Chennai: Habanero Foods, a leading Indian manufacturer of packaged food products, has announced that it is strengthening its presence in Tamilnadu.
Currently, the brand is available across 150 stores in Chennai including department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores.
In an interview with ‘News Today’, Habanero Foods, founder and CEO Griffith shares about the company’s journey so far and future plans.
Please elaborate the company’s journey so far
My previous professional engagements demanded lots of travel abroad.During these stints I was exposed to and began enjoying various kinds of cuisines across cultures. I made up my mind that I wanted to venture into the food industry. In 2012, I set up an authentic Mexican cuisine restaurant called Habanero in Bangalore. The restaurant won several awards. Customers would always request for in-house salsa, dips, and wraps to take away. This sparked the idea of venturing into the retail business. So in 2018, I decided to pivot the business towards retail – Habanero Foods.
Today, Habanero Foods offers a range of ready-to-cook sauces, salsa, pasta and wraps available across the country – online and offline. Habanero’s products are available in traditional and modern retail stores across Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Goa, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Pune, Mumbai, Vijayawada Vellore, Coimbatore, Srinagar and Pondicherry. Products are also available online on www.habanero.in , Amazon, Flipkart and Big Basket.
What are your growth and expansion plans?
Habanero products are currently available across 150 stores in Chennai including department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores. Habanero’s whole portfolio of products are available in leading chains such as Nilgiris, JK Chees & More, Ammanana, Sunny Bee, Grandpa Frozen, Fresh & Frozen, Brown Tree, Fresh Basket and more. The aim is to make it available across every store to help people ‘Cook like a Chef’ in the comfort of their homes. We recently expanded into Vellore, Coimbatore and Pondicherry, and will be expanding further across Tamilnadu in the coming months.
Has Covid impacted business? Please tell us how
The lockdown saw people cook more at home. With restaurants being shut, people craved authentic international flavoured food that wasn’t available anywhere due to the lockdown. A lot of new customers discovered us during this time and have become loyal returning customers. We saw a huge spike in countrywide orders for our sauces, wraps, salsa on ecommerce and our website. And its only been an upward growth since then.
How is the response for the products so far?
We have seen a fabulous response to our products so far. Habanero Foods helps people ‘Cook like a Chef’ at home. We offer premium import quality products at affordable prices. The products are full flavoured, vegan and gluten free, helping consumers make a healthy yet flavoursome choice. We source our ingredients locally, and manufacture the products in Bangalore. Our USP is the full flavoured products. We offer premium import quality products at affordable prices. And this is what consumers keep coming back to us for. We have some exciting new products coming up soon, and cant wait to share the news with you.