Sidhika Foods has recently launched its non-basmati product offerings in Pune. punefoodspot spoke to Uday Nayak, Director, Sidhika Foods on the need to launch a new brand of non basmati rice, opportunities and the way forward for the brand.

Why was there a need to launch the new brand of non basmati rice?

Having spent over two decades in the rice industry and working with some established brands, my observation is that barring a few local players in the non basmati rice, there are no national players.

The non-basmati segment was always there but consumers were not very keen to experiment. Today this segment offer huge growth for us as this rice offers as good grain quality, aroma and texture as basmati rice and is ideal for cooking. The quality has undergone phenomenal change and as good as basmati rice.

We see immense potential in this category and have strategically forayed into this category. Our brand Siddhi has been conceived with a single-minded objective to offer superior quality of rice that is tasty, easy to cook and offers very good aroma and texture. It is an absolute delight for consumers. We have recently bagged the prestigious award – “Emerging Company” by Indian Achievers’, and we are an ISO 9001:2015 certified company which has stringent quality controls. We offer a wide variety of rice such as Kolam rice, Jeera rice, Sona Masuri etc which gives wide range to choose from for every occasion!

While Sidhi Kolam Rice gives smooth taste, and good texture, Sidhi Jeera Rice is a delightful sweet-smelling cushy rice that will instantly win your heart! We have priced our products reasonably and are currently retailed in Pimpri, Pune. We source from leading manufacturers whose products are nourished, matured over a period of time and retain perfect taste and aroma.

We are currently available in Mumbai and major cities in Maharashtra and Karnataka. We want to create good presence in Southern states.

Where do you see opportunities?

Since non-basmati rice offers good aroma, superior grain quality and smooth texture, we would like to explore all possible opportunities to bring it to the consumers. Maharashtra is a key market for us. We are placing our brand Sidhi in leading retail stores and have leading stockists in cities in Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Kolhapur etc. We are making our distribution more robust and bring our brand to our food lovers.

How does increasing ready to cook segment help non basmati rice?

India is yet to graduate to the ready-to-cook segment for non-basmati rice. Consumers insights show that Indians still prefer freshly cooked rice and other dishes. While some brands might be doing R&D in this category, there is still a long way to go.

What are the new trends that you are seeing currently with non basmati rice?

There are visible market trends which show that consumers are price-sensitive when they get almost the same quality in non-basmati category. We also foresee that HoReCa segment is looking at non-basmati rice for cooking biryanis etc during functions and large luncheons as its almost as good as basmati rice. Our research show that it is relished and appreciated well.

 Are you looking at exports?

While domestic market forms our major market, we have seen good potential in exports too. We have recently got our Export License. Recently, we have identified a few areas and are working on it as we have received good number of enquiries from overseas market.   

How will you try to promote this new brand?
We are creating awareness through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter etc. Also, innovative ways to educate the consumers about rice and its versatility in a variety of cuisines. We are currently educating consumers with a Series “DID YOU KNOW” – Lesser known fact on Rice every Monday and a series Incredible India, Incredible Food every Friday. All this go a long way to create awareness about healthy rice and its multiple health benefits.

Some of the rice product companies had tied up with online platforms to deliver during lockdown, are you thinking on those lines?

Covid—19 has changed the market dynamics. We are open to tie-up with leading delivery companies so that our product reaches the consumers’ home directly.