Not only did amit Burman jumpstart the packaged fresh juice market in india but also added another dimension to the casual eating out experience
Some ambitions are so deep, we delve into them subconsciously. So Dabur India Ltd’s Vice Chairman and Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd’s Chairman Amit Burman might not be living his ambition of “cruising at over 30,000 feet”, but he is still flying high when it comes to leading successful businesses.
“As every other boy in school, I also dreamt of growing up and becoming a pilot. Being a commercial pilot was my dream and my ambition in school” he says with his trademark honest smile.
With his work, he is doing just that.
Interestingly Dabur might not be a traditional family business (In 1998, the Burman family passed the management of the company over to a professionals and decided to limit their role to strategic decisions at a board level) but the rules set in the Burman household still find roots in all the generations.
While none of the new generation Burman family members get an entry into Dabur India Ltd, the ones who did, had to work their way up. “Every family member who joined the organisation had to start from scratch and work their way up the ladder,” shares Burman.
And don’t they say, home is the best school. Discipline and respect were a must at his home when Burman grew up. “In fact, everything was about respect. Respect for the elders, for the younger ones and even for the staff at home. And above all this, respect time. My father always believed in living a disciplined life. He was always the first person to reach office, despite being part of the promoter family. And that’s something I have learnt from him.”
In fact even when he was doing his bachelor’s degree in the US, he worked like any other young man would to support himself. Why he even worked as a bartender for a few months! “That was again part of the experience called Life and learning to be independent. We were always encouraged to work outside, gain experience, learn new things as against coming back home and joining the family business.”
Not surprisingly he went on to work with Colgate-Palmolive in New York. Looking back he says, that experience of working abroad was “like a stepping stone in the process to excel.”
Interestingly when the young man in his 20s came back to India to join Dabur India Ltd, he had a lot to prove. Ask him how easy or difficult was it to work in the family business and pat comes the reply, “With such a huge legacy behind you, it’s never easy. People tend to watch every step you make and are quick to pull you down too. For one, you have big benchmarks in front of you that have been set by your previous generations. In our family, we had to prove our worth before being given big roles.”
So when he joined the group in the Industrial Engineering Department he confesses to being “Lost”. “I was working with different teams trying to understand each division. But it was a learning experience.” Soon of course, he found his feet his late uncle A C Burman mentoring him steadily.
Over years many things changed but the focus at the group, never did.
Interestingly Burman contributed an important chapter to the Dabur story, the juice brands, Réal and Réal Activ.
How it all started is of course an interesting story. After having come back after studying abroad, the one thing that the young man missed at his breakfast table was packaged fruit juice. It was pretty much a part of his staple diet during his college days, but that concept was still alien to India. “Whatever little was available in some select stores India were imported stuff and mostly laden with preservatives. That’s when I saw an opportunity and decided to fill this need gap with India’s first packaged fruit juice with no preservatives under the brand Réal, way back in 1997.”
And the rest, like they say, is history. Not only did Burman help Dabur launch fresh juices but also caught the market by storm. “It gives me great satisfaction today to see that Réal has today emerged as one of the biggest brands in the Dabur portfolio and is also the youngest brand to clock the Rs 1,000-Crore turnover,” he says contently.
Also thanks to the sudden awareness towards Ayurvedic and natural products, Dabur is in the limelight yet again. Dabur has, in fact, been ranked as the Number 1 Ayurveda brand in India for the third year in running, by TRA Research Private Limited. This speaks volumes about the trust that consumers place on brand Dabur. While a lot of companies today offer herbal or Ayurvedic products, says Burman, Dabur enjoys the consumer’s trust because of its Ayurvedic heritage and its early mover advantage. “Consumers understand that if a product comes from the House of Dabur, it is truly natural,” he says.
That said, the group hasn’t sat easy given its position. Dabur today has a diverse portfolio, ranging from health supplements to hair care and packaged juices to home care and skin care. “We have been constantly innovating with the launch of new Ayurvedic products. Going forward too, we will continue to introduce products based on this platform”, he assures.
Dabur India, shares Burman , also has a strong in-house research wing that follows a ‘bush-to-brand’ approach. “We have our in-house nursery, which grows several rare herbs that go into various products. This research wing also undertakes detailed tests on individual ingredients and products to ensure that the final product meets customer needs and aspirations,” he says.
What is also noteworthy at the group is the simple fact while business a lot of family businesses are getting divided, a group like Dabur India has stood the test of time. Ask Burman what he thinks is the secret and he likes to explain it simply. “Respect for every individual, I would say, is the key reason. For Dabur, the family and the business are institutions to preserve. For us, the family business is always seen as an institution and its interest is paramount.”
When Amit Burman joined Dabur, the promoter family was still managing the business but they were also on the verge of divorcing ownership from management.
There was a growing realisation within the Burman family, shares Amit, that as they expand, there may not be enough space within the flagship company for the new generation. “And why should we just rest at one Dabur India Ltd? Why can’t the new generation set up independent business ventures that can become as big, or even bigger than Dabur itself? So, the new generation was encouraged to set up independent business ventures outside Dabur with the elders offering complete support.”
Little surprise today, none of the new generation Burman family members get an entry into Dabur India Ltd. “They are, in fact, encouraged to set up independent ventures and create another Dabur” shares the VP.
No wonder from restaurants to insurance and more, the Burman family members have built businesses outside of Dabur worth an estimated $500 million.
And it was no different for Amit Burman. After establishing Réal & Réal Activ as the most-preferred packaged fruit juice brands in the country, when he set out to look for newer challenges, the food retail sector, he says was the one that caught his attention.
And so Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd (LBF) was born after a movie over a subway sandwich with his friend and now also business partner Rohit Aggarwal. Today it is one of the largest and one of the most dynamic F&B retail companies in the country with as many as 12 core brands under its umbrella.
With more than 100 operational outlets and names like Punjab Grill, Zambar, Fresc Co, Asia 7, The Artful Baker, BottomsUp and you know where the brand is headed.
Ask him if the growth at LBF something was something he was expecting and you hear in the honest Amit Burman style, “I always knew that F&B Retail was one sector that has the potential to grow at a rapid pace.”
That said, he doesn’t shy away from saying that luck played its role. “We entered this segment at the right time. Also we have been fortunate to have most of our calculated decisions in business pay off to our advantage.”
Of course LBF also put in place standard practices to ensure that the quality of food and taste would always remain top-notch and similar across outlets.
Ask him how things changed for the foodie in him, now that there are so many restaurants that LBF owns and runs. “I have always been a foodie, but more so in the business sense. Food has always been close to my heart and almost all my ventures have been around food”, he shares. That said, his love for food doesn’t extend to cooking. “I don’t even try my hand at cooking. I leave that to the experts. My wife Divya, in fact, is a good cook, and she takes a lot of interest in the new recipes being developed at Lite Bite Foods and also gives her feedback.”
And when you notice the smile of satisfaction on the entrepreneur’s face, he would rather give the credit to his father G C Burman, the one corporate personality, Amit says, he looks up to. “He had this ability to spot opportunities in sectors and geographies where ordinary people would normally not think of moving into, and then getting into details and turning them into success stories. He always said 'If you truly believe in your dreams, no one can stop it from coming true’.
Amit Burman sure lives by that mantra!