The GD Foods’ Tops story of becoming a Rs 300 Cr company 

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GD Foods’ Tops, a Rs 300 crore turnover company today, started in the year 1984 as a mere noodle brand. It was only in the 90s when the brand started expanding to other related products like sauces and pickles and since then, there has been no turning back. This case study solves the mystery behind the success of Tops, the noodle brand that took not a few days or months or years but an entire decade to realise its true potential! 

The noodle revolution

Not long ago, there were people who lived peacefully in our country, oblivious to the existence of noodles. But the era of 80s had a few different plans for the citizens of India. This was the period when the food processing industry in India was picking up and industrialists looked at combining agriculture and industry, the two major pillars of the economy.

The demand for Chinese food grew rapidly, so much that in the year 1984 two noodle brands competed amongst themselves to sell their products. As we now know, GD Foods’ Tops was one alongside its multinational competitor Maggi, floated by Nestle in 1983. 

The company that kick-started as a small facility to meet the growing demand for Chinese food in the national capital of the country, rose to prominence in the following years. With a wide range of jams, pickles and ketchup, among other products, all under the brand name “Tops”, GD Foods became a leading FMCG brand in the country. Interestingly, this journey of a thousand miles and more was covered through word of mouth. 

Where it all began

B.M. Seth, father of the current vice-chairman, Nitin Seth, was the one who planned on setting up GD Foods in the memory of Govardhan Das, his father. It was Govardhan who had always dreamt of laying the foundations of a major business that would touch the lives of countless families across the country.  

When asked Nitin Seth about the early days of GD Foods’ Tops, he recalls how his father had come up with the very first batch noodles but the primary challenge was to sell it in the market. Where Nestle's Maggi served instant noodles, Tops offered core Chinese noodles. Thus began the game of distributing flyers, putting stickers all around and using scooter stephenies to spread the word in the common household.

Govardhan’s dream came true, if only a bit later. In a matter of a few months, the household demand for Tops noodles increased. And during the mid-90s, GD Foods’ decided to zero down on the market of pickles that donned the hat of a popular tastemaker in the country. As per the stats today, Tops pickles are ranked as the fastest-selling SKUs in its entire product range. 

Achieving milestones - one by one

Once the brand dived into the pickles segment, the perspective of the company changed. With Nitin joining the family business in the year 1996, a time when globalization was only setting in and western culture was being adopted by the countrymen, the brand diversified into the breakfast category in the food industry. Soon, GD Foods’ introduced cornflakes, jams, and instant mixers, only to bolster Tops position in the breakfast segment. 

The company witnessed a huge jump in the year 2003 when it launched a variety of sauces. As of today, Australia acts as a top-performing market for GD Foods’ Tops and the brand, with the utilization of its existing plants, is all set to expand to the UAE and Dubai.

Over a period of 36 years, the brand has established itself well and today holds a crucial place in the food industry. With the launch of a plethora of products including custard powder, jellies, choco flakes, cake mixes among many others, Tops’ products currently cater to more than 1.5 lakh retail outlets pan India and boasts of adding 200 stock keeping units or SKUs. Also, the company has a total of five manufacturing units across the country, located in Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and is known to procure its raw materials from the local markets in India. 

From breakfast to kids meals and that of adults, GD Foods’ Tops has a widespread menu that serves every palate. What’s surprising here is the fact that around 90 percent of its revenues are generated from India while the rest comes from e-commerce sales and exports, with the brand currently exporting to 44 countries across six countries. Internationally, the brand is known to sell at chains like Walmart. 

The peculiar story of marketing

Unlike other famous FMCG brands that believe in the power of advertisements and marketing, GD Foods’ Tops has always looked at providing the best-in-class food products at prices that are reasonable. It for this reason that the brand never spent huge chunks of money on advertisements which would otherwise add to the net cost of the end product, leading to a loss of its loyal customers. 

Even today, the brand keeps faith in the power of word-of-mouth marketing and hopes to run with it in the future as well.

Apart from this, the brand has an interesting story behind the launch of every product that speaks volumes about the time and focus spent on each product. Sauces are launched in summers always, that witness a rise in demand during winters and Jams are launched in winters always, that note a rise in demand during summers. In fact, even today, the company sends monthly supplies to about 400 families to test which products or flavours work well and whether or not changes are needed before its launch in the market. 

Contribution to society

In addition to the numerous measures taken to expand the company, GD Foods’ Tops is known for its responsible actions towards farmers and society. Taking into consideration the crucial role played by farmers in feeding the nation, the company has built linkages with farmers on a basis of contract-farming for produce like green chillies, tomatoes, etc. Not only does this arrangement helps farmers realize the true and reasonable value for their produce but also negates the effect of fluctuating market prices or the impact of shortages and gluts. 

If facts are quoted, GD Foods’ Tops has been implementing this with about 300 families in over 700 acres of farmland and has the vision to extend this to 5000 acres of farmland in a couple of years, covering all other raw material resources as well.

Also, ever since the brand was established, it has looked into providing livelihood to numerous women and today, 400 women are employed from Rajasthan alone. 

Challenges and the way ahead

With GD Foods’ Tops lying in the processed food segment, the challenges faced by the company are in terms of seasonality and the sustained availability of supply of vegetables and fruits round the year, which at times leads to sharp variation in costs. 

One other challenge for the company is the need to stay relevant in the market where household income is witnessing a rise and schedules are getting busier by the day. In such a scenario, customers are looking for innovative products and it is to suit these consumers that the brand strives to constantly innovate its existing products. 

Acknowledging the gradual shift in the consumer preference towards products that offer healthy and convenient options in recent years, the brand aims to launch another 100 SKUs in the coming years. While the ongoing pandemic has urged people to cook at home and take conscious steps for health and immunity, the company is working on introducing a wide range of offerings that will help save time and effort in cooking and will provide options that deliver more nutrition.  

Going forward, the brand aims to achieve a target of Rs 1000 Cr turnover and is all set to make announcements for the launch of new products. All in all, the future for GD Foods’ Tops looks promising and it will be fascinating to see how the company revolutionizes the food industry altogether.