding meetings with their advertising agency, Equus
Red Cell, for launching their website, a common platform used for communication these days. Just the other
day, one of her vendors had asked for the business card
and was taken aback when he did not see any website
address on the card. They had to launch a creative fresh
looking website as this was the trend and need of the
hour. As far as CNG fitted trucks were concerned, there
was still some time in the implementation of the strictures. So, they could rest for a while. It was possible that
it might not even happen. So, they had to sit with their
fingers crossed.

Appendix 1: Cost Cutting Measures27

The competitive world corporate houses and businesses
were struggling to maintain profits and healthy bottom lines.
The costs of production, fuel, raw material, and human resources were rising each year. These developments have
prompted people to look for cost reduction ideas and methods.
Those who had opted for focused cost reduction strategies
survived; those who could not manage perished. During economic downturn, it became more important to make cost
reduction programme a major initiative in the industry.
Companies were finding it difficult to retain people and were
laying people off which was unprecedented in the recent
history of industrial recession. Companies had to develop
their own cost reduction programme for saving without
cutting jobs.28
Economic slowdown and low spending by consumer had
forced big bakery manufacturers to implement cost reduc-

tion strategies in their plants and operations. They were

ongoing rather than knee-jerk programmes. One had to continuously strive for innovation, modification, or automation
for savings in factory operations
Substantial cost savings could be achieved in the following
areas:
Procurement or Purchasing
Procurement involved acquiring products, services, and
works from vendors or internal source. Sourcing was the
process of identifying, evaluating, and negotiating with suppliers and service providers. This included the entire vendor selection process as well as contract management. It
opened doors to a rich supply of raw materials, facilities,
and labours at lower prices, thus reducing costs and increasing competitiveness in markets around the world. The presence of foreign-produced finished manufactures compels

26

Sourced from the website http://www.shumaonline.com/html=, May 29, 2010.

27

Sourced fro the website http://bakerybazar.blogspot.in/2009/06/cost-reduction-strategies-for-bakeries.html=, June1,2010

28

Sourced from the website http://www.shumaonline.com/ on June1,2010

126

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

domestic industries to be innovative and efficient, both of

which are keys to profitability and longevity.
Raw material comprises around 60-65 per cent of the product cost. Hence savings in raw material purchase can add
on to profits. The main raw materials are flour, fat, sugar,
additives. Apart from these, engineering items and packaging materials are also required. Some of the cost-saving ideas
include bulk buying, forward buying, sales tax exemption,
excise duty free procurement, reverse auction, imports or
sourcing from across the globe.
Logistics
The cost of transportation both inbound and outbound was
very high. Efficient logistics management in the following
areas definitely helped reduce cost:

Freight or transport management

Inventory management
Warehouse design and location
Type of transportation

Energy
Energy also contributed to the cost of manufacturing; hence
reduction of cost of energy should be a priority for manufacturers. Following are some ideas for reducing energy cost:
Getting an energy audit done and implementing the auditors suggestions
Saving fuel through energy efficient burners
Saving power energy through energy-efficient motors

Installing screw compressors

Using alternate fuels by sourcing cheaper fuel like CNG,
LPG, RFO, LDO, etc.
Recovering heat from ovens
Using FRP fans for cooling tower
Packaging
Packaging material was also a major factor in the cost of
manufacturing; hence selection of packaging material had
to be done with care . Few ideas were:
Reducing or modifying shape and size of the product
Reducing packaging waste through thickness or gauge
reduction
Automation to Increase Productivity and Reduce Manpower
Automating bakery processes can result in substantial savings in cost. Areas where we can go for automation are:
Raw material and finished product handling and storage
Adding radio frequency dryer to increase the oven productivity
Automating packaging processes from feeding to
cartoning and palletizing.
Outsourcing
Few of the processes like sugar grinding, promotion, packaging and distribution could be outsourced.

