Be it the biscuit that goes perfectly well with your tea, a dipping sauce, burger buns or even your favourite pizza — it’s quite likely that you’re a patron of the famous Mrs Bector’s Cremica brand.
From biscuits to breads, spreads and sauces, the Mrs Bector’s Food Company has penetrated the Indian market to value Rs 540 crore in the market and offer an initial public offering (IPO) for public subscription on 15 December 2020, which was reported to be fully subscribed within a couple of hours of the bidding process.
Having a dominance in the North Indian market in premium and mid-premium products, the company was formed by Mrs Rajni Bector in 1978 with an investment of Rs 20,000.
Here is a bit about the founder’s story.
A backyard business
Rajni was born in Karachi and after spending her early years in Lahore, Rajni moved to India after Partition. At the age of 17, she was married in a Ludhiana-based business family.
With three sons sent to boarding school, Rajni enrolled for a bakery course in Punjab Agriculture University.
After becoming popular for her baking recipes and ice-creams among friends, she started a small business with an investment of Rs 300 to buy an oven and churned ice cream in her own backyard.
Overwhelmed by the orders and unable to make profits, Rajni soon incurred losses. It was then that her husband Dharamvir intervened and supported her with Rs 20,000 to start an ice cream manufacturing unit in 1978.
The name Cremica was forged out of a Hindi phrase Cream Ka (made out of cream). Since then there has been no looking back. The company has grown across all verticals in the FMCG sector.
Expanding horizons
By the early ’90s, the company stepped in to make breads, buns, biscuits and sauces. In her interview with the Weekend Leader, Rajni recalls that a big opportunity landed for the company when McDonalds entered the Indian market and started exploring local vendors to supply their buns.
In 1995, Cremica bagged the honour of supplying buns to McDonalds. With the brand growing in multiple segments, the company earned revenues worth Rs 100 crore by 2006. Growing further, the company made annual sales of Rs 650 crore in 2011-12 and overtime made clients with Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Dominos Pizza, Indian Railways and Burger King.
The company manufactures and sells a range of frozen and bakery items such as kulchas, cakes, pizzas and buns for cloud kitchens and quick service restaurants.
In the retail market, the pizza bases, cakes and buns are sold under the brand ‘English Oven’. Mrs Bector’s Food Company also manufactures premium biscuits Oreo and Chocobakes on behalf of Mondelez India Foods Private Limited.
In an interview with the Business Insider, Managing Director of the company Anoop Bector, says the company holds a market share of 4.5 per cent in India and contributes to 12 per cent of the total biscuit exports from the country. The major countries being the Middle East, North America and Africa.
(Edited Divya Sethu)
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