Marketing Management

MTR Foods: Authentic Indian Foods

Introduction
FMCG industry or fast moving consumer goods is a key
industry in any economy. The fast moving consumer
goods (FMCG) segment is the fourth largest sector in the
Indian economy. The market size of FMCG in India is
estimated to grow from US$ 30 billion in 2011 to US$ 74
billion in 2018.
Food products are the leading segment, accounting for 43
per cent of the overall market. Personal care (22 per cent)
and fabric care (12 per cent) come next in terms of
market share.
Growing

awareness,

easier

access,

and

changing

lifestyles have been the key growth drivers for the sector.
What is it exactly?
FMCG goods are popularly known as consumer packaged
goods. Items in this category include all consumables
(other than groceries/pulses) people buy at regular
intervals. The most common in the list are toilet soaps,
detergents, shampoos, toothpaste, shaving products,

shoe

polish,

packaged

foodstuff,

and

household

accessories and extends to certain electronic goods.

These items are meant for daily of frequent consumption
and have a high return.
Village on the frontRural areas expected to be the major driver for FMCG, as
growth continues to be high in these regions. Rural areas
saw a 16 per cent, as against 12 per cent rise in urban
areas. Most companies rushed to capitalise on this, as
they quickly went about increasing direct distribution
and providing better infrastructure. Companies are also
working towards creating specific products specially
targeted for the rural market.
The Government of India has also been supporting the
rural population with higher minimum support prices
(MSPs), loan waivers, and disbursements through the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)
programme. These measures have helped in reducing
poverty

in rural

India and

given

boost

to

rural

purchasing power. Hence rural demand is set to rise with

rising incomes and greater awareness of brands.
Cities not far behindWith rise in disposable incomes, mid- and high-income
consumers in urban areas have shifted their purchasing
trend from essential to premium products. In response,
firms have started enhancing their premium products

portfolio. Indian and multinational FMCG players are

leveraging India as a strategic sourcing hub for costcompetitive product development and manufacturing to
cater to international markets.
According to the study conducted by AC Nielsen, 62 of
the top 100 brands are owned by MNCs, and the balance
by Indian companies. Fifteen companies own these 62
brands, and 27 of these are owned by Hindustan
Unilever.
Top companies are1. HUL
2. ITC
3. Nestle India
4. AMUL
5. Dabur
6. Asian Paints
7. Cadbury
8. Britannia
9. P&G
Future for this sectorFMCG brands would need to focus on R&D and
innovation as a means of growth. Companies that
continue to do well would be the ones that have a culture
that promotes using customer insights to create either
the next generation of products or in some cases, new
product categories.

One area that we see global and local FMCG brands

investing more in is health and wellness. Health and
wellness is a mega trend shaping consumer preferences
and shopping habits and FMCG brands are listening.
Leading global and Indian food and beverage brands have
embraced this trend and are focused on creating new
emerging brands in health and wellness.
According to the PwC-FICCI report Winds of change,
2013: the wellness consumer, nutrition foods, beverages
and supplements comprise a INR 145 billion to 150
billion market in India, is growing at a CAGR of 10 to
12%.

MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Room): Authentic Indian Food

The

Mavalli

Tiffin

Rooms

(Kannada:

(commonly known as MTR) is the brand name of a food

related enterprise located in India. Having its origin in

the city of Bangalore, it has a restaurant located on the
Lal Bagh Road in Bangalore and 6 other branches in the
city, as well as one each in Singapore, Dubai and
London. MTR also claims to be the inventor of the
popular South-Indian breakfast item, Rava idli., it has a
restaurant

located

on

the Lal

Bagh Road

in Bangalore and 6 other branches in the city, as well as

one each in Singapore, Dubai and London. MTR also

claims to be the inventor of the popular South-Indian

breakfast item, Rava Idli.
HistoryMTR was founded as a restaurant by Yajnarayana Maiya
and his brothers in the year 1924. In the mid-1970s
when India was under emergency, a Food Control Act was
introduced which mandated that food was to be sold at
very low prices. This move made it difficult for MTR to
maintain high standards in its restaurant business and
forced it to diversify into the instant food business,
selling

ready-to-eat

snacks such

as chutneys

and

rasams. Since the 1970s, MTR has expanded and

diversified, with MTR Department Stores opened next to
the restaurant, and an outlet opened in Chennai.
Currently the MTR brand represents two separate
entities; the MTR restaurant business and MTR Foods,
the pre-packaged food business.
MTR Restaurant is a vegetarian restaurant located in
Bangalore, India. It was founded in 1924. It has also
been featured on television in the global travel-related
series, Globe Trekker. It is said that once a Chief Minister
of Karnataka stood in a queue to have masala dosa at
this restaurant. The restaurant building comprises two
floors.
It is recommended to reserve a table for lunch since
unreserved customers have to wait in a waiting room,

sometimes for up to an hour. The food served at the MTR

is a regular, wholesome Karnataka Brahmin fare and has
its origins in the Udupi Brahmin cuisine of the coastal
region of Karnataka. The decor is outdated, as more
attention is paid to cleanliness and food quality than
ambience. For many years, the customers entered the
restaurant through the kitchen so that they would be
able

to

satisfy

themselves

about

the

restaurant's

cleanliness before they ate there.

