Australian Foods eyes other Asian markets

Australian Foods (India), the makers of cookies brand, Cookie Man, plans to take India-inspired cookies to other countries in the Asian region.

The company "� a joint venture of Australian fresh-baked cookie product retailer Cookie Man, private equity investor Paracor and Indian partner Pattabhi Rama Rao "� plans to commence exports from mid-2007 and sees a huge market for its cookies in South East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and West Asia.

The company plans to tap these markets, which have more spending power. "A leading multinational coffee chain has about 40 outlets in Singapore alone, and we see a huge potential in Singapore and other Asian countries. We plan to launch products similar to the ones introduced in India," said S B P Pattabhi Rama Rao, president, Australian Foods India.

The company offers over 50 varieties of cookies, which include new varieties for the Indian market developed in Australia. Cookie Man has licensed operations in eleven other countries across the globe, while it operates through a joint venture in India.

It expects the Indian operations to become the hub for the South East Asian, Indian sub-continent and West Asian markets.

Cookie Man started its India operations in January 2000 with its first store in Chennai. At present, Cookie Man cookies are available in ten cities and 19 points of sale (9 mothers' stores and 10 express counters).

Cookie Man is present in large shopping malls in ten Indian cities. Thanks to rapid growth of malls, the turnover of the company has grown from Rs 62 lakh in 2001-02 to Rs 15 crore in the last financial year.

It plans to double its turnover this year. The company started making profits from the last year and is looking at a turnover of Rs 350 crore by 2011.

"Our business scale-up will be easy once the location is fixed. We have already signed up with 20-22 malls to be opened soon in different parts of the country. Most of these malls will come up in tier-II cities," said Rao.

Cookie Man operates on a franchisee model, where an entrepreneur needs to invest about Rs 30 lakh for an outlet and Australian Foods will provide the oven, costing Rs 33 lakh. The company plans to invest Rs 25 crore in five years for the expansion.

It plans to open 25 mother stores and 45 express counters next year and to scale up the total number of outlets to 380 over the next five years.

In line with its expansion plan, the company is also looking at expanding the capacity of its existing factory in Ambattur near Chennai and putting up its second factory. The Ambattur unit's capacity will be scaled up to 290 tonne of cookies a month from 200 tonne a month and will go up to 1,000 tonne a month at a later stage.

While malls have contributed hugely to the company's growth, Cookie Man is also betting big on corporate and seasonal gifting. Currently, company revenues flow from three areas "� regular sale, generic gifting and seasonal gifting, all through retail stores.

At present, generic sales account for 60 per cent of the revenue, followed by 30 per cent from seasonal gifting and the rest from generic gifting. Australian Foods India sees gifting emerging as a major revenue stream in the future.

While targeting the corporate segment, such as banks, airlines, IT and BPO companies, Cookie Man offers a new range of gift sets with cookies for every season.

It is also targeting minor festivals to come out with exclusive packs on such occasions. It has introduced 20 new varieties for the present Christmas season.