Dosa King

Presentation by:-
Ravi Prasad
Sudhir Singh
Shreesh Mani Tiwary
Vinod Kumar
Ashish Joshi

1 Dosa King
Under Guidance of:-
Prof. Abhinav P. Tripathy

Introduction
Before 1992, India did not have any western fast food chain like
KFC, Mc Donald's or Berger King.
R. Narayanan who is the IIM C Post-Graduate and former employee
at Coca Cola & Nestle expected the demand to grow in all major
cities.
This strong belief led to the creation of the IFFL in 1992.
Indian Foods & Fermentation Limited established in order to offer
total Solution to the problem stated above with an objective to
develop an Electronically Controlled Operator Assisted Dosa
Machine(ECOAD).
According to Research in 1992, 20 million dosas consumed every
day.
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Requirement for Dosa Delivery
System by Dosa Kings team
To design a dosa making machine that could deliver
consisted dosa at 30 seconds interval.
To develop a dosa batter in a dry or wet form so that it
can be transported and used any part of the country.
To develop a potato masala that could be automatically
dispensed from machine as desired.
To deliver the dosa to the customer in a convenient
form such as a roll,
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User Requirement Analysis
IFFL research shows 90% adults male would eat snack
outside home. Adults male in 16-45 age group formed the
core target audience. Dosa King intended to be a mass
distributed item by 10,000 retail points in 5 year.
Standardization
Although Dosa is a snack/breakfast item, it also served as a
midday meal so the ingredients, the formula and the
expertise is required. Standardization is required in terms
of taste, size and colour.
Delivery of Dosas
Dosa would have to be delivered at the intervals of 30
seconds but customer expectation would be instantaneous.

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Size of Dosas
Dosa will be served as a roll weighing175 grams in Rs. 10.
All accompaniments to be poured on top of the vertical
dosa similar to other fast food items
The size of the dosa to be 6 Inches diameter.
Accompaniments
Customer expected to have Sambar and chutney not poured
on dosa.
Liquid Chaser
Customer expected to have tea, coffee or soft drink
during/after consumption of dosa
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System Requirements
Dosa Machine
Dosa machine not to have a footprint of exceeding 6 ft. and it should
be mobile enough.
Dosa Batter
Dosa batter was a fermented product, it has shelf life of 16 hours.
But UDCT found that through the preservatives it can be kept
under refrigerator and use within 4 weeks.
Potato Masala
It is an important ingredients of the masala dosa, Cooked potato
has shelf life of 6 months.
Accompaniments
The Sambar would need to be pre prepared. Coconut chutney is
must to have dosa but it is not available in each part of the
country so dal based chutney would be used, in some instances
mint and chili chutney is used.
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Standardization
Standardise the product to a level where a customer will
have a masala dosa of a same quality whenever he/she
travelled in the country. In fact standardization was the USP
of IFFL.
Beverages
Vending machine for coffee, tea or soft drink were available
on attracted terms to the IFFL. But the price of beverages
will cost higher than dosa so it was an opportunity to set up
new brand of soft drink.
Packaging
The masala was meant to be eaten on the go. If dosa can be
provided in wrapper but how chutney be provided?
Other Issues
Cooking of dosa produce steam which blacken the ceiling of
store unless some mechanism for trapping and
channelizing out the steam.

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Product Development Challenges
Project Funding
The project was funded by venture capital. In 1992, the VC
industry in India was in its nascent stage. In fact prior to
1988, the govt. had no policies on VC funds. The guidelines
were restrictive , the funds were restricted to INR 100
million.
Dosa Machine
INR 1 million were assigned for basic design of dosa
machine. The design were assigned to a coffee
manufacturing company which replicated the entire
process of making dosa through a mechanical robot. The
development of machine took 9 months.
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Dosa Batter
Climatic condition also influenced fermentation
process. The UDCT believed that the wet batter could
preserved after fermentation through preservatives.
The factory location is depended on raw material such
as rice, dal and potatoes.
Potato Masala and Accompaniments
Potatoes from different parts of the country tested
different.
IFFL decided to dehydrate the potatoes along with the
masalas and other ingredients.
IFFL also wanted to negotiate with coca cola, Pepsico,
Brooke Bond, nestle and Rasna.
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Project Risk
The dosa machine had not been standardized.
Delivery of dosa in vertical format assumed that crisp
enough dosa could be delivered that not sag while
holding potato masala in place in center.
Making 90 gram dosa against 175 gram industry size.
This decision was taken because 175 gram dosa could
not stand upright.

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Decisions
Nagpur was chosen location on the basis of availability
of potatoes, dal, rice powder and other ingredients.
A retort packaging facility was sourced from Mumbai
based manufacturer.
Development of chutney outsourced to Hyderabad
based food manufacturer
IFFL decide to test market with original specifications.
Dried dosa batter will suffice for test market.
A mix of onions and other spice preserved in brine was
developed for potato masala.

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Test Market

Dosa did not perform in test market, there were no consistency
between 2 dosas.
Customer expected to eat the dosa on the go but actual dosas
were limp and sagged.
Demand for sambar accelerated.
Dosa deliver in every 90 seconds and every 3
rd
dosa would turn
out damaged.
Potato masala could not be tested as the product gave the smell of
chemical preservatives. Later Product was withdrawn.
Frequent power cuts resulted in interruptions in dosa making
process.

How IFFL response to test market
results
The size of dosa revised to 110 grams.
The enzyme to accelerate the process of making dosa
batter was finalized.
The software on the electronics was redone including
sensor.
The footprint of machine to be reduced 6 sq. feet.
Delivery time to be accelerated to 30 seconds.

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Final Launch
A fabricated drum drier for potato flakes was deployed
as final one was delayed due to delay in placing the
order.
During the period of development , several
commitments were made to funding institutions about
launch date.
Then final deadline of 6 months was fixed.
The IFFL opened 250 outlets in Mumbai,
Ahmadabad and Chennai.
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Conclusion
Dosa king set up to provide standardized dosa for
every Indian, this aim faced many challenges at early
stage.
Procuring raw material and other ingredients was the
main problem while setting up an location for
manufacturing.
IFFLs USP was standardization of dosa.
They were lacking proper financial support.
Accompaniments was also the problem as customer
have different taste in different regions.


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