A REPORT

ON

IDENTIFYING THE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
EUROPEAN FOOD PRODUCTS
IN HORECA SEGMENT, West
Delhi

BY
ROHAN KAPOOR
(13BSPHH011103)

REITZEL India

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A REPORT
ON

Identifying the Opportunities for

European Food products in HORECA
segment, West Delhi
BY
ROHAN KAPOOR
13BSPHH011103
At

REITZEL India

A report is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of MBA

Program of IBS, Hyderabad.

SUBMITTED TO:
FACULTY GUIDE

COMPANY GUIDE

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Mr Jigyasu Gaur

Mr Sahil Batra
DATE OF SUBMISSION
16/05/2014

Table of Contents
Authorization...3
Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................4
Executive Summary5
Learning Summary.6

1. Introduction7
1.1 About the Company Group Reitzel...7
1.2 About the Company REITZEL India....9
1.3 About the Industry..........14
1.4 Objective of the Report..15
1.5 Limitations of the Project...16
1.6 Methods of collecting data.16

2. Main Text.........17
2.1 Description of the work done.17
2.2 Sampling.18
2.3 Follow-up....19
2.4 Super Stockist.19

3. Digital Marketing Facebook Campaign.............21

4. Analysis and Interpretation28

4.1 Findings....28-31
4.2 Conclusion.....32

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4.3 Recommendations.33
4.4 SWOT Analysis.34
4.5 Michael Porter Analysis34
4.6 PEST Analysis...35
5. References36

Authorization
This report is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of MBA program of IBS,
Hyderabad. This report document titled Identifying the opportunities for European
Food products in HORECA Segment in West Delhi has been carried out by Rohan
Kapoor as part of the completion of the study at REITZEL India. The project duration is of
12 weeks starting from Feb 24, 2014 to May 24, 2014 and all the work shown in the project
report is true to the best of my knowledge.
This report has been formally submitted to Mr Jigyasu Gaur (Faculty Guide), IBS
Hyderabad and Mr Sahil Batra (Company Guide), REITZEL India

Mr Sahil Batra

Mr Jigyasu Gaur

(Company Guide)

(Faculty Guide)

REITZEL India

IBS Hyderabad

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Acknowledgments
I take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to REITZEL India for offering a platform
to earn exposure and garner knowledge in the field of sales and marketing.
I would like to thank Mr Sahil Batra (Company Guide) who gave me a unique exposure in
the field of Sales. He has been an incredible source of inspiration throughout the project and
has been helping me out in every situation. I am also grateful to Mr Vijay Kumar (Domestic
Head) for patiently answering all my queries and supporting me with the work I volunteered
for.
I also take immense pleasure in extending my thanks to my Faculty Guide Prof. Jigyasu
Gaur for providing valuable insights during the project.

This three month experience in this company holds immense value for me. My learning at
REITZEL India will go a long way in helping me in my future career.

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Executive Summary
In 2003, Groupe Reitzel created Reitzel India as its subsidiary in order to meet its raw
material requirements for its traditional markets (Switzerland and France) and secondly to
increase its production capacity so as to win over new markets.
In April 2013, Reitzel India started selling the products in India under the name Hugo
Reitzel. The Head Office as well as the manufacturing unit is in Bangalore, India.

India has been known for being a major market for Gherkins production. The climate has
been next to perfect for it. This creates a great opportunity for the company to start marketing
Hugo Reitzel products so as to compete with its competitors. It has created its own niche
market mainly for people who give quality as the utmost priority. The products are made
according to the international standards, and more importantly, in accordance with Swiss
quality.
Reitzel India has entered a market where brand names like Del Monte, Tify, Golden Crown,
Casa Fiesta, Torrents and many more have established a name for themselves. In this project,
my role has been to help develop the business for the company. As the company recently
started its marketing in Delhi, we need to create a brand awareness among HORECA
(Hotels/Restaurants/Cafes) segment. Among other tasks, I also need to understand the current
as well as further opportunities the company has in order to grow its business in West Delhi. I
need to approach the Hotels/Restaurants/Cafes, promote our brand and further make deals
with our customers. This is done by questioning the key figures in those places and
understanding their needs. Gathering all this information, I came to an analysis through
which certain suggestions can be made for the company.
Later on, I have done a SWOT Analysis of the company, Michael Porter Analysis for the
industry as well as a PEST analysis.
Aside from this, I have also been involved in Digital Marketing to create Advertising Posters
for the company in order to create an online presence. For this I created more than 35 posters
including a Facebook Campaign assigned to me by Mr Vijay Kumar (Domestic Head).

