Ftr Swot Analysis Of The Fast Food Industry

The company also expanded its line of snack foods such as chips and fries. In addition, it brought out a new line of ready-to-eat meals based on North Indian recipes and entered an arrangement with another company to help with distribution in northern India. MTR also continued to upgrade its packaging technology. The company used a method that had been developed by India's defense department and eventually began supplying ready-to-eat food to the Indian Army. Its new packaging was called the retort pouch. The retort pouch was first developed in the 1970s and kept food safe with no refrigeration. The consumer simply dropped the unopened pouch in boiling water for a few minutes to heat the food. MTR's packaged meals were thus extremely easy to

The company proceeded slowly, because a distribution network for frozen food did not exist nationwide. Nonetheless, the company was thinking ahead, hoping to score big in the export market with frozen meals. By that time, the company was exporting some of its products to Australia, Singapore, and other Asian and Pacific countries. MTR saw great potential in exports and worked assiduously both to become a truly national presence in India and then a leading brand abroad. In 2002, the company received ISO 9002 certification, meaning it met globally recognized standards for food safety and hygiene. It also qualified under a similar global food safety program, the Hazard Analysis Critical Central Point. With these certifications, MTR had surmounted major barriers to export. It was able to get its foods into the United States through an arrangement with the grocery chain Kroger and began exporting cooking sauces to England. The company contemplated European markets as well, with a possible first venture in

By 2001, the company still did 90 percent of its domestic business in its stronghold in southern India, yet the company fully expected to have half its sales earned in northern India within just a few more years. It had distribution in some 500 Indian towns and cities in that year and planned to reach over 800 locales by 2002. The company was also beginning to set foot in a global market that promised even greater sales. At the beginning of the 2000s, MTR took steps to ready itself for further growth. In 2000, the company raised cash by selling a 20 percent stake in itself to an investment group in Mauritius, Magnus Capital. Magnus was primarily run by Indian immigrants in Singapore. Chairman Maiya hired a new chief executive for MTR in 2001, bagging the former head of the beverage division of Hindustan Lever, Jayaraman Suresh. In 2002, Magnus Capital reduced its stake in MTR to 14 percent, and J.P. Morgan Partners, a division of J.P. Morgan Chase, paid $4 million for a 28 percent stake in the firm. This new infusion of cash was to fund MTR's most ambitious plan yet--to open a string of fast-food vegetarian restaurants. The company opened its first MTR Super Shop in Bangalore in 2002, with ten more planned for other Indian cities. The Super Shop was a combination restaurant/store that featured MTR brand ready-to-eat meals customers could buy and take home