iD Fresh Food, a packaged foods company, is planning to make an investment of nearly Rs 100 crore to open new plants in Delhi, Hyderabad and the US as the pandemic helped drive sales of convenience foods such as idli-dosa batter, filter coffee concoctions and frozen parotas.
The plants will be set up in the next 12 months, helping the Bengaluru-headquartered company reach more markets and scale distribution to 40,000 outlets up from the present 30,000.
This includes increasing presence in markets such as Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, apart from overseas markets Bahrain and Qatar.
The company is looking at more products in fresh category or those with a short shelf life. It is looking at scaling the curd and other dairy business. The demand for packaged and convenience foods grew at an impressive pace in 2020 as the lockdown prompted people to cook more at home.
The company’s business has now scaled up to 45 cities across India, the US and the UAE.