Conversation between two business tycoon

A recent conversation between Bubroto Toy and Bijay Ballya

Bijay Ballya - Bubbu, come become a part of Indian F1 team.

Buboroto Toy - U dawg!! What Indian F1 team, stop bullshitting me, it is based out of UK and you call it an Indian team..lol..

Bijay Ballya - Ha ha ha ha..that is my gimmick. U want in?? We can make lots of money from it but  u need to invest in it.

Buboroto Toy - Hmm...okie dokie..chal u r my buddy..so yeh le 100 million...jaaa aish kar

Bijay Ballya - Tu sacha dost hai yaar!! Yeh dost hum nahi todenge!!

A few months later, more recently, a conversation between the 2 friends overheard..

Bijay Ballya -  Dost, dekh tere liye, apni team ka naam bhi change kardiya.."Hindustan Ki force Bahar- aa" (toasting with Kingfisher blue)

Buboroto Toy - Waah kya naam diya hai..acha tell me..teri airlines..how is it going? (taking a sip of the beer)

Bijay Ballya - Fatti padi hai!! No money to pay salaries..no money to buy fuel..no money to pay AAI and the govt authorities...samajh nahi aaraha..kya karoon!! (gulping down a big sip of Kingfisher beer).. 

Sms beeped on Bijay's phone..

Bijay Ballya - yeh lo, i have transferred 20 million into the F1 team...(high fives Buboroto)...

Bijay Ballya - Acha dost, airlines chalane ke liye paise de naa!!

Buboroto Toy - Acha de doonga...but you will have to rename the airlines!! Are you ready for that..

Bijay Ballya - Ok..i will do it....

Buboroto Toy  - "Kingfisher ko udane ka Sahara" ...

PS - This is totally fictional...

Era of convenience foods

The era of convenience foods has arrived in urban India.

The latest entrants in this segment have been unleashed by Nestle - Milkmaid creations and Maggi Juicy specialz. 

Maggi Juicy Specialz - Ready to eat Indian dishes which take 5 minutes to cook. Targeted at the urban nuclear upper middle class households; especially ones with working women who don't have the time to cook diner in the evening after a long and tiring day at work or at bachelors living independently who can  afford a microwave but are largely inept in the art of cooking.

Milkmaid Creations - Easy and fast to cook range of Indian desserts, from Besan laddoo to Eggless cakes!! Who has the time to make laddoos, kheer or cakes at home anymore!! This is a dream come true for the urban nuclear upper middle class households, where even on a weekend if you were to make a dessert it would seem like a herculean task. Although, they are priced at a premium, i believe it would be worth it as it making a good dessert on your own gives an amazing sense of achievement to the chef!! So bang on Nestle with this one!!

The new Lays Baked

In today’s fast paced world, especially in India, people don’t eat healthy, because healthy food takes time to make and time is at a premium, so instead they gorge on whatever junk food is available to them.  With consumption of junk food reaching new heights perhaps even higher than Burj Dubai (the tallest building in the world),  the obese population has risen manifold, at a pace faster than the pace at which we grow our population, leading to a lot of lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes etc.

So to ensure that the food and beverage companies don’t get slapped with sanctions for producing unhealthy and unethical profit making products they are now turning to adding some “healthy” junk” foods in their portfolio.

Lays Baked is Pepisco’s latest endevaour to enter into the “healthy” potato chips space. Apparently these chips are not fried like regular Lays chips but instead they are baked. According to Pepsico, Lays Baked chips have 50% less fat than regular Lays. This is the discriminator that Pepsico is using to sell the new chips to the urban audiences which live on chips as if it was a main course meal like dal roti/rice. So if you want to eat chips, eat the healthier version, is what seems to be their mantra.

Priced at Rs 15 per packet, the chips are an expensive proposition. Pepsico’s thought would be that, if it is healthy it should be expensive than the regular one. Why price it at the same cost as the existing Lays range?  I am sure their market research would have shown that there is a niche segment willing to pay a premium to eat “healthy chips” but also I am a believer that market research done by “independent” agencies is biased towards showing the results that the company wants to see. If it wasn’t then the research agency wouldn’t get paid or would rarely get another research task to carry out.

Coming back to Lays Baked, a question the public should ask Pepsico – why should one pay Rs 15 for 10 chips in packet (all the chips may not even be complete, some would be broken too). Does it make economic sense to eat “healthy” junk food which is so atrociously expensive?  Secondly, their availability in the market sucks big time! It is available only in select outlets across cities, whereas regular Lays are available at even a panwala. Lastly, why stop at 50% fat free? Why not make them completely fat free if you are promoting “healthy” foods? Does Pepsico indulge in similar half measures in US or European countries? Guess not, after all the FDA is pretty powerful consumer advocate in the developed world.

So Pepsico, if you are going down the lane of “healthy” foods, go the whole hog and delight us!