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Learning Summary
By far the project has given me an immense exposure to the real-work life situations while
being a part of the corporate world. There has been a learning at each stage of the project. A
lot of responsibilities during the project have helped me to explore the industry to an extent.

Since my work was pure field work, I got immense knowledge about the market scenario.
With every visit I learnt how to manage my time and to plan things prior to arriving at the
market. The primary task was to deal with the key decision makers. They always had some
useful information for me as well as the company. Communicating with them helped me gain
more insight on how a company should compete with its competitors. Moreover, I designed
advertising posters which were used for online marketing. This has helped me gain a lot of
knowledge regarding Digital Marketing which I am sure will help me in the future

During this 3 month experience, like any other person I had to deal with certain challenges.
Reitzel India was a start-up company in Delhi, therefore creating an awareness among our
customers was the most vital part of our work. This helped me understand that in order to sell
something we need to break out of the clutter by doing something different than the rest.
While meeting the key decision makers, it was important to have a USP to make the
concerned person interested in the deal you are offering. One needs to be versatile enough to
overcome the challenges in any situation.

Most importantly, I have learned how to communicate with my team members in order to
have a better plan of action. Coordinating with them on daily basis is very important in the
corporate world and one which differentiates a company from the other. In this line of work,
it is very important to have patience as one may not be able to meet the concerned person
when planned. It is now well understood that behaviour is a major factor in representing the
image of a company. The experience and knowledge gained from this internship, has left me
in more compliant form and stature in order to perform better in areas of similar interest.

Introduction

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About the Company Group Reitzel

Reitzel is a family-owned company that was successively managed by Hugo Reitzel, the
founder, Franz and Charles Reitzel, his sons, and then Joseph Poupon until 1986. Since then,
the company has been run by Bernard Poupon. The Reitzel and Poupon families are majority
shareholders. Pierre B. Darmon joined Bernard Poupon to manage the company in 1987.

Reitzel SA has experienced steady growth over the years: today, the group has 650 employees
divided up as follows:
Reitzel
Reitzel
Reitzel
Reitzel
Zey-Tur-San: 142 employees

International: 13
Suisse: 104
France: 192
India: 199

employees
employees
employees
employees

From its Swiss headquarters in Aigle, Reitzel operates in four countries through its Swiss,
French, Indian and Turkish subsidiaries.

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Nearly one hundred years ago, in Switzerland, Mr Hugo Reitzel founded a company
specialized in overseas commodities. The Hugo Reitzel brand is todays premium and
modern expression of that unique expertise.
Hugo Reitzel offers a full range of the highest quality condiments, mustards, oils and
dressings. A creator by vocation, Hugo Reitzel constantly introduces new specialties, driving
the market towards more innovation and even higher standards of quality and customer
satisfaction.

1909 HUGO REITZEL forms the company REITZEL in Aigle, Switzerland.

1986 Bernard Poupon becomes President (CEO) of REITZEL.
2003 Creation of REITZEL India.
2010 Launch of online shopping: www.jardindorante.fr and www.hugoreitzel.com.
2013 REITZEL India starts it operations with Hugo Reitzel products.

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REITZEL India

Reitzel India Private Ltd. engages in the production and export of pickled vegetables, cherry
tomatoes, onions, and gherkins in vinegar, packed in drums (semi-finished products) as well
as finished products (in jars and cans). Reitzel India Private Ltd. was founded in 2003 and is
based in Bangalore, India. The company operates as a subsidiary of Reitzel (Suisse) S.A.
Over the past 20 years, India has become one of the worlds leading gherkin producers. Most
of its farming areas are located in southern India around Bangalore in the state of Karnataka.
Five thousand farmers benefit from training and advice to improve the yield and quality of
gherkins. Fifty Reitzel farming technicians implement Good Agricultural Practices and
supply farmers with suitable seeds and fertilisers that comply with the principles of
sustainable farming.
Reitzel created its own factory firstly to meet its raw-material requirements for its traditional
markets (Switzerland and France), and secondly to increase its production capacity so as to
win over new markets. Its supplies both bulk raw materials, to European packaging factories
and North American and Russian industrial clients, as well as finished products, in various
forms.
In April, 2013, it started selling the products in India under the name Hugo Reitzel. The
Head Office as well as the Manufacturing unit is in Bangalore, India.

