Homestyle Foods Pvt Ltd, manufacturing wire-cut cookies at Narendrapur in Kolkata, is the brainchild of Geeta Roy, managing director of the company.
After doing BE from Roorkee University and PGDM from IIM Calcutta, Geeta worked in both private and public sectors, but all the time setting up a greenfield project of her own was uppermost in her mind.
Fascinated by the amazing taste and texture of wire-cut cookies, Geeta decided to launch a venture to manufacture these cookies, the first of its kind in India.
Geeta approached Kevin Hicks, chairman of Auto-Bake Pty Ltd, Australia —
a world leader in wire-cut cookies — for machinery and know-how. Auto-Bake offered two options: one, the retail concept in which Auto-Baker cookie machines are installed at different retail outlets with a central dough preparation unit supplying frozen dough to these retail units for baking; the other, factory concept in which dough preparation, baking and packaging are all done under one roof.
While in Sydney for final selection of machinery, negotiation and signing of licence agreement with Auto-Bake Pty Ltd, Geeta compared the taste of cookies baked from fresh dough at the Auto-Bake factory vis-à-vis cookies baked from frozen dough at retail outlets in different malls. What appealed to her more were the cookies baked from fresh dough and she opted for the factory concept.
This choice proved to be a wise one as it was later realised that consistency in taste and quality could be better achieved in an integrated plant by closely monitoring every stage of production — dough preparation, baking and packaging.
For their unmatched taste and home-made appeal, wire-cut cookies, the world over, stand out against other types of cookies or biscuits. But, because of spread variation, wire-cut cookies are more difficult to produce, bake and package than the usual cookies or biscuits made by rotary moulder or cutting machine.
The way wire-cut cookies spread depends on myriad factors. Which is why dough formulation needs to be frequently altered to control the spread. Our real forte is this expertise which we have perfected over the years.
With energy-efficient infra-red baking ovens and zero pollution, our manufacturing unit is truly ‘green’.