During World War II, MTR found it difficult to make idlis
since rice was in short supply. According to MTR, they
experimented with semolina instead of rice and thus
invented the very popular breakfast item of Rava idli.
MTR also holds a record of being the first fast food
restaurant in the world to serve 21,000 customers in
seven hours. MTR restaurant is currently headed by
Hemamalini Maiya, Vikram Maiya and Arvind Maiya
(grand-children of Yajnanarayana Maiya).

One uniqueness of this restaurant is that silver tumblers

are used to serve beverages. This restaurant was closed
in the period of Indian emergency (mid 1970s) when the
Food Control Act made it non-profitable to serve food
items until it was reopened in 1984. To save the jobs
during the time it was closed, MTR started selling spices
and roasted flour mixes. That was the beginning of its

entry into the convenience and instant food business and

in a sense, a turning point.
MTR Foods was headed by Sadanand Maiya (son of
Yajnanarayana Maiya) until it was sold to Orkla, a
Norwegian company for $80 Million in March 2007. It
produces packaged foods in different ranges - spices,
instant mixes, ready-to-eat foods, vermicelli, ready-tocook gravies, range of frozen products, papads, pickles,
chips, snacks and ice creams. It bought the packaging
technology from the Defence Food Research Laboratory
in Mysore and there are no preservatives added to the
food while packaging. MTR is also the first Indian
processed foods company to be certified with the Hazard
Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification
which is a rigorous standard of food safety and hygiene.
It has also been sponsoring magic shows and theatre
performances using them as a means of giving live
demonstrations of their products and to hand out free
samples to the audience. MTR Foods is also the first
company in the world to have created a frozen dosa,
which can be heated and eaten right away. MTR Food
products are exported to the countries in the Persian
Gulf, United States and United Kingdom. It is believed
that MTR is the one who brought the first ice cream
vending machine to India.

The Interview

The interview was conducted on 1st of February 2016.

Because marketing comes under high departments and
due to strict company policies, we werent allowed to talk
or consult any employee from the marketing department.
For obvious reasons, MTR was a bit sceptical about a few
questions and queries, and while few were answered with
reservations, others were outright rejected.
At the end we were helped out by Betty Mathew,
associate manager, Human Resource department, who
agreed to answer a few questions we had prepared for
this interview.
The questionsand aimThe questions were prepared with the aim to assesswhat
the company is aiming for and its objectives. The
questions were later altered too if and when the
conditions were not suitable. Due to obvious reasons
some strategies and plans cant be told and disclosed but
thankfully a general overview of things was given. Also
originally the interview was to be recorded but again due
to strict policies put forth by the company, it was not
allowed.
The following listed below questions were asked and
answered to the best condition allowed her to

Can you give me an example of a campaign that did

not work out as you had planned and what were the
possible drawbacks in that?

What

are

the

biggest

challenges

marketing

manager faces today, being a food products company do

you think the current market situations are feasible for
business to grow?

Describe a situation in which an innovative course of

action

was

necessary,

which

lead

you

in

setting

benchmark in the industry?

Sir, can you please brief us about the Product profile

of the company?

What are necessary things to keep in mind for

Segmentation?

What are the Distribution strategies and the network

through which the company manages the sales?

Brief us about the Supply chain system of MTR?

Do you think multi-level marketing is going good or

the company needs to switch on distribution network?

Which mode of business is more beneficial for the

company MT or TT/GT?

Summary & Interpretation to Answers

1. The first question asked about any unsuccessful

campaign. The answer was pretty vague but tends to
suggest that till now no such campaign was there and
everything was in good health. Till now MTR is
anyways not very aggressive in its campaigns and so
no such chance exists that they will have any failure.
2. According to her, market will always have competition
and challenges will always exist, be it for a new
company or an already established one. But whatever
be the case they have to cope up if it wishes to
function. The answer was more generic and not
specific because they cant clearly explain whatever
the manager does.But a meaning can be drawn that
with time they have to keep changing.
3. No reply.
4. She told that the product line is present on the
internet. When checked we found it includes instant
mix batter for dosa, idli, rasam, sambhar etc. But
mainly it focuses on South-Indian markets.
5. Her reply to this was whatever the market requires or
poses at that time. We think that MTR is an adaptable
company which is a good quality as it is a requirement
and a must for any company.
6. Her reply to the last few questions was a no reply as
obviously the company policies and regulations forbid
her to disclose such strategic and information of
nature which cannot and should not be disclosed to
outsiders hence were left unanswered but seeing
MTRs recent rise in the market, also including slow

but steady growth in North-India, we assume that

they are very positive about it and are currently
foreseeing high future prospects.

