By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS
Kozhikode (Kerala) : As fast urbanising Kerala develops new food habits, new businesses are capitalising on the trend. And French fries sure seem to have caught the fancy of urban Keralites who have otherwise been brought up on generous helpings of banana chips and tapioca wafers.
Golden Fries Ltd, a Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu-based company that supplies frozen French fries, is seeing a rapid rise in sales in Kerala.
“We started supplying French fries in Kerala in July 2005. My first invoice was for 800 kg. Now, we sell on an average 11.5 tonnes of French fries a month in Kerala,” P.C. Shah, assistant sales manager of Golden Fries, told IANS.
“Of the many Western food products that are introduced in the state, French fries seems to be the fast-moving item,” said Shah.
Golden Fries, which commenced production five years ago as an export-oriented unit, started selling the product in the Indian market about two years ago. The company has an annual production capacity of 10,800 tonnes of French fries.
A few years ago, even in the cities, French fries were an unknown item for the ordinary Keralite.
“Now many fast food outlets are serving our product. Even at marriage parties, French fries find a place as we are now selling our product to catering units,” he added.
Bony Jacob, an enterprising young farmer who took the distributorship of French fries in Kozhikode, some 380 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, finds his business thriving.
“I looked to enter a new venture as agriculture failed to give sufficient returns. I started the business in February 2007. In the first month, I did a business of 300 kg. In December I supplied two tonnes of fries,” said Bony.
“Currently, my supply is confined to eateries in Kozhikode city. I have plans to expand the business covering neighbouring districts also. My clients include food chains like Chicking and EFC, and hotels and bars here,” said Bony.
“New shopping malls are coming up in the town. Eateries will be a feature of these malls and I find good prospects for future sales,” he said.
Golden Fries is currently marketing the product in five districts in Kerala.
“Most of our sales are in the three cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. Kochi tops sales with an average of 6.5 tonnes a month. Sales peak during the tourist season,” said Shah.
To popularise French fries, the company has also opened a direct outlet in Thiruvananthapuram where people can buy the product.
“We find a good response at the outlet and sales are picking up there. We are also selling frozen French fries through supermarkets. It is priced at Rs.100 a kilogram,” he said.
(Jeevan Mathew Kurian can be contacted at [email protected])