Using innovative and sustainable methods to reach the final customer with its unique product mix, Bakers Circle is transforming the food & beverage sector in India and globally
‘As automation increasingly becomes the norm in many industries, the question for businesses is not a matter of if they should automate their processes but when. The future of food is already here—it’s time to decide whether you want to participate in it’ – Peggy Liu
Successful organisations are often born out of a disruptive business model that address an unmet need. Bakers Circle is one such outfit and a brainchild of Dev Lall, who found that the existing food and beverage industry was overdue for a shakeup. For all its vaunted reach to nook and corners of the country, the sector still relied on manual labour and lack of standardisation.
Unlike other domains such as auto and tech which embraced best practices and had already morphed into engines for growth, the food industry lacked its mojo except for a few large companies who held sway. Mr Lall decided to challenge that. Could a David take on Goliaths of the industry that demands huge capital investments by doing things a bit differently? It was more of a rhetorical question for Mr Lall who went about his business patiently.
Twenty years later, his bakery outfit, primarily catering to the B2B segment, has grown sustainably and profitably. “Rather than address the low hanging fruit, I set out to address what even in the western world was the apex of skill development with new and nascent technologies. It would be a long gestation period and would need a lot of capital, but the end result I knew would be a game changer. I therefore chose the bakery line even though I had limited prior experience in it. My valuable lesson learned was to identify when you are ahead, be patient & develop it till you are the norm & no longer the exception. This learning curve has been 20 years in the making.”, says Mr Lall.
Two decades later, Bakers Circle boasts of a delivery radius of 7,000 km. Its home-grown technology allows it to ship 84 SKU’s to over 5,000-odd locations in India and the Middle East. Popular Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brands, cloud kitchens and stalwarts such as Subway, IKEA, Starbucks, Rebel Foods and ITC are among its customers. Among mouth-watering foods, Bakers Circle adds its flavour to burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, cheese cakes, brownies and cookies.