Covid19 has brought either tears or joy for almost all human beings on the earth. Some people took this opportunity to learn new skills, pursue their passion and complete their backlogs. Some people used this time to enjoy with their family, in other words, to compensate for the time they had lost while pursuing the rat race.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people for whom both dreams and livelihood were shattered in this pandemic. They tried their best but could not fight against the might of corona and got decimated in the process. My heart goes out for them.
There is the third category of people/business, who were strategic enough to capitalise this pandemic and start afresh. Some pivoted to new areas and were able to make up for the losses they made in mainstream business. Ola Foods is one of them. They intensified their growth journey during this pandemic. They correctly understood the implications of this pandemic and adjusted their business model to suit the norms of new normal. Fortunately, they did not have any baggage to carry and hence moved swiftly. And also, why not, it has Swiggy and Zomato to carry on their back.
Focus area for Ola Foods (Operations and Brand Perspective)
- Achieve hygiene by automating the operations processes
We believe it or not, human interventions are one of the primary sources of contamination for food. Limiting these human touchpoints during the preparation of food to serving will increase not only overall hygiene quotient of the supply chain but also give confidence to the customer. Ola Foods is doing the same. They have used types of equipment like steam injected kettles that can manufacture food ingredients in bulk, large scale blenders, pulverisers, grinders, automated packaging lines, X-ray and metal detectors, raw material sorters and de-stoners. Thanks to the deep pockets of its parents.
- Building brands around non-sexy yet popular dishes like Khichdi and paratha
Finding the space in the crowded market is more of creativity than the business acumen. Ola did it well again here. Instead of going after high margin dishes like Biryani and Pizza, they adopted Khichdi and Paratha. We understand that Biryani and Pizza rule the minds of the customers and so are their brands mushrooming in every nook and corner. In this chaos, traditional Indian food: healthy, simple and recommended by moms got left behind. So taking the tactical approach and building Khichdi Express and Paratha Express may pay off big time in the long run. Once Ola Foods is in the mind of the customers for these sub-brands, no wonder one day they may start ruling Pizzas and Biryanis of the world as well.
- Using the existing operational ecosystem to grow
Even though Ola has a wide presence on the wheel, they hooked themselves on Swiggy-Zomato for delivery. It not only gave them the bandwidth to streamline the process for building the brand but also gave space to experiment and launch the products in new markets. Once they grow big, they may want to use their wheel, but till then Zomatos and Swiggys of the world are there to manoeuvre them to customers.
Food for thought for Swiggy-Zomato
Whether these smart routes taken by Ola Foods will lead them to the zenith or not, I don’t know. But Platforms like Zomato-Swiggy may want to ponder a bit, on how they can leverage their existing leadership position for their own long term benefits, in this process of nurturing their own competitors.
This article is inspired by Ken and a few more news articles. Views are personal. I am open to learn and upgrade my thinking based on your feedback and comments.