Overall view and thoughts about company

MTR is a sensible and simple company which focuses on
business but maintains its standards and doesnt fall
into unnecessary publicity and believe in slow and steady
growth instead of high initial but low later-on, which in
essence is unstable.
MTR is focusing on "distribution push & advertising pull"
to make its presence felt, food processing combined with
marketing has the potential of solving the basic problems
of agricultural surpluses, wastages, rural jobs, and
better remuneration to the growers.
They basically choose brand endorsement as a whole
because first of all, the brand image they have is because
of their quality offering rather than being more attentive
towards the no-quality-but quantity offering. All this is
attached to the brand name, if there is a good
advertisement once it will attract the customers and rest
of stimulation will be done by their quality offerings.
They have changed the theme of advertising 10 times to a
proper one time advertisement and once in 2013 they
had a documentary of 25 minutes shown. Thus more

focus has shifted on increasing the brand image rather

than advertisements based on products.
MTR Corp communicates to the general public through
advertising particularly on leading newspapers and
television which include infomercials. The marketing
department, which is directly operated by the CEOs, also
releases press statements and advisories about the
various activities that MTR Corp partakes in including
event sponsorships. Development communication tools
like posters, video and stickers about safety, brochures
and how-to materials related to different aspects are
also disseminated and these are paid exclusively by the
management.
This also proves that MTR focuses on building personal
relationships with the customers and not just hit-andrun marketing. They promise a healthy relationship
which shows class and status of it.
MTR Corp and its marketing arm aim at sustaining the
highly regarded MTR brand and identity. As the
marketing activities are intended to the public, the
marketing department ensures customer awareness
efforts by means of well-planned campaigns. In achieving
this, the department collaborates with rail operations
and the IT section to enhance customer infotainment.

Going back in time, it was in February 2007 when MTR

Foods announced its official partnership with Nordic
conglomerate Orkla.
Post this joint venture, MTR Foods has taken major steps
to revitalize its brand appeal and establish its presence
in the homes of modern consumers across India. With an
all-new brand presence and a unique brand identity,
MTR Foods seeks to own the instant food category in the
rest of India; with Spices as a constant focus in the
southern regions.
MTRs portfolio of products covers a wide range of
processed North Indian and South Indian recipes our
range currently comprises of Soups, Vegetable curries,
Paneer gravies and various rice items. The packaging
division of MTR is responsible for printing and packaging
the raw materials, which is then laminated. One of its
biggest challenges faced by MTR is to forecast the future
demands of their products. New product development is
also a challenge for MTR. It requires innovation, tastes
and the capacity to translate into the final product so
that the ready-to-go customers can have a go and get
satisfied.MTR also faces several planning challenges.
Planning for raw materials procurement, the release of
product plans into the shop floor and dispatch are just
quite a few examples of some major challenges faced by
MTR.And as said earlier they had preferred each product

advertisement

but

later

on

moved

on

to

brand

endorsement.
Initially

the

distribution

chain

wasn't

scientifically

mapped out. Distribution was random and based on gutfeel. MTR was in 200 towns in the East and North where
the brand had no equity.
Adoption of a two-pronged distribution strategy: In the
North,

West

and

East,

weve

strengthened

our

distribution network in the top 100 cities and towns and

have

shut

down

(operations)

in

70-80

towns.

Simultaneously increased presence in South India where

the brand is virtually a household name
Also, the consumer base for its RTE range is mostly the
urban and suburban markets. So distribution is also
concentrated to cities and larger towns. Generally in MTR
the type of distribution intensity is Intensive in Selective
areas. The company has also expanded retail presence
significantly (Roy, 2009); contemporary = Namma MTR(is
MTRs retail chain). Namma MTR is split into three
sections. One section showcases the entire range of
products. The second section is a novel concept kitchen
where customers can interact with specialist chefs to
learn about MTR products and watch live 4 RTC Ready
to cook.

The commitment to Quality was never compromised.

MTR

Foods

PURE

&

PERFECT

The

Obsession

Unwavering obsession to Quality.

Last and final thoughtsMTR as a company has tried to give as much homely
feeling as possible to the customers, be it ther interactive
customer sessions or tv ads. They learned, adapted and
shifted from being a product focused to a brand focused
company. Though being a company they look for new and
better business opportunities, they do not forget their
roots, which is represented by their core market i.e.
South-India, but at the same time they are bridging this
gap with new ventures in Northern part of India, be it
with their products or offices.
They also aspire to be an international brand one day
which is possible for them, in any case even today over
70% of the spice trade around the world is provided by
our country!
This market is huge and no matter what people will not
stop eating hence its a market which mostly remains
stable throughout the time. With new government
incentives and policies, people have their hopes high,
thus they plan to sweep the market with an Indian
spiciness to it!

In any case they are fantastic as a company and do it

with the flare of a young one but utilise the experience of
a learned one.

Bibliography-

http://www.mtrfoods.com
http://info.shine.com/industry/fmcg/6.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavalli_Tiffin_Room
Economic times articles.
Interview

------------------------------Thank You---------------------------