MTR #1 - The Story and Success of MTR - Mavalli Tiffin Rooms

The Indian food industry growth is increasing every year. An opportunity for immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry, the food sector has emerged as a high-growth and high-profit sector. And MTR is one of the biggest brand in food related enterprise.

Introduction

 The Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (commonly known as MTR) is the brand name of a food - related enterprise located in India. The company has its headquaters in Bangalore, it has a restaurant located on the Lal Bagh Road in Bangalore and 6 other branches in the city, as well as one each in Singapore, Dubai and Muscat. 
It is founded as a restaurant by Yajnanarayana Maiya and his brothers in 1924. The company also manufactures the range of packaged foods including breakfast mixes, ready to eat meals, masalas and spices, snacks and beverages.

History

The Starting Phase


When it was founded in 1924 by two brothers Yajnanarayana Maiya and Ganappaya Maiya who came down from a place called Parampalli, near Udipi.  They opened a restaurant on Lal Bagh Road named Mavalli Tiffin Rooms. It is a vegetarian restaurant in Bangalore, India. The food served at the MTR is a regular wholesome Karnataka Brahmin fare and has its origins in the Udipi Brahmin cuisine of the coastal region of Karnataka. The decor is outdated, as more attention is paid to cleanliness and food quality than ambiance. 
For many years, the customers entered the restaurant through the kitchen so that they would be able to satisfy themselves about the restaurant's cleanliness before they ate there.
During World War II, MTR found it difficult it to make idlis since rice was in short supply. According to MTR, they experimented with semolina instead of rice and thus invented the very popular breakfast item of Rava idli.

Pivot Point during Emergency (Mid 1970)


During Mid 1970 when Emergency was introduced and Food Control Act was introduced which mandated that food was to be sold at very low prices. Due to the emergency their Restaurant gets shut down. It become the pivot point for MTR. To save the jobs of poor labourer MTR started selling their raw materials in MTR - branded packs on grocery shops in Bangalore.
When they start selling spices and roasted flour mixes, it opened their way into the instant food business. And their processed food business became more successful business than their restaurant business.
They reopened the restaurant in 1984, post emergency. And they start selling instant foods in different ranges like - spices, instant mixes, ready - to - eat foods, vermicelli, ready - to - cook gravies, range of frozen products, papads, pickles, chips, snacks, and ice creams.



By the mid - 1990s , MTR had invested 1 crore rupees in instant mixes and spices, but softy mixes failed to take off, so they imported softy machines and franchised Kiosk in Bangalore. Soon, MTR became huge success in softies.
In 2000, company received an investment of 6 crore from Aquarius Capital and in 2002 JP Morgan Partners invested 19.2 crore in MTR.
Sadanand Maiya, the son of Yajnanarayana Maiya headed MTR until it is sold to Orkla, a Norwegian company for $80 Million in March 2007. By that time Maiya family owned 59% of the company, JP Morgan Partners owned a 26% of stake and Aquarius Capital owned aroun 15% of stake.

Huge Results

  • MTR which represent two seperate entities, MTR Restaurant business and MTR Foods, claimed to be the inventor of Rava Idli.
  • MTR also holds the record of being the first fast food restaurant in the World to serve 21,000 customers in seven hours.
  • MTR bought the packaging technology from Defence Food Research Laboratory in Mysore and there are no preservatives added to the food while packaging.
  • MTR is also the first Indian processed foods company to be certified with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification which is a rigorous standard of food safety and hygiene.
  • MTR is the first company to create a frozen dosa, which can be heated and eaten right away.
  • MTR also bought the first ice cream vending machine to India.

Watch the whole Story and Success of MTR on youtube - 


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