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Product Portfolio
Gherkins - With their traditional preservation method, Gherkins made the Reitzel group
famous. It is a term generally used to refer to a savoury pickled cucumber belong to the
same species (Cucumis sativus), but are from different cultivar groups.

Jalapenos: - Jalapeno is a very hot green chilli pepper, used especially in Mexican-style
cooking.

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Baby Corn - Baby Corn is a cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the
ears are very small and immature. Baby corn is eaten both raw and cooked.

Mustards :Reitzel has been stone-grinding mustard seeds in its factory for over 100 years. Food lovers
truly relish its wide range of mustards. From the sweetest (honey and quince) to the spiciest
(with red chili pepper), not to mention the authentic (old-fashioned), strong (with white wine)
and subtle one (with wild garlic), theres a mustard for everyone.

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Organic Olive Oils :- Olive oil is a fat obtained from the olive (the fruit of Olea
europaea; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is
produced by pressing whole olives. An Organic Olive Oil does not contain any chemical
products. So look for an Organic label on the bottle. Flavouring an Olive Oil takes between
10-30 days. Therefore, Hugo Reitzel provides you with 4 different flavoured Organic Olive
Oil

Vinegars:Reitzel has its own vinegar plant located in Aigle, one of the last in Switzerland. According to
traditional methods, wine is transformed into vinegar.
With a perfect control of this transformation, Reitzel offers a wide selection of high quality
varieties: apple vinegar, wine vinegar

QUALITY CERTIFICATIONS

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Reitzel products are approved by the following agencies:-

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is the lead trade association representing
the whole range of retailers, from the large multiples and department stores through to
independents, selling a wide selection of products through centre of town, out of
town, rural and virtual stores.

The International Food Safety (IFS) is a common food safety standard with a
uniform evaluation system used to qualify and select suppliers. It helps retailers
ensure the food safety of their products and monitors the quality level of producers of
retailer branded food products.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

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After China, India is the worlds 2 nd largest producer of food. Whereas, in terms of
productions, export, consumption and expected growth, India is ranked 5 th in the world. With
the increasing disposable income, India has been witnessing a vast change in consumption
pattern. A major reason for this consumption is processed food, which accounts for around 32
percent of the total food market (valued at US $180 billion).
According to KPMG, the food processing sector is an estimate of US $67 billion. The food
processing industry contributes 6.3 % of Indias GDP. The industry employs around 1.6
million workers directly.
Most importantly Fruit and vegetable processing, which is currently around 2 % of total
production will increase to a 25 % by 2025. This is due to the increased need for people to
consume for healthy products. Each day people are getting aware of the need for Organic
food and its benefits.
From virtually zero in the early 1990s India today grows some 250,000 tonnes of gherkins a
year and has emerged as one of the worlds leading producers and suppliers of the vegetable.
Pickled gherkins are consumed in large quantities in Europe and the United States as
condiments that find their way into an array of sandwiches and burgers.
Gherkins grown and pickled in India were usually exported, as there was no domestic market
for them. Tens of thousands of small and medium sized farms across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
and Andhra Pradesh have been converted to growing gherkins, a cash crop that has emerged
as possibly the biggest success in Indias agro-export story.
Indian exports in agriculture have however been hampered by the lack of infrastructure, in
particular cold-storage facilities, as well as by its agricultural products being unable to meet
the phytosanitary requirements of many export markets.
Gherkins have overcome these factors because they are pickled. They thus travel well and
dont require cold-storage over long distances. Unlike fresh foods, pickled vegetables also
have an easier time meeting international food standards.

