Weikfield Foods to pivot to ready-to-eat mixes to target younger customers; plans acquisitions and IPO

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: Weikfield Foods, known for its custard, jelly mixes and baking powder, will produce more ready-to-eat products for the convenience-seeking younger generation of customers, look for acquisitions to boost growth, and come out with an IPO to fund its expansion plans, CEO and managing director Ashwini Malhotra told Mint in an interview. The company’s ready-to-eat custard, launched a few years ago, is gathering momentum and is one of its first game-changing products, he said.

“The strategic direction that we are steering our business towards is to go more on the ready-to-eat format because that is what the younger generation prefers," Malhotra said. “In the next couple of years, we plan to extend the ready-to-eat format to our other desserts, either in Tetra Paks or cups, for products like puddings and jellies." The company may turn to acquisitions to expedite growth in the ready-to-eat segment. “We are looking to acquire brands.

That has always been on the anvil and now that we are emboldened with better performance this year, we are more than happy to evaluate good companies that will help us with our growth plans," Malhotra said. Market intelligence provider Statista estimates that the ready-to-eat segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 13.41% to $2.13 billion over the next four years. In November, Fireside and Thinking Forks Consulting said in a joint report that urban consumers are eating more frequently through the day but in controlled portions and opting for cooking aids such as ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products.

Founded in 1956 by S.P. Malhotra and B.R. Malhotra, Pune-based Weikfield started with the idea of bringing global cuisines to India and introduced