ID is the most successful company in the 5000 crore Indian ready-to-cook market. The idli dosa flour manufacturing company started by a young man born in a small village in Kerala is today a 500 crore business empire. Figures indicate that 20 lakh idlis and 40 lakh dosas are made with their flour in the country every day. Let's understand in detail how ID achieved this success.
India in 2006 was very different from what it is today. There was a segment of the population that was not very interested in ready-to-cook packaged food. Some products like Maggi had started creating changes in the market, but things had not reached the point where packaged food was being used completely. But it was also a time when the market was slowly starting to change. Many home-made products like pickles, wheat flour, curd, etc. started being packaged. The leading company in the market was ITC. It was during this time that ID founder Mustafa recognized this potential in the market.
Mustafa hails from a small village in Kerala. Mustafa's father, who was a laborer, did not even have the money to feed his family three meals a day. Yet Mustafa did Engineering from NIT and MBA from IIM. He built a good career. But in 2005, his cousins, who ran a small supermarket in Bangalore, noticed an increasing demand for ready-to-cook idli dosa dough and informed Mustafa. It was also a time when many small traders and housewives turned to making and selling flour. But these flours were of low quality and unbranded and came in untidy covers. It was during this period that Mustafa and his cousins started India's first dosa idli flour company, ID Fresh, seeing the potential in the market. Starting with a small building with an investment of 50000 rupees.
The reason ID is leading in the country is because of their three success secrets. The first is that they have succeeded in gaining the trust of their customers. They have been able to do this without compromising on quality. While other small scale industries made flour using rice from ration shops and a lot of soda powder, they made flour only from natural products called fenugreek after threshing rice. When big companies tried to extend the shelf life by adding chemicals, they made flour without adding any chemicals, so the shelf life of ID flour is only 5 days. They have also shared a detailed video of the flour making and the factory on YouTube. ID flour is more expensive than other flours because it is made with the highest quality. But people were willing to pay this premium price because they were able to gain the trust of consumers.
To reduce wastage, big companies like ITC simply give their products a longer shelf life, for which they add preservatives. But id never does this. South Indian food which is very popular in the country, people definitely notice its quality when they buy it because their consumption rate is very high. So the ID has not lost ground in quality. And they think of the next product only after the first product is successful. They have brought only 10 products in the last 20 years. Their style is to launch a product that stands out in terms of quality, gain the trust of customers, reach the stage where people say it is good, and come out with a new product to be at the forefront of the market. This has helped them a lot in their success.
Their second secret to success is efficiency. Let's see how they can work efficiently without any extra cost. They have presence in 40,000 stores in 45 cities. They have also spread to the US and Middle East countries. 75% of their sales come from offline stores. Even so, their vestage average is just 2%. They are able to do this through better use of technology.
ID follows a zero inventory model. That means they don't store any products. To understand how they do this, we must first understand how they make flour. The first step is cleaning and washing the ingredients. The second is to soak and grind them. The third is mixing. The fourth is fermentation. Fifth is packaging. Carrying out all the processes at the factors itself and delivering them day to day is a very difficult process. So they do some special things at the factory and let the rest happen while they are in transit. That means everything from packaging is done from the factory to being transported in temperature-controlled trucks to fermentation. This not only helps in reducing wastage but also allows them to work efficiently without extra cost. Apart from this they use AI technology, deep learning etc. to stay efficient.
The third secret to their success is brand communication. While other big companies advertise with movie stars, ID always does ads that highlight mothers, children and family atmosphere. This helps to build client trust and communicate effectively. Moreover, trust shops were their own idea, that is, you can take the product you like from the shop and put the amount in that box without the cashier or the camera. This was also an idea that added trust and brand communication. Similarly there is another successful idea they have done during covid. The van is filled with products and parked in front of the flats. People can take what they want and put the money in the box there. There is no cashier or camera here either. ID follows the principle that if you trust your clients, they will trust you in return.
Their excellence in product innovation should also be highlighted. The packaging of vada flour makes the whole process of vada making very easy. This is one of their most successful products.