This is where REITZEL India comes in. Reitzel India started its operations in 2003. It works
directly with farmers and has also developed its own farms. Its main purpose earlier was to:-

1. Meet its raw-material requirements for its traditional markets (Switzerland and
France).
2. To increase its production capacity so as to win over new markets.
Now, the company has a unit, which from seeds to the finished product, works in accordance
with best practices, first across 4.5 hectares of land, and then in a 10,000 m2 factory equipped

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with semi-automatic production lines. This equipment can process up to 80,000 metric tons
of fresh gherkins per day and has a production capacity of 15 million metric tons per year.
Reitzel India has a qualified, competent and experienced workforce, who understand client
expectations and guarantee high-quality products.

The market for European products has been growing recently, especially in Hotels and
Restaurants. More and more people are trying out cuisines other than Indian, Chinese and
Mughlai. Due to this change, companies like Global Green (Tify), Holyland (Golden Crown),
FieldFresh Foods (Del Monte), and Reitzel India has have stepped in to uncover the
opportunities lying in this market.
Reitzel India started marketing their products since April, 2013. They brought Hugo Reitzel
(part of Group Reitzel) products to India. The strategy was to focus on QSR (Quick Service
Restaurant), Hotels, restaurants and retail supermarkets.
Along with Gherkins, other products such as Jalapenos, Mustard pastes, Mayonnaise, Salad
dressings and Ketchups have a potential market in Indian HORECA as well as retail sector.

OBJECTIVE OF THE REPORT

The main objective is to develop the Business of REITZEL India. I need to visit HORECA
(Hotels/Restaurants/Cafes) segment in West Delhi, especially the ones serving European,
American and Mexican cuisines.

This is done by visiting our clients and giving a brief about the Company as well as
our products.
Find potential customers and deal further with them.
Identify the needs of the market and how to obtain them.
Retain our clients by providing them with the best deals and updating them with our
products.
Through all the information provided to me, figure out what other ways the company
can create awareness in the market.

LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT

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The concerned person (Purchase Manager, Head Chef or the Owner) may not
always be available.
The HORECA may not serve our kinds of products ex. HORECA with India,
Chinese (except Baby corn) and Mughlai cuisines will not serve our kinds of
products.
The concerned person may not know the exact details example. Monthly
consumption, details of the distributor etc.
HORECA where food is affordable may or may not be our target market.
Mostly restaurants where food served is a little more than Affordable are out
target markets preferably.
Right now the company only provides 4 products until the other products
arrive in the market.
Certain HORECA having Contracts with certain brand cannot deal with us.
Certain HORECA are not willing to deal with us they prefer to take most of
the products of same kind from the same distributor.
Some products are not available for sampling as of now. Also, it is not feasible
to provide our customers with some expensive products as samples.

METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA

Most of the data is Primary data as I need to visit the HORECA segment and talk to the
concerned person. Here the concerned person should be the:

Executive Chef
Purchase Manager
General Manager

In case 3 of the above people are not available, I can talk to other people as long as they can
provide me with valid information.
Some of the initial data such as finding our which areas/HORECA to visit is taken with the
help of sites like Zomato or Zootout (Secondary data). These sites provides the
restaurants/cafes available in the areas I need to visit.

Description of the Work Done

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Our work is to visit the HORECA and introduce our products as well as promote it. We
should preferably talking to the Executive Chef as he/she would better understand our
products (considering the fact that our products are for Premium segments, meaning they are
Quality based). Then talking to the Purchase Manager would be the next best option. In case
these the Executive Chef and the Purchase Manager are not available, we need to talk to the
Manager. The purpose should be to set up a meeting with the concerned people and talk about
our products.
Gathering all the information that our company requires for example.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

How many years old is the HORECA?

If it is a Hotel then how many rooms do they have?
How many restaurants they have & what type do they have?
Do they have other branches?
Do they use our kinds of products & and what brands and what is the
consumption?
f) Try to get the price at which they are procuring?
g) Name of General Manager, Purchase manager, Executive Chef & his/her
contact details like Email/phone.
We are provided visiting cards as well as company Catalogue. The Catalogue contains
information about the company as well as its products.
The concerned if satisfied with our products range asks for Samples so he/she can try out the
products.

