Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale, a well-known name in India’s sweets and savouries segment and the maker of the popular Bakarwadi, has set up a state-of-the-art production facility along with a customer experience centre at Ranje village in Bhor taluka near Pune.
The new facility, named Ranje Vision Park, will be formally inaugurated on April 16 by Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The announcement was made at a press conference in Pune by Indraneel Chitale and Kedar Chitale, partners in the company and representatives of the fourth generation of the Chitale family.
The company said its products are currently available across approximately 1.25 lakh retail touchpoints spanning 10 major states in India. It now plans to significantly expand its presence by increasing this network to 5 lakh touchpoints over the next three years.
In addition to domestic growth, the company is also focusing on exports. At present, exports contribute around 8 per cent of total sales revenue, with a target to scale this up to 20 per cent within the next three years.
Indraneel Chitale said, “This new state-of-the-art production facility will cater to the production requirements of our expansion plan in India and the overseas markets. The plant has been designed and set up by keeping in mind the global standards in packaged food segment. It is audited and certified with the global food safety standards like FSSC 22000, a globally recognised, GFSI-benchmarked food safety certification, US food and drug administration and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).”
“As of now two independent production units have been set up for sweets (Mithai) and savouries (Namkeen) at the Ranje Vision Park that has come up on a land parcel of 25 acres. The installed capacity of these production units is to produce 40 tonne sweets and savouries per day. Investments worth ₹250 Cr has been made so far in the development of Ranje Vision Park,” he added.
Kedar Chitale said, “Ranje Vision Park will be open to the customers and this is one the most important highlights of the park. Created on the concept of an experience center with the product testing facility and a café planned in near future, the production units here have viewing galleries for the customers from where they can see the fully automated production process and the way global standards are followed by maintaining the hygiene.”
“A 100 meter long specially created wall depicting the journey of Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale will surely be of interest to our customers. This initiative of encouraging the customers to see the production process will not only provide reassurance to our customers but will also strengthen the deep bond of trust that generations of customers have shared with us. Very soon customers will be able to register through the company website for the visit to this Ranje Vision Park,” he added.
While commenting on the expansion plan, Indraneel Chitale stated that the company has about 450 products in its portfolio and intends to grow its presence through physical retail, quick service restaurants and casual dining restaurants by providing solutions that suit their requirements.