Population rise, increased awareness of the general public, change in food habits, and rising per capita income has boosted demand for flour and flour-based products, and is driving up the output of these products that have become even more essential. To add to it, the surge in health concerns about high-quality flour offers an incentive for flour millers to make advancements in technology to scale up and achieve the market demand. There is seen a vast Change in customer taste, choice of food, and dietary concerns to which manufacturers need to offer distinct products.
Food grains in India have inappropriate ware¬housing availability and practices, which puts pressure on the flour manufacturing companies to have the substantial cleaning equipment to meet the current quality standards set forth by the food safety standards of India. However, the three most critical factors that flour mills are expected to achieve are the highest quality standard products, timely delivery, and tailor-made products to fit the diverse needs of clients/consumers.
Speaking of which, Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises has been synonymous with best-in-class quality (and taste) for flour with decades of unparalleled experience(s) since its inception in 1989. Today, Narasu’s is one of the most trusted and leading Flour mills in the state of Tamil Nadu having a presence across every nook and corner of the state. The company serves both the wholesale as well as retail markets, with the wholesale segment accounting for 98 percent of its customers. The company’s products include refined wheat flour (Maida), whole wheat flour (Atta), Sooji, and more. The products are available in Bags of 10-50 kilograms for wholesale buyers.
The wholesale buyers include hotels, bakeries, biscuit manufacturers, noodles manufacturers, and rusk producers to name a few. For retail consumers, the products are available in various sizes ranging from 200 grams to 5 kilograms. Over the last few years, Narasu’s has added many consumer products like rusk, noodles, cookies, bread, ragi flour, rice flour, and besan flour among others. All the consumer items manufactured by the company are getting substantial attraction and have shown potential growth in certain markets.
A Noteworthy Journey
Late P. Muralikrishnan established 'Narasu’s Roller Flour Mills', a partnership firm in 1988 by constructing a roller flour mill and began commercial production in 1989. The enterprise was changed to a Private Limited company, ‘Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises,’ in 2012. The firm is in Salem, Tamil Nadu, at the foothills of the lush Shevaroy Hills.
We are proud to say that 'Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises' is recognized as one of the top 10 flour mills in India by Industry Outlook. The company is a member of the Roller Flour Millers Federation in New Delhi, the South Miller Confederation in Bangalore, and the Tamilnadu Roller Flour Mills Association in Chennai.
A Client-centric Organization
M. V. Balasubramaniam, Chairman of the company said “We always tailor-make our products to meet the needs of our customers. Britannia, for example, is one of our customers who use our flour to make their bread. They give us the specifications, and we ensure in meeting them. Whether the harvest in the year goes poorly or however it is our responsibility to match their specifications and that responsibility remains.
To meet the required standard, we do the needful with the decades of experience gained in being in this industry we are able to achieve whatever is requested of us. If you take noodles, there is a parameter known as gluten. If the gluten content is too high, the noodles will turn chewy. The noodle begins to break if the gluten is too weak. So, these are some of the challenges that we do deal with daily and we fix them to provide consistent products of uniform quality”.
He further explained 'Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises' is the sole sub-supplier of Refined wheat flour (Maida) to Nestle for its products – Kitkat and Munch. Nestle has rated the company top class on quality, delivery, and productivity. Since the launch of Kitkat in the Indian market, the company has been its major supplier. To further explain the complexity of the specialized flour required by customers, Nestle uses a special oven where a mixture of Refined wheat flour (Maida) and other ingredients are used for baking the wafers which are further used in their chocolates.
The wafer, after baking, should come out without any breakage, shrinkage, or stickiness. If any issue is faced in this step, the breakdown, cleaning, and startup time would be considered production loss invariably a loss to the company. Hence, understanding this, the company has been offering best-in-class flour especially formulated and processed to meet their requirements".
Maintaining Strict Quality Standards
The company procures its raw material from the North of India mainly Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and more. The raw material received from the farmers reaches the company with a lot of impurities. Strict quality parameters are invoked to ensure the highest level of raw material quality. The raw material undergoes deep thorough cleaning to ensure the complete pureness of the wheat that is being processed.
Further, Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises has a state-of-the-art infrastructure with technologically advanced machinery. The company’s high-end automated facilities produce world-class products, ensuring top quality and utmost customer satisfaction. The grains are completely processed in an automated plant with no human contact till the final step to ensure hygiene and sanitation.
It also has an In-house lab where continuous research and development are carried out to drive the needed innovation; from testing the grain at the time of arrival to production and till dispatch to ensure that it meets every quality standard. Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises is an FSSC 22000 certified company with a robust food safety management system. It is also SEDEX compliant, ensuring employee happiness. Further certifications include FSSAI, Halal, and others.
“We have set benchmarks in the industry for others to follow. We have 30 silos made of CONCRETE which is only seen in developed nations and can store up to 10,000 metric tons of wheat. The specialty of these concrete silos is that the wheat can be stored perfectly fresh for even a year. After procuring raw material, the quality gets graded and stored in different silos separately. The stored wheat is blended/ processed individually to cater to the diverse needs of the customers and end consumers. After processing each grade separately, it is again stored individually in concrete finished product silos. We have been practicing this for the last two decades”, explains M. V. Balasubramaniam.
Our focus is towards quality, consistency and excellent customer service, wherein, we are committed towards providing best-in-class safe, hygienically packed products to consumers/customers for a healthy lifestyle
Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises started with 43,200 tons per year and added another plant with an increased capacity to produce 54,000 tons per year. In 2013, 10,000 tonnes of concrete silos were built and currently, the company is running at a full production capacity of 72,000 tonnes per year. Initially, Narasu’s started off by selling its products to wholesale customers. “As we advance on, we would be introducing more consumer-oriented products, just to mention a few – pasta, ready-to-eat foods, cornflakes, chocos, and more. We would also expand our presence to cover the whole of South India”, concludes M. V. Balasubramaniam.
