Naturo Food targets Rs.100 crore revenue by 2017

Chennai, Feb 25 (IANS) Targeting a turnover of Rs.100 crore by 2017, Chittoor-based Naturo Food and Fruit Products will be introducing a range of fruit-based products, a senior official said here Wednesday.

The company is following a strategy of bringing out products largely stocked in jars at retail outlets and sold as commodity to attractively-packaged and branded snacks.

"We are looking at range of fruit and vegetable-based snack products. We will be launching jack fruit chips, fruit peels, juicy fruit chunks and fruit snacks soon," K. Sivamohan Reddy told reporters.

The company is looking for Rs.30-crore turnover from vacuum fried okra and bitter gourd snacks, he added.

"The additional Rs.70 crore turnover would come from new products and deepening of our retail reach," Reddy said.

Meanwhile, as part of its expanding product portfolio, Naturo Food Wednesday launched mango and pineapple-candied fruit products under the brand Naturo Fruitsum.

The promoters of Naturo Food earlier owned the famed confectionary brand Nutrine that was sold to Godrej in 2006.

In 2007, Naturo Food began selling Naturo fruit bar which now rakes in sizeable revenue for the company.

According to Reddy, the confectionary business is largely a fight for the jar space in retail outlets in smaller towns.

"If there are 10 jars in a shop then the fight is to fill up atleast eight of them with one's products. The per unit realisation is small. Now the per unit sale price is higher. The fight is now for the shelf space in retail outlets in A, B and C towns," Reddy told IANS.

"In the case of confectionary, the product is not easily visible to a buyer but now it is not so. The brand is visible to a shopper and hence the fight is for shelf space," he added.

The company is now leveraging the experience in reaching the product to retail outlets gained in the confectionary business.

"In South India we are strong in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We reach our products to several markets in East, North and West. We will soon be entering Gujarat," Reddy said.