I also need to Follow-up on the concerned people (who were not available OR who
are available at the Head Office other than the current place visited OR asking about
their views about our products after we have mailed them our Catalogue).

I needed to be in the market from 10 am to 6 pm. After covering the market I should
send a Day Report Summary and Minutes of Meeting every day after work to our
Company guide and Domestic head to inform them what all visits we made at our
work.

I was also told by the Domestic Head to make weekly reports which contained all the
database till detail. This database was known as Account Database and Fact Sheet.
Account database contained all the details of the concerned people in the
Hotel/Restaurant/Caf. Whereas, Fact Sheet contained all the information regarding
the Brand of products, Variant, Price and Consumption of these places.

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We are supposed to make a list containing places with High Potential, Medium
Potential and Low Potential. This was done to focus on High and Medium potential
which has higher chances of success.

I also had to collect Distributor details of the HORECA too. The main purpose of this
was to give this information to the company. This information was further used to find
out the appropriate Distributors for the company which serves the good amount of
HORECA. The companys super-stockist in Delhi is in Naraina Vihar. It was not
always convenient for our Distributor to deliver the products to every HORECA due
to the fact that many restaurants were far from the delivery point. Reitzel India is
planning to have another Distributor in order to make it convenient for the company
as well as the HORECA to deliver the products.

SAMPLING Sampling was a basic procedure our customer needs in order to try out our
products. In order to decide whether to start deal with us, they need to taste the product.
For sampling, I need to consider the following factors before providing them with our
products:1. Is the consumption of the product good?
2. Does the Hotel/Restaurant/Caf have multiple branches (This is because in case of
food chains, they use a common product throughout their chain of restaurants which
adds up to a good consumption).
3. The concerned person would recommend other restaurants our product (that is, if the
person seems to know other well-known restaurants).
4. Reputation of the HORECA.
I was told to collect the samples from the Distributor. For this, we needed to personally go
there and collect the samples. There was a procedure to this too:

Inform Mr Yogesh regarding the places we needed to give the sample to.
He then made a list of the those places
Every transaction had 2 copies, that is, one for the Distributor (which had my
signatures) and the other need to have the Receivers Signatures (after he receives the
samples).
Once I have delivered the samples, I have to keep the Receivables with me, which
later would be given to the company as a proof that Samples were received by the
HORECs concerned person.

FOLLOW-UP
After providing our customers with the samples, it was our responsibility to get their
feedback for it. Our purpose for feedback were the following:-

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Understand how our product is better/worse than the competitors products.

Some Executive Chefs let their customers taste our products in order to get their
response. In some cases, they take their decision on these responses.
If they approve the sample, we can further talk regarding a deal. This deal of course
for them to order our product
By following-up, the concerned people sometimes give their suggestions. In our case,
our company recently started its operations in Delhi. Therefore it is always good to
know what all products are used in this market and ways to improve them.

SUPER STOCKIST
Reitzel Indias super-stockist in Delhi is Kapoor Agencies, Naraina Vihar. It deals in Food
& Beverages, and has been quite known in Delhi. The unit has been since 1994 and since
then has been involved in dealing with companies like Dabur, HUL etc. to mainly supply it to
Hotels and Airlines. As a super stockist, its duty was also to distribute to other local
distributors.
A company can have only 1 super stockist in a state. Under that Super stockist comes several
distributors. This number depends on the company. Our company as of now has 1 Local
Distributor Sai Foods in Gurgaon.
As a super stockist in Delhi region, Kapoor Agencies is responsible to keep a minimum stock
with itself. It usually delivers products when orders are of high quantity, and especially on
contract basis. That is why Kapoor Agencies to this date is mainly dealing with Hotels on
contract basis.
Sai Foods on the other hand is the local distributor. It differs from the super stockist in a
sense that it is responsible to deliver the product even when the quantity ordered is low.
The Super stockist is offered a 8% + 2% for an order. This means that 8% commission IF
the order is a Credit one whereas as 10 % [8+2] of the order is for a Cash payment.
Following are some of the works I was involved in with the super stockist/distributor:

We made visits to Kapoor Agencies for Sampling as well as for order placement. In
case, some restaurants/hotels made an order for a low quantity, then I along with my
company guide, Mr Sahil Batra had to personally pick up the goods and deliver them
to the right destination.

