Patanjali enters food industry with new restaurant in Chandigarh

Founded in 2006 by Acharya Balkrishna with Baba Ramdev as its brand ambassador, PAL initially started out by manufacturing ayurvedic medicines.

Over the course of its business, it expanded its activities to food items and cosmetics, producing over 45 kinds of cosmetics and over 30 kinds of food items.

It started selling its products through "dedicated" outlets, and eventually expanded to online sales too.

FMCG companies, on an average, spend 12-15% of their sales revenue on advertising and promotion (A&P).

In contrast to most FMCG companies, PAL's A&P costs are negligible.

Ever since Ramdev's yoga got a morning slot in Aastha Channel in 2003, the yoga-guru's popularity has skyrocketed; Ramdev has used that popularity to promote PAL products by ingeniously advertising them during his yoga camps and discourses.

Ramdev Baba recently stated that Patanjali will enter the dairy sector crossing the Rs.5 lakh crore mark by the year 2022.

Addressing a two-day national seminar at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, he said, "Patanjali is set to enter the dairy business and in this financial year, production will start in three dairy plants -one each in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh."

At the inaugural session of the global investors meet in Indore, Baba Ramdev stated that Patanjali Ayurved would begin manufacturing textiles soon.

He said "we will be making foray into textiles on a big scale" adding that they would manufacture all textiles, including clothing and commercial textiles.

He added that Patanjali was growing at 100%, while other FMCG companies were lagging behind.

An ASSOCHAM-TechSci research report stated that Patanjali Ayurved has been the biggest disruptive force in India's FMCG sector in 2016; the report said Patanjali posted "annual growth of 146% in fiscal year 2016 grossing a turnover of $769 million."

The report said Patanjali's "peers including ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive" struggled to even register double digit growth figures.

The DRDO has roped in Baba Ramdev's Patanjali to market products developed by its Life Sciences department; it hopes Patanjali's wide consumer network will be beneficial.

Life Science head Sashibala Singh and other representatives met Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, Patanjali MD, to discuss a memorandum of understanding.

Two years ago, DRDO and Patanjali signed a transfer of technologies deal for five sea buckthorn-based products.

Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda has ventured into the food market by launching its first restaurant in Chandigarh.

'Postik', the fully vegetarian restaurant, was opened in Hotel Indiano at Baltana, Zirakpur. It is now open for customers.

The walls are adorned with photos of Ramdev and Patanjali co-founder Acharya Balkrishna; meanwhile, the menu also offers health tips to visitors.