Food Processing · Case study

From a single buyer to eleven, and an export licence that holds

A spice grinding business where one private-label buyer accounted for 74% of despatch and set the price every quarter.

Client: Rangoli Spices
Location: Indore, Madhya Pradesh
Duration: 16 months
Engagement: Growth Diagnostic + Filing & Liaison + Growth Marketing retainer

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Headline result

74% → 31%

Top-buyer concentration

Of total despatch, 16 months

The situation

What we walked into

Business & Growth Strategy Subsidies & Compliance Branding & Marketing

Rangoli ground and blended spices for a large private-label buyer at a contribution margin that had declined for three consecutive years, with no ability to refuse the annual price reset.

The business had attempted exports twice and been stopped by pesticide residue limits and documentation it did not understand.

There was no own-brand presence, no food safety certification and no costing visibility below the level of total factory cost.

What we did

The engagement, phase by phase

Including the phase the client least enjoyed, which in most of our case studies is the second one.

Phase 1 · Weeks 1–3
Diagnostic and the concentration problem
Rebuilding three years of P&L by customer and SKU showed the anchor buyer was contributing 74% of volume at 41% of gross margin. The diagnostic reframed the goal from 'grow revenue' to 'replace half the anchor volume within eighteen months'.
Phase 2 · Months 2–6
Build the compliance platform first
FSSC 22000 implemented as a working system, a residue testing protocol with a NABL lab, traceability to farmer lot, and APEDA registration. This was deliberately sequenced before any buyer outreach, because both earlier export attempts had failed on exactly this.
Phase 3 · Months 4–10
Own brand for the domestic shelf
A regional own-brand range positioned on single-origin sourcing and freshness, with pack-price architecture designed so it would not undercut the private-label business that still paid the bills.
Phase 4 · Months 8–16
Diversify the book
Institutional and HoReCa supply, two additional private-label accounts, and first export orders to the UAE and Oman supported by Market Access Initiative reimbursement for two trade fairs.

Measured outcome

The numbers, with their baselines

These are the metrics written into the engagement letter before work started.

1 → 11

Active buyers

Private label, institutional, export

+7.2 pts

Gross margin

Blended across the book

₹3.4 Cr

Export revenue

UAE and Oman, first full year

Passed first attempt

FSSC 22000

Zero major non-conformities

₹5.1 Cr

Own brand revenue

Year one of launch

₹22 Cr → ₹38 Cr

Revenue

With a materially safer book

Engagement visual

BeforeAfter

Every consultant we spoke to wanted to talk about exports. Anuradha spent the first six months on certification and residue testing, which is the boring answer and the reason the orders did not fall through this time.

Arvind Jain · Partner, Rangoli Spices

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