Tarai Foods Ltd

Promoted by G S Sandhu and Associates, Tarai Foods Limited was incorporated on February 20, 1990 as a Public Limited Company. It has facilities for processing and freezing vegetables and fruits (inst. cap. : 7200 tpa), at Fazilpur Mehrola, UP. The Company has set up a vegetables processing plant (based on Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) Freezing technology) in the Tarai region at Rudrapur, in Uttrakhand. The plant is capable of processing and freezing all kinds of products like fruits, vegetables, meats, fish etc. In Nov.'93, TFL came out with its initial public offering aggregating Rs 4.25 cr, to acquire certain balancing equipment for its freezing plant with a pre-cooler, a dicer, an automotive packaging machine and two refrigerated vans. The company signed an MoU for marketing with the Hindustan Lever group of companies. Anticipating a growing demand for the American food in India, TFL is launching Inland Valley frozen french fries. To ensure a regular supply of quality potatoes, it plans to enter into agreements with farmers in the Rudrapur region, Uttar Pradesh. It is also negotiating with Lambweston, US, a frozen foods major, for a tie-up. The Company had marketing tieups with Hindustan Liver Ltd, (HLL) through their subsidiary Brooke Bond India Ltd. (BBIL) for domestic and export markets and TFL's products were sold under the brand 'Green Valley' by HLL till 1995. The Company was selected by McDonalds International of USA to be its sole supplier of frozen French fries to its India operations in 1996 and was introduced to Lamb Weston Inc., USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of the food giant, ConAgra's, USA, a Fortune 500 company and also the largest suppliers of French Fries in whole of the world. With the wholehearted support and permission of the FI's the promoters entered into a Technical Collaboration Agreement with Lamb Weston Inc. and under a Financial Collaboration Agreement The company launched its own brand name of Inland Valley French Fries. This association continued till 1998. The Company has put up facility for Virant (Separation) of Wheat and supply in 50 Kgs bags and also in bulk. In 1999-2000, the company has established itself in the consumer market by introducing small packs of its products i.e. frozen peas under the new brand name TARAI which is well received by the customers. Also the company has successfully diversified its operations in the area of Mushroom growing and processing. It has installed a canning line for processing of mushroom and markets fresh, frozen and canned mushroom. During 2001-02 the company was declared sick and rehabilitation package is underway under the supervision & guidance of IDBI,which was appointed as operating agency by BIFR.