BijoliGrill uncorks new business plan

BijoliGrill Aerated Water Co Pvt Ltd will be investing Rs 3 crore to modernize its plant in West Bengal under a new promoter.

The new fully automatic composite plant would be capable of producing 15,000 crates a day, said Manoj Sarkar, director of the company. The factory currently produces 200 crates of plain soda and 1,000 crates of ice-cream soda a day.

The company is talking to old customers like the Indian Railways and the ministry of defence.

It has also planned to introduce orange, lemon and pineapple flavours in the sparkling water category by January 2008.

The company also plans to launch tender coconut water, processed and packed in 300-ml cans, under the BijoliGrill brand name by February. Aerated water products under the brand name 'BijoliGrill' were the most popular soft-drinks in eastern part of India till the late 1970's.

The modernization was necessary in order to revive the sick enterprise through infusion of new capital, new technology and new management in a move backed by the government of West Bengal.

The company would be re-launching its best-selling ice-cream soda in 300ml PET bottles specially designed to have a new look of international standard.

Flavours like super soda, orange, pineapple and other flavours would be introduced in the market before March 2008 in 200ml, 250ml and 300ml in limited quantities. The distribution network was being revamped and reestablished.

Market research by the company indicated good demand for its products.

The brand, which was originally spun off from the Spencer business, ruled the market and Bengali taste buds for more than 25 years. Due to a funding crunch, and greater attention paid by its former owners to their food catering and other businesses, production of the brand was discontinued from October 2005.

When the original owner of the brand approached Kuntal Sarkar, a non-resident Indian (NRI) based in Australia, to take over this popular brand by forming a limited company called BijoliGrill Aerated Water Co Pvt Ltd, Sarkar agreed to take over the brand.

He discarded the old plant and machinery and introduced completely new composite plant having fully automatic production system capable of producing 6,000 crates of soft-drink per shift as against the existing capacity of 200-300 crates.