Appendix 2: Factors Affecting Wheat Flour Prices in India

Production and consumption of wheat: India was the second largest producer of wheat in the world, averaging an
annual production of 65,856 TMT. On average, India consumed 65,283 TMT of wheat, and was ranked as the second
largest consumer of wheat in the world. India did not produce enough wheat to be self-sufficient. So, to make up the
difference, it imported.29 Therefore, when production was
not sufficient and the demand was more, prices would automatically rise.
Yield of wheat: It was the yield of wheat which was a deciding factor for the good production of wheat. How efficient
would be the farm to produce maximum output of wheat
with minimum input decided the overall wheat production
and finally the price. Generally, the yield of wheat had been
fairly good in several regions, e.g., Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,
thereby controlling the wheat prices.
29

Seasonal variation: The monthly price of wheat flour usually went up in the rainy season because the demand of
wheat bran would go down due to green pastures available. The millers in this situation would increase the price
of wheat flour to recover the total cost of wheat.
Stock of wheat (procurement and minimum support prices):
The governments policy was to have a buffer stock of food
grains for emergency situation, and it procured wheat accordingly through the Food Corporation of India (FCI)
godowns. This not only increased the maintenance cost of
the government but also created artificial shortage in the
open market. Again, when the government tried to dispose
off the stock, the price was fixed in such a way that the open
market price was less than the FCI price. On the other side,
India was unable to export wheat because of poor quality
and price difference in the world market. Thus the stock was

Sourced from the website of spectrum commodities, http://www.spectrumcommodities.com/education.commodity/statistics/wheat.html, August

8,2011

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

127

spoiled in the godown. The government was also selling that

stock at higher prices to the exporters. That also discouraged the processing industry leaving the stock in the
godown. The government was thus not in a cozy situation:
the stock was piling up, the hoarding cost was going up, the
quality was deteriorating. So, it had no other option but to
sell it at a price, which was affordable to the millers. That
lowered the price of wheat flour in the country and it could
be exported at a competitive price.
Price of by-product of wheat: Out of wheat, maida30, atta31,
bran32 and suji33 were made in the ratio of 55:15:25:5.To recover the price of wheat purchased, the miller also depended
on those by-products. If the price of by-products like bran
and atta went down, the price of flour went up.
Export-import of wheat: India was a significant importer of
wheat prior to the 1990s. During the 1990s, India had become a marginal importer and even an exporter on occasions. However, since India had a large demand, these
marginal quantities could often be significant for the world
market. Wheat trade had been under government control in
the past, and the export import quantities reflected Government decisions over each year as well as across the years in
managing the supply, demand, stocks and the food prices
in the country. If the production was less than the consumption, India had to import.34
On average, India imported 990 TMT of wheat, and, for various reasons, exported an average of 767 TMT of wheat. The
ending stocks in India averaged 9,900 TMT, giving India the
third largest ending stocks in the world.35
Effects of WTO: Under the WTO, the quantitative restrictions from wheat import and export were removed in India.
The trader would have greater freedom to trade the wheat
and wheat products and hence the wheat market would
become more dynamic. Moreover, under the WTO regime,
the provision of export subsidy had to be reduced as these
kind of subsidies were very much present in the developed
countries especially in the US and EU, while in India and
other developing countries, the export subsidy was already
nominal or nil, so, we would have advantage in wheat export. So, it was predicted that exports were going to increase

in India and accordingly, wheat price and wheat flour price

might also go up.
Effect of El-Nino: El Nino was the local warming of surface
water, which would take place in the entire equatorial zone
of central and eastern Pacific Ocean off the Peruvian coast
and affect the atmospheric circulation worldwide. It usually would peak around Christmas hence the name of the
phenomenon El Nino which was the Spanish name for Christ
child.36 El Nino would occur every 4-5 years sometimes less
(2-3 years) and sometimes more (8-11 years). If the temperature increased by 2 degrees in the equatorial region, it might
cause serious damage to the crops in that region. So, it was
better to keep an eye on this event. This could decrease the
total production in several countries including the US and
thus lead to the rise in the wheat price.
World wheat production and consumption: The world wheat
production was very important for the price of wheat and
wheat flour. When the production of wheat in wheat producing nations fell, the prices automatically went up and
vice versa.
The world wheat production in the recent years has hovered between 560-580 million tonnes a year. The biggest cultivators of wheat were EU-25, China, India, USA, Russia,
Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Turkey, and Argentina. EU-25,
China, India and USA, the four largest producers account
for around 58% of the total global production. World wheat
consumption was consistently growing with growth in
population, as it was one of the major staple foods across
the world. The major consuming countries of wheat were
EU, China, India, Russia, USA, and Pakistan. Around 1619% of the world wheat production was traded annually
between countries. The annual world trade in wheat was to
the extent of 102-106 million tonnes. USA, Australia, Canada,
EU-25, and Argentina were the five largest exporters of
wheat in the world. Major importing countries that topped
in the figures were China, Egypt, Japan, Brazil, and the European Union. Other importing nations were Mexico, Indonesia, Algeria, Philippines, and Iraq. However, the import
amount varied year to year depending upon the domestic
production.37

30

Atta is the Hindi word which means wheat flour, out of which indian bread like roti/chapati is made.

