Amalgam Specialty Foods India Pvt. Limited (ASFL), a subsidiary of Amalgam Enterprises, has launched a range of add-on ingredients called KEYA, which constitutes herbs, seasonings and spices. KEYA’s essential ingredients can not only enhance your favourite Indian dishes, but could also bring out authentic flavours in Italian and Chinese dishes as well. KEYA products are now available across 11 cities in India, with over 25 variants. Amongst the flavours available include basil, oregano and parsley within the ambit of herbs; spices include cardamom powder, chilly flakes and cinnamon powder, and Italian, Chinese and salad seasonings are amongst the range of seasonings on offer. The unique aspect of these popular ingredients is that they are all freeze-dried to keep them closet to fresh and are available in ready to use flip top bottles, priced between Rs.65-85 each. According to Saumil Thanawala, Marketing Director, Amalgam Specialty Foods, “All our products are absolutely fresh. KEYA’s range of products are processed from high quality, organically grown herbs and spices, handpicked from select areas, and are free from all contaminants. We use a highly sophisticated technique called ‘freeze drying’ which retains the natural colour, flavour, nutrients, and aroma of the products. We are confident that these products will be popular in the Indian market, as the Indian consumer appreciates farm fresh ingredients.” Here it deserves a mention that KEYA is the only range of freeze-dried products to hit the Indian retail shelves across the country. KEYA’s range of herbs, spices and seasonings are available in outlets across India.

With the aim of building an aggregating, handling, packaging and delivering system of fresh produce to Best Price and Bharti Retail’s EasyDay stores, Bharti Wal-Mart has inaugurated its first Agricultural Co-operative Centre in Sirhind, Punjab. The co-operative, which is a result of the retail giant’s Direct Farm Programme with 100 small and marginal farmers, is expected to make the payments to the farmers within 24 hours after delivery. Bharti Wal-Mart’s partner Bayer CropScience is learnt to have designed a scientific solution for the persistent problems that trouble the farmers through their ‘5P’ process that underscores best practices in production, protection, programme monitoring, passport and post-harvest. In order to help the farmers improve quality and quantity of their produce, the centre would provide expert advice on crop planning and management.

Coca Cola is all set to make the space for non-carbonated drink competitive as the US-based soft drink giant has launched lemon juice-based drink under Minute Maid brand. At the initial phase, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh would be available in some select outlets of Tamil Nadu. This non-carbonated drink from Coca Cola is expected to offer stiff competition to Nimbooz that PepsiCo launched last year. Coca Cola will roll out the non-carbonated drink nationally towards the end of the year. Both PepsiCo and Coca Cola are now increasing the portfolio on the non-carbonated drink segment. As against the three pack sizes of Nimbooz, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh would be available on two packaging formats initially. While the 400 ml pack would cost Rs. 15, a one litre plastic bottle would cost Rs. 40.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees, the coffee retail brand from Australia, envisages to have 41 outlets in India by the end of 2011. The brand made its entry into the Indian market in 2007, with a master franchisee agreement with Citymax Hospitality. Citymax Hospitality is the master franchise for the coffee retail brand in India. According to Pankaj K. Neeraj, the Head of Operations at Citymax Hospitality, besides the already existing presence in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, the retail brand will have presence in various other Indian cities, which include Delhi, Pune, Mysore, Kolkata, Cochin, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram among others, in the near future. Presently, Gloria Jean’s Coffees has 10 outlets in India, spread across the cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The average size of a typical Gloria Jean’s Coffees outlet varies between 1000-1200 square feet.