Dr. K Rathnam elucidates about the growing demand for nourishing foods in the pandemic era and how Milky Mist is catering to health-conscious Indians.
Dr. K Rathnam
As the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, the new normal called for a drastic change in people’s approach to their lifestyle. The frequent lockdowns and an increase in adoption of “Work From Home” model meant that the daily physical activity of an individual got immensely curbed. Along with the risk of COVID-19, health and physical fitness found reprised concern among the people.
Dr. K.Rathnam, who has a doctorate in Foods & Nutrition, observes, “The pandemic, ironically, jolted people into taking their health seriously. Today, the recovery rate stands at over 97% and has been sustained above 90% since the beginning. An important point to note behind this data is that those with healthy lifestyle and balance diet have reported far less severity in symptoms and infection.”
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The resulting focus on nutrition-rich food has led to a surge in demand for items like digestive biscuits and snacks, yoghurt, curd, fruit juices, paneer and High protein. To meet this demand, our dairy Milky Mist has taken initiative and risen up to the occasion. The company procures almost 6 lakh liters of milk daily from more than 50,000 farmers and converts the entire milk into value-added products like cheese, paneer, butter, curd, fruit yoghurt, and ghee.
On how Milky Mist navigated the swelling demand, Dr. K Rathnam, who is the CEO of the company, describes their approach as being comprehensive at all stages of procurement, manufacturing and distribution. He states, “By directly procuring the milk from farmers, we have full control over the quality levels. In this manner, we eliminate any risk of degradation in condition of the products and ensure timely delivery to our distributors and outlets.”
Because of its closed-loop supply chain, Milky Mist has been able to substantially increase its outreach to retailers and distributors without any compromise on standards. In turn, its sales have been benefitted by growth in markets for value-added dairy product. “The demand for our Milky Mist yoghurt increased by 300% in the initial days of pandemic. From a turnover of Rs. 750 crore in 2019-20, today we have crossed over Rs. 1000 crore”, says Dr. K. Rathnam.
Focusing on people’s concern for immunity, the company also developed a probiotic curd. He elaborates the process, “Our R&D team spent almost 3 months working on BB-12 probiotic cultures with technical collaboration from Chr. Hansen. Unlike curd, yoghurt contains two strains of bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, which boost protection against acute respiratory tract infections”.
The footprint of Milky Mist has increased beyond that of being a supplier of dairy products. Dr. Rathnam explains the strategy for it as, “While we manufacture and market a variety of products, we have also focused on curated platforms like blogs and videos which provide the people with wide range of dishes and recipes.”
As people turn to associate with the company with its customer-centric brand value, he says, “Our recipes not only expand our brand recognition but also present the people with choices on how to prepare their food in a way that it suits their delicate tastes and retains all the nutritional ingredients.”
The public discussion around disease prevention and protection has been driven by an increasing recognition of the immunity system. Dr Rathnam underscores this shift in attention, “People are opting for food items which are nutritious and healthy. Roadside fried items have been replaced by low-fat and protein-rich diets.” Putting the numbers into perspective, he highlights, “The paneer market in India was already at Rs. 75,000 crore in 2019-20. It is projected to have a CAGR of 15-18% during the period of 2020-25.”
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