31

Maida is the Hindi word for refined flour.

32

Bran is the outer layer of cereal grain which has high dietry fibre.

33

Suji is the Hindi word for Semolina

34

Sorced from the website http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415713 =, on april 20,2012

35

Sourced from the website of spectrum commodities, http://www.spectrumcommodities.com/education.commodity/statistics/wheat.html, August

8,2011

36

Sourced from the website http://www.fao.org/sd/eidirect/EIan0008.html,= on april 20,2012

37

Sourced from the website of Indiamart, http://finance.indiamart.com/markets/commodity/wheat.html, August 8,201

128

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

Appendix 3: Bread Production Process

Bread Manufacturing Process

Fermentation

Bread was made with three basic ingredients: grain, water,

and bakers yeast. The harvested grain was ground according to the type of bread being made. All grains were composed of three parts: bran (the hard outer layer), germ (the
reproductive component), and endosperm (the soft inner
core). All three parts were ground together to make whole
wheat and rye breads. To make wheat flour, the bran and
the germ had to be removed. Since bran and germ contained
most of the nutrients in grain, the wheat flour was often enriched with vitamins and minerals and some wheat flour
was fortified with fibre and calcium.

Three methods were used to ferment the dough. In some

plants, the high-speed machinery was designed to manipulate the dough at a very high speed and with great force,
which forced the yeast cells to rapidly multiply. Fermentation could also be induced by the addition of chemical additives such as 1-cysteine (a naturally occurring amino acid)
and vitamin C. A certain portion of the bread was allowed
to ferment naturally. In this instance, the dough was placed
in covered metal bowls and stored in a temperature-controlled room until it rose.

The grains were ground in the grain mills and then sold in
bulk to Harvest Gold which kept the grains in storage sacks
until they were ready to be used. In the baking factory, water and yeast were mixed with the flour to make a dough.
Additional ingredients such as salt, fat, sugar, honey, raisins, and nuts were also added in the factory.
Raw materials used in bread manufacturing were flour, fat,
sugar, salt, yeast, sodium stearoyl lactylate, smp solution,
bread improvers, ascorbic acid, potassium bromate, calcium
propionate, acetic acid and other additives. Plant and machinery required for bread were spiral mixers, silos, sifters,
conveyors, bowls, dividers, hander up, interproover,
moulder, final proovers, baking ovens, depanners, cooling
racks, cooling tunnels, slicers and sealers, and plastic trays.
Utilities like chilling plants, air compressors, boilers, and
cold storage rooms were required for different applications.
Mixing and Kneading the Dough

38

Division and Gas Reproduction

After the dough fermented, it was loaded into a divider with
rotating blades that cut the dough into pre-determined
weights. A conveyer belt then moved the pieces of dough to
a moulding machine. The moulding machine shaped the
dough into balls and dropped them onto a layered conveyer
belt that was enclosed in a warm, humid cabinet called a
prover. The dough moved slowly through the prover so
that it could rest and thus allow the gas reproduction to
progress.
Moulding and Baking
When the dough emerged from the prover, it was conveyed
to a second moulding machine which re-shaped the dough
into loaves and dropped them into pans. The pans travelled
to another prover that was set at a high temperature and
with a high level of humidity. Here the dough regained the
elasticity lost during fermentation and the resting period.

The sifted flour was poured into an industrial mixer. Temperature-controlled water was piped into the mixer. This
mixture was called gluten and gave bread its elasticity. A
pre-measured amount of yeast was added. Yeast was actually a tiny organism which fed off the sugars in the grain
and emitted carbon dioxide. The growth of the yeast produced gas bubbles, which leavened the bread. Depending
on the type of bread to be made, other ingredients were also
poured into the mixer.

From the prover, the pans entered a tunnel oven. The temperature and speed were carefully calculated so that when
the loaves emerged from the tunnel, they were completely
baked and partially cooled. While inside the tunnel, the
loaves were mechanically dumped from the pans onto
shelves. The baking and cooling process lasted approximately 30 minutes.

The mixer was essentially an enclosed drum that rotated at

speeds between 35 to 75 revolutions per minute. Inside the
drum, mechanical arms kneaded the dough to the desired
consistency in a matter of seconds. Although modern bread
production was highly computerized, the ability of the mixing staff to judge the elasticity and appearance of the dough
was critical. Experienced personnel were able to determine
the consistency by the sound of the dough as it rolled around
the mixer. The mixing process took about 12 minutes.

