- Harvest Gold was started in 1993 by Adil Hassan and Taab Siddiqui to provide quality bread in Delhi after they failed to find good bread options. They launched with premium white bread that was a success. - The company grew rapidly, becoming a market leader in Delhi with 80% market share within 5 years. It employed innovative production and packaging techniques. - Future challenges include expanding nationally while maintaining quality and focusing on their core competency of bread making. Centralized purchasing policies could help reduce costs.

1. Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Burns (2011) distinguishes between owner-managers and entrepreneurs and discusses
a variety of factors which “influence the decisions on whether to start up a business and
whether to grow it”. Within what he describes as ‘situational factors’, Burns highlights
the importance of events which act as ‘triggers’ for entrepreneurial activity,
“Most people, at some time in their life, have an idea that could form the basis for establishing
their own business. But few people choose to do so. What is needed is a trigger to spur them
into action, to turn these ideas into reality. These triggers can take the form of ‘push’ or ‘pull’
factors. Push factors are those that push you into self employment – unemployment or forced
redundancy, disagreement with your boss, being a ‘misfit’ and not feeling comfortable in an
organisation and for some reason, or simply having no alternative because, for example, you
have a physical disability or illness. These are very strong motivations for self-employment, but
not necessarily to grow your business. Pull factors – the need for independence, achievement
and recognition, personal development and wealth – are positive reasons for setting up a
business. Sometimes the factors combine and an entrepreneur emerges with a positive
motivation, for example to make a success of an innovative idea, having felt a ‘misfit’ in their old
organisation.” (Burns 2011, pg 53)
Burns (2011) then discusses the ‘blocks’ that inhibit entrepreneurial action and
concludes that,
“All too often these triggers are blocked by other factors – the need for regular income,
a family to support, no capital or a doubt about your own ability. These all boil down to
two things – insufficient self-confidence and an inability to cope with high risk and
uncertainty. Without these key ingredients the business will not get past the ideas
stage.” (Burns 2011, pg 53)
The situational factors and the triggers given by Burns are widely justifiable if we look at
the making of entrepreneurs. His concept hold true not in one economy but in different
economies of the world. So they are universally applicable. If we look at the prominent
personality like Steve Jobs, Dhirubhai Ambani, K R Narayanan Murthy, Sunil Bharti
Mittal, etc they have grown from rags to riches. The common factors among their growth
is either situational factors or triggers like push or pull.
The story of the Harvest Gold, a prominent company of Bread is the example of these
situational factors describe by Burns. The Harvest Gold case study is an engaging story
of entrepreneurship of a gritty young couple who seems to know which side of one’s
bread is buttered. The case offers insight into the trials and tribulations of setting up
manufacturing unit, selling its products, and trying to make the venture successful in the
face of formidable teething troubles. Imbued more or less with a sense of a clear
direction, the Hasan-Siddiqui couple make and sell the daily bread – a ubiquitous article
of consumption present on the breakfast tables of a growing population of Indians living
in the bustling metropolis of the national capital and its environs. This was a case

2. where a local player has taken on Big brand and was leader in the market within
span of one - two year of launch .
Adil Hassan was a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi, who switched to making bread with
an investment of Rs. 10 million. After his marriage with Taab Siddiqui, an MBA from
Aligarh Muslim University, in 1988, they had shifted to Singapore but returned to India in
1992 to make their living in Delhi. They hit upon the idea of bread-making when they
failed to find fresh and decent bread in Delhi. So, they decided to make bread and the
rest, as they said, was history.
Adil Hassan and Taab Siddiqui commissioned their plant as Harvest Gold Foods India
Pvt. Ltd. and commenced production in June 1993, at its state-of-the-art facility at
Bhiwadi, Rajasthan (installed capacity: 75,000 loaves of 800 gm each a day) with a
premium range of Harvest Gold white bread in 400 gm (Price Rs 7 a loaf) and 800 gm
(Rs 13). The product was an instant hit with a Rs. 400 million turnover in just five years.
They further diversified into related products like hamburger buns, pizza base, etc. Their
label accounted for 80 per cent of the bread consumed in Delhi and NCR and headed a
Rs. 1.2 billion (and growing) business that employed 800 people and supplied 2,50,000
loaves per day. Each 380 gm loaf was priced at Rs 11 and 800 gms at Rs 20 in Delhi.
For other states, there was an addition of Rs 1 or 2 per loaf.
Amongst FMCG companies Harvest Gold story is perhaps a unique one. Not satisfied
with the poor quality of bread available in the market, the promoters decided to bake
some decent bread for themselves and a few discerning similar souls. These souls it
seems were more than a few and within a few months the company was a runaway
success. From this humble beginning in 1993 Harvest Gold eventually came to
dominate the NCR bread market (with an over 70% market share) demolishing the
erstwhile established bread companies somewhere along this journey to success.
The company is run by a team of professionals drawn from diverse fields and sometime
displaying extraordinary credentials. The head of the engineering team who designed
the major production equipment, for example, once helped Shri Abdul Kalam (the
Honorable Ex President of India) design missiles during his DRDO days.
The company prides itself on similarly displaying an innovative and out of the box
thinking approach be it engineering, product development or advertising.
Harvest Gold is a company that is passionate in its mission to bring great quality bread
to the consumer. This Passion for Excellence is part of the DNA of the company. So
customers can be sure that whether it is the taste and quality of its bread or its
proprietary world class technology or the training, skills and commitment that go to
make up the people who work at Harvest Gold, the company is busy dreaming up new
ways to make the loaf of bread that you eat every day, softer, fresher, tastier and more
nutritious.

