Product of the Year Spotlight

Daawat Extra Long Grain Basmati Rice

Some brands ‘sow the seeds’ of success and hope for the best. Daawat plants them with care, tends them for years, then lets them age like fine ‘champagne’. We went behind the scenes at LT Foods brand Daawat to hear from UK Managing Director Anmol Arora about the long road from field to fork, and how three generations of family know-how helped its Extra Long Grain Basmati Rice reap a Product of the Year win.

1. Tell us about your product and why it resonates with consumers.

I’m proud to say that we’ve created the world’s longest rice! Standard basmati is lengthier than other rice, but within basmati, ‘extra-long grain’ is as the name denotes, the longest of all. But its length is only the start of the story. It’s about how we work with our farmers: choosing the right seeds, knowing which part of the crop to take them from, and how we preserve them, that completes the picture. Over a century, we’ve mastered the art of harvesting, storage and processing, and that’s what lets us stand behind the product. You can taste it in the flavour, the way it cooks and in how it appears on the plate once cooked. To us, it’s the finest expression of food through rice.

My grandfather was born in a small village in Punjab and started out as a green trader. He understood that to grow, he had to move vertically, so he put up a small processing facility. At the time Indian farmers were growing more long grain, but he put his faith in basmati. He invested everything he had in processing and in developing the brand, before taking it global.

2. Where did the idea for the product come from, and how does that process work at LT Foods (from ideation to creation)?

We have a fully integrated value chain, which starts in the field. We work with farmers first, alongside our agronomists, helping and enabling them to grow the right product. This involves a number of things including using the right fertilisers.

Basmati is a bit like champagne, in that ageing plays a big role. We age it carefully for a minimum of two years before it shows up on a consumer’s plate, so patience really is a virtue here. After that comes processing with the right milling technology, careful packing at the end, and our own distribution networks to bring it to retailers. Basmati is in our blood now. We’ve seen the industry transform, and it’s one of the fastest growing categories within rice.

When you own the entire value chain, you have much better control over the quality. Nothing gets lost between the paddy and the pan. 

3. What trends will you be tapping into this year?

Globally, 75% of rice production is for extra-long and the rest is dedicated to basmati. In the UK it’s the other way round. We think that’s going to flip, with extra-long taking the lion’s share here, and we want to lead that change. That’s a big reason the product has done so well here.

Health and wellness is shaping our thinking in terms of innovation and new product lines. We do a lot of products around it, including specialty products and our health blends.

4. Do you have any new products or ranges that you can tell us about?

Our range started out as very premium, but we now have products across all pricing tiers, so people on every budget can enjoy it. We’re also looking at format changes for convenience, and on the health and wellness side we have quick cook brown and red rice in the pipeline. Watch this space.

5. How do you feel about winning Product of the Year, and what impact do you anticipate it will make?

I just want to say first that we’re very proud! Every business feels its product is the best, but it’s different when it’s chosen by consumers. It gives us more confidence and pushes us to keep raising the bar. We’ve started marketing it, too, with the logo going on our packaging, our website and more. Keep an eye out for it.

6. Describe your winning product in three words.

Finest, long, wholesome.

Source: Product of the Year

  Agency, Anmol Arora, Daawat, LT Foods, Product Of The Year