The bread continued to cool as it moved from the oven to

the slicing machine. Here vertical serrated blades moved up
and down at great speeds, slicing the bread into consistently
sized pieces.

Slicing and Packaging

Eight metal plates held the slices together while picking up

each loaf and passing it to the wrapping machine. Preprinted plastic bags were mechanically slipped over each
loaf. The bags were closed with wire twists or sealed with
heat.38

Sourced from the website http://www.madehow.com/volume-2/bread.html=,May 29, 2010.

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

129

130

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

Mixing
ingredients 1

Mixing
dough 2

Dough
dividing 3

Rounding up
4

Prooving
5

Moulding
6

Final prooving
7

Baking
8

Depanning
9

Packing
10

MIXING INGREDIENTS

5-10 MINUTES

FROM MIXING DOUGH TO FINAL PROOVER

15 MINUTES

FINAL PROOVING

75 MINUTES

BAKING

30 MINUTES

COOLING

60-90 MINUTES

PACKING

15 MINUTES

Appendix 4: Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI)39

Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) had
been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act,
2006 which consolidated various acts and orders that have
hitherto handled food-related issues in various Ministries
and Departments. FSSAI had been created for laying down
science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate
their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to
ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human
consumption.
Highlights of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006
Various central Acts were repealed after commencement of
FSS Act, 2006:
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
Fruit Products Order, 1955,
Meat Food Products Order, 1973,

39

Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947

Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988,
Solvent Extracted Oil,
De- oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order,1967
Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992

The Act also aimed to establish a single reference point for

all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving
from multi-level, multi-departmental control to a single line
of command. To this effect, the Act established an independent statutory authority the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India with its head office at Delhi. The Food Safety
and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food
Safety Authorities enforced various provisions of the Act.
Duties and Functions of the Authority
FSSAI had been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for perform-

Sourced from the website http://foodsafetyhelpline.in/FSSAI/AboutFssai.asp?GL=2, on April 20,2012

VIKALPA VOLUME 37 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2012

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ing the following functions:

Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and
guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying
appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus
notified.
Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food
safety management system for food businesses.
Laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation
of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories.
Providing scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters
of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a
direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition.
Collecting and collating date regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contami-

nants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods

products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
Creating an information network across the country so
that the public, consumers, Panchayats, etc., receive
rapid, reliable and objective information about food
safety and issues of concern.
Providing training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses.
Contributing to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary
standards.
Promoting general awareness about food safety and food
standards.
Bakery manufacturers needed to follow up with the Food
Authority for labelling, adultrants, additives, and their
permissible levels, etc.

ANNEXURE: Sample Advertisements

132

HARVEST GOLD: DELHIS NO. 1 BREAD

If one has worked in an ad agency, he would know that

creating a big idea is painfully slow. An unusual product
should have an unusual campaign. Every Friday, one can
enjoy while reading Just like Harvest Gold which is not
just another bread.
Ultimately, the idea was to make Harvest Gold a generic
name for the premium quality bread. To make the edible
brand indelible, the Delhi ad-shop of Equus Advertising
Company cooked up a high-value, high-impact campaign
which used a different nonsense verse each week, in halfPunjabi (Punjab is a state in North-West of India and Punjabi

Noria Farooqui has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at Hamdard University, Delhi since 2006.
She was earlier associated with the Institute of Clinical Research, India as a management faculty. She has been in the
teaching profession for the last eight years and teaches Strategic management, Advertising, and Strategic retail management
for post-graduate students of management. Her research areas are agriculture and rural management, the thrust areas be-

40

is the language spoken there and very commonly spoken in

Delhi too as it is the easiest language to learn), half-English,
to hook the consumer.
The last line always drives home the core concept: Harvest
Gold: Not Just Another Bread and while the rhy-mes have
little reason, they do have tonnes of topical interest. Here is
one sample:
Election time is coming. There is obviously lot of stress.
Political scene te twanu pata hai Bilkul disgusting mess,40

ing food security and qualitative and quantitative indicators.

She is an Alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University where she
completed her Masters in Agricultural Economics and Business Management. She has received Dr Zakir Hussain Medal
for consistent good academic record in graduation.
e-mail: noriafarooqui@gmail.com

Sourced from the website http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/19980223/05455374.html=, June 1,2010

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