Checking the stock that the company was left with in the godown. There was a need
to check the stock from time to time.

Deliver certain goods to the Distributor to Gurgaon in case it was in need of certain
products.

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In case the super stockist was out of stock for a particular good, I went to Gurgaon
along with the company guide to get that product from the distributor. This was only
when it was an urgent order to the Hotel/Restaurant. In this case, a tax of 5.25 % is
charged (Gurgaon, Haryana) instead of 5% (Delhi).The tax charged on the products
depend on the state we are in.

Aside from my work, I volunteered to work for the company in other ways too. One
such way was making use of Digital Marketing.

Digital Marketing Facebook Campaign

Digital Marketing is marketing with the help of personal computers, cell phones,
smartphones, game consoles and other electronic devices to engage with the customers. This
is done through platforms such as Websites, Applications, E-Mail and Social Networks.
Nowadays need for digital marketing has become very important, especially for start-ups.
The main purpose is to find out a target audience and create awareness among them. In case
of Hugo Reitzel, the target audience is Premium segment customers. For this, Social Media
Marketing (SMM) is a major tool to promote a company/product. With 8 Million Facebook
users in mid-2010 to a 100 Million users in 2014, India is now the 2 nd largest social network
market only after the US which currently has around 180 million users.

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I decided to learn Adobe Photoshop during this internship period in order to make
Advertising posters. Keeping in mind the potential of social media, I have been creating these
posters to help people know about the company as well as give it a premium image.
I have been creating posters as a part of Facebook Campaign with the approval of Mr Vijay
Kumar (Domestic Head- Reitzel India). He has been guiding me on every step of this process
and has given me valuables suggestions regarding these posters. I was provided with the
pictures of the products for the purpose of editing/using them for this task. With every poster,
I have got suggestions to make the next one better. Till now I have created around 25 posters
and am planning to make more.
The following things were considered while making the posters:

The Ad posters need to have sophisticated yet simple taglines such that the India
target audience understands.
The whole feel of the posters should be such that they are targeting a premium
segment.
The Quality of the product should a big factor which needs to be conveyed through
it.
People in India call Pickle as Achar. In India the usage of pickle is quite different
from a pickled gherkin/cucumber. Due to this the brand image might get hurt. The
posters need to be made in such a way that this thought be removed while the person
sees them.
To keep making posters from time to time to keep the company Facebook page
active. With every upload, the post reaches to all those people who liked the pages.
Further, anyone who likes the post will create awareness among his/her friends.
I was given a task to create Festival posters for the company. The respective posters would be
used in the companys Facebook page on that particular festival.
The current campaign is to create posters for the following festivals:1)

Independence Day

2)

Republic day

3)

Childrens Day

4)

Dussehra

5)

Diwali

6)

Holi

7)

New Year Day

8)

Ramzan

9)

Christmas

Example:

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Other posters:-

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Page | 24

Page | 25

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Analysis & Interpretation

During my visits to outlets, I was supposed to talk to the key figures in Horeca like Executive
Chefs, Purchase Manager and Managers. These people had immense knowledge about the
products used and were responsible for taking the final decisions for food In order to develop
the business for the company I needed to ask certain questions. I collected a data of 57
Hotels/Restaurants/Cafes in all which helped me make an analysis and come to a conclusion
or a recommendation for the company.
1. Which cuisines do you serve?

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Fig
1.1
Findings: Out of the 57 places I visited, 41 (71%) were European restaurants which is our
main focus. I also found out that majority of the restaurants serve multi-cuisines. These
HORECA cannot survive in the market if they serve just 1 cuisine as many people would like
to have some Indian or Chinese cuisines with it. Their main cuisine might be
European/Continental but they kept other cuisines too to keep a variety.
2. Which of the following products do you use?

Fig 1.2
Findings: Jalapenos are still comparatively used more than Gherkins. This might be because
Jalapenos are used in more dishes than Gherkins are. Another reason could be that many of
our customers are not aware of Gherkins or are just not aware of its uses in dishes. As we can
see in above Figure 1.2 that 42% of the restaurants use Gherkins, whereas, 74% use
Jalapenos.

