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To drive the use of honey, Himalaya Drugs is developing daily diet products and looking at marketing them by tying-up with leading consumer brands. As a first step it has tied up with Cafe Coffee Day, to create four dishes - Honey Cappuccino, Honey milk shake, Rich Chocolate Cake and ice cream topped with honey and nuts, Ravi Prasad, President and CEO The Himalaya Drugs Company told ET.
"The association with Cafe Coffee Day across 100 outlets in seven cities was not only to expand the category, but also towards creating touch points to experience the goodness of Himalaya Forest Honey", he added.
During the trial, Cafe Coffee Day executives received a tremendous response for these honey-based items. While similar promotions for other brands have normally resulted in an uptake of 120-130 units of a branded drink over a period of 15 days, Himalaya Honey cappuccino saw an impressive uptake of 4,294 units, said Sudipata Mukherjee, Head Marketing, Cafe Coffee Day to look at making these products a permanent part of the Cafe menu across the country, she added.
The Cafe Coffee Day partnership was unique, Mr. Prasad claimed. It provided a platform to reach out to the target audience in a relaxed environment where they could experience innovative uses of honey.
Till now, honey was usually taken with milk or lime-juice for health. Honey was also used as delicious topping on toasts, desserts, energy drinks or parathas. The honey flavoured coffee has enabled the customer to step away from the regular menu and try something new.
For the cafe it is an innovative way to offer a novel combination, said Mr. Prasad. Encouraged by its success, Himalaya is now planning to emulate a similar model with other retail outlets, albeit with different set of products.
The size of the honey market in India is estimated to be about 5,000 tonnes (organised and unorganised) valued about Rs. 45 crore.
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