Sift & conquer

He does not mind that he sounds like the poster boy for the company. In fact, the way he talks about the flour, it sounds like it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Just 18 months old with operations at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, Bharat said by his estimation, the company now has about 30 per cent share in the local market and added that the company was working to increase that.

“The more market share we have, the better,” he said, noting that there was room for growth.

While he would not disclose the company’s strategy, he noted that it all had to do with reading the market — and taking chances.

But Nutrimix’s flour, Country Pride, is shaking up the industry, an industry once dominated by National Flour Mills (NFM).

“We knew that we were entering a competitive field dominated by certain entrepreneurs and we had to adopt certain marketing strategies to survive,” he said of NFM.

Based on sales, “we certainly exceeded expectations,” he added.

One of its immediate strategies was to cut the price of its flour, which, in turn, forced NFM to do the same.

On this development, he said anything to help the consumer is fine with him.

Asked about their production figures, the CEO said he could not divulge this because of the competition in the market. “It was very satisfactory,” he said.

Bharat said the company supplies Price Smart with its flour, noting that was a sure sign of acceptance. Price SMart buys the flour in bulk and they re-package it into smaller quantities.

Nutrimix has also been able to make inroads into the local supermarket industry, with Hilo and Travail on the list.

He said that during the first year in the business, he said Nutrimix deliberately adopted an aggressive marketing strategy. He said the company encouraged site demonstrations and spent a lot on advertising. He said their computerized plant was a big seller.

“If we have made a dent in the market place it is to the credit of our employees all of whom are pivotal in our success thrust,” he said.

The Nutrimix flour mill is recognised as state-of-the-art plant both in performance and production capacity and was designed to meet the competition head on.

“We have based the promotion of our product on a high degree of consistency and have so far been able to satisfy the demand from our consumers,” he said.

“We have worked very hard to gain the confidence of our customers and believe it or not we are here to stay,” Bharat, the former NFM. CEO, said.

“What is going in favour of Nutrimix Flour Mills is superior quality coupled with affordable and honest prices,” Bharat said in a recent interview.

He explained that in order to maintain a fair market share “we have to supply regularly, maintain our quality, and satisfy our clients whether at home or abroad,”

If it’s anything to go by, the company recently received an order from Haiti for two containers of flour or about 40 tonnes. Bharat sees this as a major accomplishment.

“From whatever point of view one looks at this new development the graph is certainly moving in an upward position signifying progress and success,” Bharat said.

So far, Nutrimix has picked up markets in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Aruba, Curacao, Guyana, and Suriname. “Indications surely point to significant improvements within the next few months,” he said.But the flour is slowly gaining acceptance into the bakery sector of TT, he said, noting many have started using it as their base in producing cakes, bread, pastries and other products.

Asked about the company’s plans for diversification, Bharat said Nutrimix was already producing animal feed for the poultry industry and was now looking at rice packaging.

The rice, he said, would be coming from Guyana.