Mumbai: What started as an internal employee engagement experiment has become a business proposition for fast-moving consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever (HUL).
The Adda’, a self-paying model which utilizes HUL’s entire range of food and beverages to create recipes which form part of the menu people can choose from, was started on the FMCG giant’s campus as a hangout joint in 2015.
HUL has now scaled it up to over a 100 Addas in several corporate campuses. Spread across 11 cities, it adds to HUL’s growing list of out-of-home business models which were rolled out by the maker of Kissan jam and Knorr so-ups over the last decade or so. These include Swirl Parlors, Bru Cafes and Taj Mahal Tea House.
Geetu Verma, executive director (foods & refreshment), HUL, said, “When we started the HUL Adda on our campus, the idea was to bring alive the food culture on the street. We created a long and exciting menu based on our entire food portfolio, which includes our beverages and ice creams and we got our strong employee base to try out our products through different recipes.”
As the Adda gained in popularity at its own campus, HUL decided to take it to other large offices and campuses across India,Verma Said Out of 100 Addas,90 Are like in large office campuses like
Capgemini and Wipro. “It has attracted good footfalls. This way we get people to try our entire food and refreshment range from a chilled Bru cold coffee shake to a Knorr noodle masala omelet-te,” she said.
Franchisees, trained by HUL, run the Addas and a panel of chefs constantly work at innovating the recipes. With the Addas generating trial for HUL’s range of products, Verma said the plan ahead is to both consolidate within the footprint and selectively expand. The out-of-home business is expected to continue to grow given the trend of eating out. The out-of-home service brands are in addition to HUL’s institutional sales business of catering to rail-ways, airlines, hotels and restaurants.
