The US$2.5bn food company will market products under its ‘Edo’ brand, collaborating with local firm Four Leaf Technologies for distribution.
Chocolates, biscuits and wafers, potato fries and chips, will be the initial products on offer, the company said, with a total of 17 products introduced in the first phase. The company intends to bring 300 products to India eventually.
Strategic local entry plan
The food major is targeting the states of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh first and will then enter, Karnataka and Kerala in a month. Kiu Fung Hon has said it aims to be marketing the product range across all of India India within a year. Raman Sarathy, CEO of Four Leaf Technologies, said that the company is targeting a first year business of US$10m.
“Despite the import duties and freight charges most of the products will be priced on par with the domestic brands. For the first year, we are cutting our margins by 10 to 15 per cent to remain competitive in the market,” said Sarathy.
Four Leaf will be able to leverage its four-year-old food distribution network, operational in pickles, instant mixes and other ready-to-eat products for India-based Ushodaya Enterprises, it said.
The Edo brand is currently present in over a dozen countries including Canada, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, US, and the UK – markets it services via a host of production facilities.