3. Have you heard of Hugo Reitzel before?

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Fig 1.3
Findings: From the above figure, we derive that while visiting these places most of the
customers were not aware of the brand. Some buyers also purchase their products from
markets instead of Distributors. Therefore, this also leaves the opportunity for them to buy
our products as they may not even have heard of the brand.

4. If yes, have you used Hugo Reitzel products before?

Fig 1.4
Findings: From fig 1.3 and 1.4, we can I noticed that for the places I visited, majority of
them who have heard about the brand have not tried out our products. This means that the
company at that stage had a weak Brand recognition as well as a weak Brand Salience
making an overall weak Brand Resonance Model.

5. What kind of Baby corn are you currently using?

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Fig 1.5
Findings: Hugo Reitzel Baby corn is available in Jar. The above figure states that only 4 %
of the customers use Baby corns in Jars. From Fig 1.1, we can also say that HORECA which
serve Chinese mostly use Baby corn. This is also possible because most of the Chinese
cuisine contain Baby corn dishes.

6. Do you think Hugo Reitzel Baby Corn is value for money?

Fig 1.6
Findings: Out of 24 of the customers only 17 could answer as the other 7 were not sure
about the pricing. The above figure clearly suggests that our Baby corns are considered
expensive. The data is still not clear as out of 24 restaurants, 79% served Fresh Baby corns.
Therefore, they may not have used Baby corns in Jars. But it also might also be because they
prefer buying it in big packets including the fact that they are cheaper compared to ones in
Cans and Jars.

7. Do you think our Gherkins are value for money?

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Fig 1.7
Findings: The figure clearly suggests that our Gherkins are not considered expensive. In this
only the customers who are aware of the pricing have answered the questions. Even here, the
data is not clear as only 13 out of 24 HORECAs consider that. The reason for this as some of
them do not know the price at which they buy their Gherkins.

8. Do you think our Jalapenos are value for money?

Fig 1.8
Findings: Fig 1.8 suggests that half of the customers who are aware of the pricing of their
Jalapenos think that we should decrease the price. The other half thinks that the price is fine
considering the quality we offer.

Conclusion

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Through the above analysis as well as meeting a lot of customers I believe that our customers
need to know more about the brand as most of the decision makers (Purchase Managers) in
HORECA, West Delhi are price conscious. Due to this they prefer to stick to the same
product.
Currently the company is selling 3 products namely Gherkins, Jalapenos and Baby corns. It is
planning to bring in 4 more products in Delhi that are Mustard Pastes, Olive Oils, Flavoured
Vinegars and Domestic Vinegars. Our customers right now feel that our product range is not
impressive. This is because some of them buy a range of products from a particular brand as
it is convenient for them. Once our company keeps launches more and more products, our
customer will start accepting the brand. Though is not the case with small HORECAs as they
usually do not buy a product range due to less consumption.
As this is a start-up, it was our job to promote the company so that it creates a brand
recognition. Now that I have visited these places, our customers should be aware of the brand
name but might still not consider it. This might be due to weak Brand Salience. Brand
salience is the extent to which a certain brand is given importance when the consumer is
facing a buying decision. Further following up on those places should insure that our
customers would be familiar with the company.
Regarding the prices, I believe that either Baby corn is not value for money or it has a higher
potential in retail sector. This is because most of the restaurants are using fresh baby corns
due to its convenience.
Gherkins have the right price as most of the places think it is value for money. In case of
Jalapenos, I believe that the price can be dropped a bit for HORECA in order to compete with
other brands. This is only appropriate if we targeting medium range too. In case of premium
segments, the price still might be appropriate.
Finally, I believe Reitzel India has been perfect in portraying its premium image in front of its
customers. It is the right time to enter the market as more and more restaurants are now
serving European/American/Mexican cuisines. Analysing the Delhi market will be a tough
task as different zones have different potentials .Therefore, launching different products with
appropriate market research would be beneficial for the company.

