Daily Bread, a subsidiary of Britannia Industries and which focuses on gourmet bakery products, has taken a hit as its CEO - Kaushik Roy is quitting after spending as much as four years at company. This move by Roy quit the company comes at a critical juncture as the company is about to takes further consolidated steps towards being a profitable subsidiary of Britannia Industries.
A spokesperson for Britannia Industries confirmed the decision of Roy to exit Daily Bread. “He is now moving onto an entrepreneurial assignment and leaves behind a strong team that he has developed at Daily Bread. He will continue to be with us over the next 45 days, post which there would be a seamless transition,” the spokesperson added without naming who will take over at the helm.
Daily Bread is a manufacturer and retailer of premium, gourmet bakery products, including specialty breads, cakes and cookies which it sells to institutional, modern trade and retail segments. Britannia had entered this specialty gourmet format by acquiring 50 per cent stake in Bangalore-based Daily Bread from its founder Arjun Sekri during mid of 2006 and then further taking full control during mid of 2009. This move was one of the first steps in inorganic strategy of Britannia Industries, an year after Vinita Bali, MD, of Britannia Industries came on board of this company.
Kaushik Roy joined Daily Bread in March 2008 as COO and was designated as CEO in June 2009. He has a strong background in the Food & Beverages retail industry in India with a career spanning over 18 years in this sector. He has worked with leading brands like GFA, Pizza Express, Plc UK, Nirula’s, Amoretto's and the Mars Group. Prior to joining Daily Bread, Roy was the CEO for GFA India, a Switzerland based group with a portfolio of specialty food service brands which consists of Coffee World, Pizza Corner, New York Deli, The Cream & Fudge Factory, Conizza, The Donut Baker, Golden Pretzel and Stone Fire Pizza Kitchen. The brands are currently operating in Thailand, India, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Reunion Island and US.
Britannia Industries has been innovating with this format by plugging in and pulling out some lines of products and has so far has taken forward the franchise developed by Sekri. During last fiscal, this arm posted a cash break even as against a cash loss during Fy10 with as much as thirty stores in Bangalore. The company had earlier expanded into Goa and Hyderabad. Britannia has plans to add 20 more retail stores by the end of this year, and 30 more stores by the end of 2012 and would be looking to setup operations at Mumbai and Delhi very soon as well.
