Modern Food Enterprises relaunches iconic brand with enhanced portfolio of health-focused products

Modern Food Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (MFEL) has announced a comprehensive relaunch of its iconic Modern brand, with new brand positioning; new brand identity; fresh, vibrant and contemporary packaging; and an enhanced portfolio of superior and healthier products.
The new Modern brand has been carefully crafted to strengthen its appeal to multiple consumer segments, at every life stage, for every meal occasion, through a range of products that are smarter choices for consumers seeking healthier, nutritious and tastier options.
The revamped new logo refreshes the iconic Modern wordmark, making it more vibrant and energetic, lending a sense of positivity, smartness, versatility and imagination to the re-launched brand. The packaging builds on the iconic elements of the Modern brand—the signature checkered patterns and stripes—and transforms them into a vibrant new look that manifests Modern’s new philosophy of ‘Thrive, and savour life to the fullest’.
In the Mumbai-Thane region, Modern currently has an estimated overall 15 per cent market share, which the company is looking to increase to over 20 per cent during the course of the next two quarters.
Modern Food sees significant potential in the health and wellness breads category. The Mumbai-Thane region is one of the two most evolved markets in India, along with Delhi. Within Mumbai, the health and wellness sub-category accounts for 25 per cent of the overall bread sales. As a leading industry player, Modern will spearhead the development of this segment in the Mumbai-Thane region and across India, making more healthy, nutritious and tasty choices available to consumers.
Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Modern Food, Aseem Soni said, “In the Mumbai-Thane market alone, we are looking at 25 per cent overall growth and this will be driven by a 30 per cent growth in the health and wellness range alone.
“We have made a conscious decision to focus on the health and wellness segment during the relaunch phase. The team at Modern Food has worked hard on creating an advanced portfolio of superior products, keeping in mind the evolving taste of consumers and their changing lifestyles that demand healthy, nutritious and tasty food choices. In terms of overall business perspective, we are looking at a 25 per cent increase in revenue by FY18, and at a goal to grow revenue four-fold by FY2021 to Rs 1,000 crore.”
In this context, we plan to strengthen our presence in the states where we are already present, especially Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal; and expand our presence in white spaces in the North and West. In Mumbai-Thane region specifically, we are planning to widen our reach by significantly increasing distribution. Our Goregaon manufacturing facility has a capacity to prepare nearly 1.5 lakhs of loaves per day. The plant has recently been upgraded to cater to the production of the new product portfolio,” added Soni.
Speaking further, Soni said that though Modern is well known in Maharashtra as a bread and bakery brand, he expected the brand’s distribution to go up by over 50 per cent within Mumbai.
Modern, named the Most Trusted Bread Brand in India last year, has a legacy of over five decades in the country and is the pioneer of the organized bread sector in India.
Everstone Group, a leading Southeast Asia and India focused private equity investor with approximately US $4 billion assets under management acquired Modern Food from Hindustan Unilever Ltd. on April 01, 2016, and Modern’s relaunch has been crafted with intensive efforts over the last 12 months, with significant investments in manufacturing, as well as R&D at Modern’s new innovation hub in Chennai, coupled with thorough efforts on consumer insights, strategy and design.
The new portfolio features products such as Milk Plus bread enriched with calcium; Hi-Fibre Brown bread reinforced with premium wheat fibre; 100 per cent whole-wheat bread; and new innovations such as Multigrain Superseed Bread which not only has superseed sprinkles on top but even the flour is made of seven grains and contains Omega 3. All these products will be now available in Mumbai-Thane, giving the state’s consumers a greater variety of tasty and healthier eating and snacking options for every meal and snack occasion.
With the backing of Everstone Group, the 25 per cent overall revenue growth in Modern in the current fiscal year will be significantly driven by volume growth of more than 20 per cent in the health and wellness segment.
Managing Director, Everstone Capital Advisors, Mumbai, and a Director on the Board of Modern Food, Rajev Shukla said, “At Everstone Capital, we believe in strong partnerships and building great brands. Modern is an iconic brand, the first brand to launch packaged bread in Mumbai in 1968 and was the first to launch the iconic fruity bread in 1968 and the first ever brown bread. It has been a pleasure for me to work with the Modern Team in crafting the renovated mix. We have received an excellent response in the last few weeks since our relaunch in southern India and Kolkata. Consumers love the renewed Modern, reflecting in bread volume uplifts of more than 5 per cent in the aggregate (vs. incoming sales rate) across markets where the relaunch has been rolled out.
Our health and wellness segment is also expanding steadily. In the last 45 days, since the launch of our new bouquet of products, the health and wellness range is growing at double the normal value growth for the overall portfolio. We are confident of accelerating this success in a crucial region like Mumbai-Thane,” Shukla added.
Everstone will continue to make key investments in Modern to expand its market and build the brand, improve quality, innovate and expand the range, as well as enter new markets and categories.