12 stories
HyFun, the frozen foods company, says its growth rests on scalable capacity and supply-chain strength, with markets and brand building following. Group CEO Haresh Karamchandani says automation, AI-based grading and IoT farm monitoring are improving efficiency while holding global QSR-grade quality. The company targets a 50/50 split between global and Indian revenue and aims for 100-plus countries.
Zoho will offer its restaurant point-of-sale software free to outlets with annual billing below Rs 12 lakh, co-founder Sridhar Vembu said on X. He called the move a Deepavali gift to small businesses. The product, launched at Zoholics India, has its first customer in Asha Sweets, a Kolkata sweet shop that began using it during the festive rush.
India's food regulator, FSSAI, has proposed allowing recycled polyethylene and polypropylene in packaging that touches food. A draft notification issued Monday would amend the 2018 packaging rules, provided safety standards are met. The material must come from chemical recycling via the monomer route and its end product must be considered equivalent to virgin plastic.
Bombay Exhibition Centre hosted drinktec India, PackMach Asia and ProFood India from 28 to 30 October, drawing 21,665 visitors. Over 320 exhibitors from 11 countries filled 30,000 square metres across Halls 3, 4 and 6, nearly 40% more space than the last edition. Exhibitors presented more than 4,000 product and technology launches.
Piramal Alternatives, the fund management arm of the Piramal Group, has invested ₹150 crore in Kumar Equipment, a commercial kitchen equipment maker. The money comes through its India Credit Opportunities Fund II and will fund manufacturing expansion and vertical integration. The company has completed over 2,500 projects across 22 states, with factories in Rajasthan and Bengaluru.
Petpooja, a restaurant POS provider, has added an AI assistant called Ask Me Anything to its dashboard. Owners can type plain questions such as last month's sales, top sellers yesterday, or item-wise weekly profit and loss, and get answers from their own outlet data. No report navigation, filters or training are needed.
Mumbai startup Edybites makes edible spoons from a millet and flour mix, aiming to replace single-use plastic cutlery. Founded in 2022 by Rupesh K Sanghvi, the spoons are designed to break down naturally if they are not eaten. Sanghvi went through 88 failed attempts before settling on the final shape, texture and sturdiness.
Hyperpure, Zomato's B2B sourcing and supply-chain platform, delivers ingredients from farmers and mills to food businesses in over 100 cities, serving more than 200,000 commercial kitchens. Its Samalka fulfilment centre in New Delhi opened in April 2019, with capacity for 5,000 metric tonnes a month. Sourcing from FPOs has cut procurement costs by an average 15 percent.
HyFun Foods, founded in Ahmedabad by Haresh Karamchandani in 2015, makes frozen French fries and potato products for foodservice and retail. Its customers reportedly include global chains such as KFC and Subway, and it reported revenue above Rs 1,500 crore in FY25. The business began as a potato and onion trader in Mehsana in 1962.
McCain Foods has agreed to buy Falcon Agrifriz Foods' frozen potato unit in Gujarat, adding capacity to its Indian manufacturing. The deal, subject to customary closing conditions, will complement its existing Mehsana operations. Once completed, the deal brings more than 450 employees and relationships with over 1,000 farmers across Gujarat.