3. Harvest Gold also takes great pride in caring for the people that matter most.
We care for you the consumer in delivering to you the Bestest Bread in the entire
universe.
We care for our people who are the team members who make up Harvest Gold. We
care about their welfare and wellbeing, their career and aspirations as well as their
happiness
Aim / Vision / Mission
Mission is to bring great quality bread to you - the consumer.
Infrastructure
Harvest Gold’s first production unit was set up in Bhiwadi in the year 1993. They have
pioneered the art of baking great bread using state-of-the art technology which has
been developed by them over the past decade and a half using the best of Western
technology and good old Indian engineering excellence and innovation. They have
becomes masters of the science of baking using the chapati centric Indian wheat flours
under their Indian extremes of climate. As a responsible manufacturer of food products,
Harvest Gold has always maintained stringent procedures to control the safety and
quality of its product. All the stages --- from material suppliers to processing and
packaging as well as distribution are thoroughly monitored by them. Quality standards
and procedures are constantly being reviewed to ensure that they are up to date. An in-
house engineering, research and development team and customized imported
machinery make for the baking of very high quality bread. This has made Harvest Gold
a household name and the first choice of the quality conscious consumer.
Industry Overview
The Indian bakery market was valued at Rs. 32.95 billion in the year 2008 and was
expected to reach Rs. 43.08 billion by 2012. The market was split into rural (22.5 %)
and urban (77.5%). The two major bakery products, bread and biscuits, held about 82
per cent of the market share. The per capita consumption of bread in India was only
around 1.5 kg to 1.75 kg in various zones.
The four million tonne bread industry was growing at the rate of 6 per cent and was
expected to grow at the same rate in the medium term. However, the organized sector
was growing at the rate of 8 per cent.

4. Competition
A brand called Harvest Gold was created with objective to provide quality bread
to consumers . Earlier we had monopoly of two bread manufacturers Britannia and
Modern . Demand was high and supply short hence whatever was produced was
bought without any choice .Bread where sold in wax papers .People used to stand
in line for hours for delivery vans to get their loaves such was the dominance of
Britannia and Modern breads. Other competitors like Bakeman and Tazza Bread
were non -existent .
Product Mix
Bombay Pav : Pav Bhaji is the king of Mumbai street food. Pav is a dish that treats
thousands of people on a daily basis.
Brown Bread: it is the Harvest Gold traditional recipe.
Multi Grain Bread: It is the wholesome loaf from the company consists of different
grains which are nutritious for health.
Sandwich Bread:A delicacy to make sandwich with.
White Bread: To give freshness of wheat.
Milk Rusk:100% vegetarian ready to eat with milk, tea and coffee.
Kulcha: Used with chole. It is widely used in Delhi by different age group.
Pizza Bread Base: Homemade Pizza is incomplete without Harvest Gold Pizza Bread
Base.
Daliya Bread: it is widely used in Delhi & NCR. Strive to promote healthy eating
particularly breakfast.
Burger Buns: Possibly the best buns. One bite and you are hooked for life.
Sweet Buns: Known for the sweetness it left after consumption.
Garlic Cheese Bread: Give consumer host of health benefits along with great taste and
arom

5. Core Marketing Strategies
At the time of the launch, to stand out in a market crowded with big bread brands like
Britannia and Modern, as well as scores of local manufacturers, Harvest Gold brought in
a new packaging innovation to the bread industry in the country: instead of the popular
wax-paper used to package bread, Harvest Gold showed off its premium quality bread
through a clear, cellophane wrap with a signature red base.
1. Quality of Bread : All varieties from 400gm to 800gm pack had uniform ,well
sliced bread neatly packed in transparent packaging .With new baking technology
they produced better and uniformed baked breads .
2. Packaging : Harvest gold pioneered transparent packaging where consumer can
have a look on product quality without opening the pack . Where as competitors
where using wax paper for packaging.
3. Advertising : Harvest gold experimented with English plus Punjabi slang for its
advertising which made connection with common man .
4. Transportation and Distribution channels where such that bread where delivered on
time and without much damage to product. Plastic trays where introduced to carry
breads instead of metallic crates.
Future Challenges
The future task ahead is to develop a business model for national presence (market
expansion) and it could involve franchising and contract manufacturing and stringent
cost-cutting measures without diluting the quality and compromising on standards. Also
it had to be very careful in designing its business models before launching the bread in
the country with different cultures and languages and above all different tastes. Bread-
making was its core competency which it did not want to deviate from. They were totally
focused on making good quality bread and increasing their size by going national only
by selling bread and its variants.
The companies which have greater geographical presence or are multinationals can
achieve better price by buying bigger volumes instead of buying for individual units.
Central buying policies are recommended for such units. Bulk buying resulted in annual
contracts for a period of twelve months with prices being finalized for the entire period.