India is home to some of the most adaptable people on the planet. This is not only because we can blend in anywhere, but also because of our unique ability to Indianize everything to suit our tastes and mannerisms. For example, we have taken Italian pizza and turned it into tandoori chicken/paneer pizza, and we have created the famous aloo-tikki version of the American burger. These are just a few simple innovations that turned out to be massive successes. However, perhaps the biggest success story in India’s thriving F&B industry is not just giving a dish an Indian twist, but rather Indianizing an entire cuisine.
One prime example of this is Indian Chinese, or ‘Desi Chinese’ as we like to call it. This cuisine was popularized by the homegrown brand ‘Ching’s Secret’, which was founded by Ajay Gupta as part of Capital Foods in 1995.
We Indians often complain about how bland foreign cuisine tastes. Thus, whenever we prepare it at home, our precious box of masalas inevitably comes out. This is what Gupta realised. Back then, a lot of Chinese immigrants were entering India. They began adopting our habits, styles and tastes. Thus, Indian masalas made their way into Chinese cuisine, giving rise to Desi Chinese. This new cuisine became a hugely successful phenomenon almost instantaneously.
Banking on this success that Gupta was witnessing, he launched the ‘Ching’s Secret’ brand that took off immediately. It became popular not only in households for cooking but on the streets as part of street food as well. Today, if you want to sell anything in India, it has to psychologically connect with the audience.
Brands have to take the emotional factor into consideration while curating a product for the Indian market. Ching’s Secret launched the Schezwan Chutney. A blend of Indian and Chinese flavours that catered perfectly to the Indian palette. All mega FMCG players at the time were focusing on obtaining high numbers rather than making a product ‘for Indians.’ This is where Ching’s Secret shone and the Schezwan Chutney turned out to be a resounding success.
Consequently, Capital Foods was quick to launch more products. They began selling hakka noodles, soups, instant meals and other sauces with an Indian touch. Gupta managed to cause a mammoth disruption and carve himself a niche position in a super fierce FMCG sector.
The brand has had some great marketing strategies over time. Ching’s Secret was now earning great revenue and needed a space to re-invest it to grow even further. Utilising his prior experience as an advertiser, Gupta decided to rely on India’s second unifying factor – Bollywood. Gupta believed that to really get the brand to reach a mass audience, he required the Bollywood touch. Thus, began the search for an actor who understood the brand’s proposition well.
The dart landed on Ranveer Singh. Singh was the perfect choice for the brand as he not only understood the essence but his own prior experience in the advertising industry plays a key role in the collaborations success. Singh actively took part in the brand’s strategy meetings too. Ranveer Singh transformed into ‘Ranveer Ching’ and the ads that were born as a result were an epic success.
Ching’s Secret launched a song in 2014 featuring Ranveer Ching. The song turned viral. It was a mega-hit. According to Gupta, prior to the song, the brand was available in 60000 stores. However, post its release, they were in more than 150000 stores. Seeing the success, the brand decided to launch a five minute ad film. They reached out to film director Rohit Shetty to create a dramatic, action packed ad film. Yes, a five minute ad film, action sequences, Rohit Shetty and Ranveer Singh.
What could possibly go wrong? Absolutely nothing! Ching’s Secret was now available in 275000 stores after the ad. That’s a growth of nearly 150 percent because of one single ad. Clearly, Bollywood worked. Ranveer Singh worked. The budget for the ad was estimated at Rs 75 crores, making it one of the most expensive ad films till date. Did the bargain pay off? That’s not a question we need answered.
The five minute short-film or advertisement is a flavourful mix of comedy, action, drama, extravagant visuals and over-exaggeration. Exactly everything that you’d expect from Rohit Shetty. The ad film is entertaining right from the get go. A post apocalyptic world, where everyone is fighting for the remaining food resources. It wouldn’t be a Rohit Shetty product if the hero didn’t have a grand entry.
On cue, Ranveer Ching enters riding a metal chariot. Multiple slow-mo reveal shots portray Singh as a macho, no-nonsense dude, exuding main character energy. He comes to everyone’s rescue by bringing a cart filled with Ching’s Secret products, fulfilling everyone’s hunger needs. The ad involves every element that a typical masala Bollywood entertainer has. The flashy hero reveal, a notorious villain, fight sequences, a love story, not to mention, a cliffhanger. And of course, it wouldn’t be Bollywood without a dance number. All of this, packaged in a meagre five minutes seems almost impossible. Doesn’t it? If you ever felt that you didn’t have time to go to the movies. Just watch this ad and you’ll live the entire experience. Truly, a very well conceptualised and executed ad film.
Ranveer Singh continues to play the same overly enthusiastic, over the top role as Ranveer Ching in Ching’s Secret advertisements even today and we don’t see anyone complaining. It’s an advertisement, you can be as over the top as you’d like. As long as Singh eventually drives the point home, everyone is happy. The formula has worked wonders for the brand for almost a decade. Why change it?
Over the years, Ching’s Secret and Capital Foods have grown exponentially. The growth numbers have nearly doubled year on year. The company is expected to close FY23 at around Rs.900 crore. Staggering, right? FMCG majors have shown keen interest in Capital Foods over the last few years. In 2006, Future Group’s founder and CEO Kishore Biyani’s investment arm, Future Investments invested Rs. 13 crore for a minority stake of 33 percent in Capital Foods. Biyani exited in 2013 by selling his entire 44 percent stake to Artal Investments and its private equity fund Invus Group for Rs. 180 crore.
Currently, Invus Group, which is a European investment arm owns 40 percent in Capital Foods, American private equity group General Atlantic holds 35 percent and Ajay Gupta owns the remaining 25 percent. Nestle is looking to acquire a majority stake in Capital Foods and is reportedly willing to pay over $1 billion to see the deal through.
The FMCG market is already dominated by majors such as ITC, Britannia, Godrej, Nestle and HUL. Thus, making it highly competitive. At such a time, other major brands are planning to foray into the FMCG sector in full thrust. Reliance has announced its entry into consumer products through acquiring Campa Cola and Sosyo Hajoori. Amul plans to turn into a food products brand rather than being just a dairy pioneer. Tata Consumer Products has been investing aggressively in direct-to-consumer brands. This is why a niche market such as Desi Chinese is in high demand and why buyers are ready to pay upwards of $1 billion to acquire Capital Foods.