Recommendations
Suggestions for the HORECA segment:

Due to the fact that the market is quite price sensitive, our customers prefer our
competitors products which are cheaper. It is beneficial for the long run to

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manufacture domestic products like Olive Oils and Vinegars etc. The products can be
the most expensive ones in the market but there should not be a major margin
between that of the competitors. It is also easier to give samples of these products to 5
star hotels.
The distributor should also deliver small orders as it is a start-up. Our customers
would start with ordering small quantities. Once we develop a trust with them, they
would later make big orders, or might even have yearly contracts with us.
The company should also have more distributors for the convenience of our customers
so that is becomes easier to deliver some goods (The company is already planning to
have one).
A vast product range is required to gain the trust of customers. This also helps them
take a decision to buy our products.
Some customers put a display of products in their outlets. This helps the customer get
a visual of the brand/product. These products can also be tried for sampling at the
times the people are having dinner. For ex. People like to sprinkle Olive Oils over
their dishes.

Suggestions outside HORECA segment (Retail)

Social Media Marketing is a perfect tool to create a brand awareness among potential
customers.
LinkedIn can also be used to be in touch with our customers for examples Executive
Chefs, Purchase Managers and Managers are all available in LinkedIn.
Once Reitzel India has a vast product range, it can start promoting its products
through television, online videos, online contests etc.
Promotions is retail supermarkets. For example, for a purchase of food items of other
brands worth Rs.1000, the company can give-away a product through bundling
strategy. This helps promoting a product like Gherkins as not many people know the
proper usage of Gherkins in India.

SWOT Analysis of REITZEL India

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Michael Porter Analysis for the Industry

1. Supplier Power: Reitzel India has hired its own farmers for producing Gherkins,
Jalapenos and Baby corn. The same stands for its Parent company. Due to this, the
decision to raise the price/supply of raw materials is up to the company. Later, if the
company relies on manufacturing other products through third parties then the
supplier would have power to raise the prices.
2. Buyer Power: In HORECA segment, the decision to buy the products is taken by
Purchase Manager. Some influence would be on the Executive Chef, that is, if the
Executive Chef convinces the Purchase Manager to buy those products. If Purchase
Managers are not buying companys products then the company may be forced to
give more discount leading to lower prices.
3. Competitive Rivalry: Currently, the competitors have a vast product range, whereas
Reitzel India is starting to develop new products. In order to compete with other
companies, Reitzel India would need to offer competitive prices till the time it
launches more domestic products. So, the competitors have an upper hand on the
product range due to which the company has to compete accordingly. Prices of the
competitors will affect our company unless our competitors prefers a quality
product.
4. Threat of substitution: Currently, customer are not much aware of Gherkins.
Therefore, they might not understand quality. If they find a product at a cheaper
price, they might switch to it. However, our company is the only one who provides 6

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varieties of Gherkins and Mustard. If customers understand how different flavours

matter, then they might switch to that particular variety.
5. Threat of New Entry: As the company has started making awareness in Delhi, it
would not have a threat of a new entrant for some time. But the new entrant can be a
threat if it plans to penetrate the market with low prices or a vast product range.
Reitzel India too is considered as a new entrant in Delhi compared to its competitors,
so it would not have much threat as the new entrants would like to directly compete
with the established companies.

PEST Analysis
Following are the factors which would influence the food service industry:
Political:

Government regulations for food standards.

Government regulations regarding Excise and Customs.
Environmental regulations.
Changes in the policies after the elections.

Economic:

Change in VAT on yearly basis.

Change in currency exchange rate affecting price of imported products.
Marketing strategies by competitors.
Change in rate of a particular raw material can change price of product.
Ability of the customer to spend.

Social:

Need for healthy products in the near future.

More and more people trying European cuisines.

Technological:

Gherkin production in India is cost effective.

Using Digital Marketing as a way to communicate.
Machines designed to produce according to International Standards.

References
Following is a list of sources which are used to collect the information:

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http://www.groupe-reitzel.com/

India: Opportunities for Swiss companies in the Food Processing Industry [PDF]

Reitzel India Catalogue

Wikipedia

http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/2010/03/gherkins-cultivation-andexports/

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/895dd9fe-bfaa-11e3-b6e8-00144feabdc0.html

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