It was 1984 when the Chandigarh-bred Varun Berry graduated from Punjab Engineering College and gained access to an American university with a trade show. All made it about going for a master in the US, he was rather crestfallen when his visa was rejected. He speculates that it was perhaps the fact that he came from Punjab at a time when terrorism in the state was at its peak and Operation Bluestar had happened. His career, as he says, may have taken a different process if he had gone to the US. He was later picked up by Unilever, where he spent the first eight years of his career, and he was in the industry of consumer goods.
I am waiting for Berry, MD & CEO of Britannia Industries, in his office in Whitefield, Bengaluru. There is a lip-smoking representation of Britannia products on the table: Laughing Cow Cheese; Winkin ‘Cow Bourbon Shakes; Nutri Choice Haver and Ragi cookies; Treat Croissants (the brand name then viral went wrongly pronounced as ‘prashant’); Good day chunkies et Alt Alto. Britannia’s new Harry Potter Branded Pure Magic Choco frames, only sold through E.Comm, can also be seen. I taste a little cheese, the frames and cookies. The lanky berry, all 6’4 ‘of him, comes in. Trim, in jeans, with a belt with a huge silver buckle, Berry hides his age of early 60s. He laughs warmly when I tell him that he looks very cowboyish!
The first question I ask him is what you would ask every FMCG marketer: is national and urban growth back for consumer goods? Berry says that Britannia certainly sees the growth in the countryside coming back. “In urban areas there is a pull to e-Command from general trade and a bit also from modern trade. Although E-Command is only about three percent for us, it grows exponentially, while modern trade is also growing, general trade (the mother-and-puppet stores) is growing to a smaller size. Urban growth comes back but less than rural and slow.
But he quickly adds that consumption is not completely out of the forest. “I think there is still a lot of stress related to other costs that go up. The rental has gone through the roof and with price increases everywhere, it exerts pressure on the consumer. Salaries have not risen in the same proportion.” This year with good rain, a growth addition expected to be around the corner. “That will be very good, because with all the stress we have seen over the past 18 to 24 months, we need a break,” he adds with a broad smile.
A dish with food rolls in – Paneer Kathi RollsClub sandwiches, cocktailsamosas, tea cookies and more coffee. About a mouthful of sandwiches I ask Berry about the premiumization journey of Britannia. “Going pretty well,” says Berry, who also undergoes in the products of the company at the bottom of the pyramid such as tiger glucose, cookies, tiger creams. The company has a single figure of about seven percent in that category, intentionally, to have a brand representation and not to be absent. “Also brands like Tiger give us not good margins. Only selling empty kilos will not help in the long term, right? We want to be consistent with our margins and our winnings. It is not that Tiger is a small brand today; even today with our share, the volumes are still large, but are not a report with our margin,” he explains.
The ‘Belly of the Market’ brands such as Good Day and Marie offer good margins. The premium – and new – products such as Nutri choice and other categories such as croissants and waffles see high growth rates with double digits. New launches in cheeses, and winking cow chop, large cakes for parties et Alt Alto It is also going well in the market, he adds.
Beyond cookies
I ask him about Britannia’s trip to become a complete food company, where there would be a greater contribution of non-drilling to his portfolio (it is now a ratio of 70:30). “So that journey were suffering during Covid because cookies and consumption in the home just started, everyone was stressed, so they probably looked at the cheapest form of food. The third reason was that most of our adjacent products are not home-consumption products; they are all outside the home products if we have not recovered a number of products.
The winking Koemilkshakes from Britannia are doing well and contribute RS 250 Crore, while croissants and waffles get around RS 130-140 crore. A blockbuster brand for Britannia should be at least RS 1,000 crore. “We have launched many categories that do well and grow quickly. But cookies are so big for us to move the needle much more, takes much longer,” says Berry. Some categories should achieve that target in the next 2-3 years, he muses. “Cakes that we have launched, perhaps 25-30 years ago, have still not received RS 1,000 crore. We give a big boost to Cakes; together with Z.
He points to a limited special edition Marie Gold Biscuit, which was launched to celebrate double gold medal winner Avani Lekhara, who won the 10-meter gun event at both the Paralympics 2020 and 2024. The cookie, he says, is only 4.55 cm wide, its target for the event. It won a silver for product launch in Cannes.
Berry asks for a diet coke while I put in some cheese and a new product, Jimjam Pops. While Britannia, he says, dominates the southern markets, there have been surprises. Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha are strong markets for Britannia, where his belly of market brands such as Good Day and Marie do well. Britannia does not even sell its bottom of pyramid brands in these markets. “If you were to paint the land in terms of share, while you start upstairs, Chhattisgarh and MP, parts, start to fall and it is a lighter shade. It will be a dark shade in the north, J&K and Delhi. Then the gradient will start to become lighter. His light and then the darkest,” works out of the South. ”
Britannia has strengthened its distribution and is immediately available in around three million points of sale and will indirectly indirectly have a total of 6.5 million points of sale. Although Berry notes, it still has to cover a little more soil to catch up with parle.
It is more than 12 years ago that Berry took over the MD from Britannia. How has the journey been like? “It was great, fulfilling like a company, and more than that, from the perspective of the people. I think everyone enjoyed the ride. We have had a number of difficult years, but people have remained and have done their best. We have also made a complete change in the way the organization looks and feels. Nowadays young consumers are looking for the past in the past.” Staying, you must create excitement in which category you are, “he adds.
Keep trying the philosophy
Berry says that there has been a lot of work by R&D and Marketing to launch in adjacent categories. “We have taken great risks. Some of them have not been successful, but most were pretty good. Our philosophy is to quickly fail and keep trying. That has worked well for us, although we are occasionally defeated, but in general the ship has been on track,” he says.
Berry spent 18 exciting years at Pepsi, he says, moving to many cities. Starting in Ahmedabad, then Delhi, Chennai, then to Ho Chi Minh City and further to Manila and Dubai and back to Delhi. His earlier stint at Unilever also included a lot of exercise. “I probably moved 25 cities in my career,” he says. In between, he had a short period with Jumbo Electronics in Dubai after his mockery tint, but returned to India in double fast time because the city “made him lazy”.
I ask him what kind of manager he is, hands-on or likes to delegate? “I have admired many people who delegate and deliver. Unfortunately I have always been a hands-on, roll-up-your sleeves kind of guy. But leadership styles also have to change with time,” he rumbles. He remembers the time that he was with a broken leg, but became restless in a month and made market visits on crutches. “He is angry,” he remembers that some of his sales staff said! Inspiration, he says, comes from people, whether it is his bosses or even people who report to him, whether it concerns working styles or their energy. His former boss in Unilever Muktesh Pant is a huge inspiration for him, he adds.
What is his favorite food as CEO of a food company? It is not cheese or cookies, but eating Thai, with many peppers. “We are a chili family, we all four. We love our peppers and we also have many competitions. Recently on a holiday in Iceland I defeated my wife, Anu, who is supposed to be the Chile queen of our family!” He says laughing. Both sons, Ishan and Kush work in the US after their studies there.
We have been talking for more than two hours now and it’s time to beat the Whitefield Traffic Rush. I had a good conversation and I leave with him after a photo. I look like I’m half of his height. A towering personality would not be a wrong name for Berry!
Published on July 4, 2025
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