A woman entrepreneur from Ludhiana, Punjab turned her kitchen-business into a ₹1,000 crore global empire that exports foods to over 60 countries

The best part?

It's going to IPO next week

Quick

2) Rajni Bector is the founder and CEO of Mrs. Bector’s Cremica, a maker of biscuits and bread in India and a key supplier of McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King

Rajni was born in Karachi, and had moved to Delhi with her family post partition

3) She married into a business family in Ludhiana while in college. Like most women then, most of her adult life was spent being a housewife and a doting mother

However, when the kids left for school, she suddenly found a lot of free time on her hands

4) Out of boredom, she decided to take up her hobby of making ice cream

Rajni was a social person, gathering friends and family around her food for a nice time at home — now these gatherings doubled up as food tastings

5) People loved her food so much that they started coming back to Rajni with catering orders for their functions!

Rajni loved the new interest and purpose she had found

6) With plenty time on her hand, she decided to enroll in a formal baking class at the Punjab Agricultural University, studying the technicalities of baking

Meanwhile, orders from catering wouldn't stop.

The local-MLA even got her to cook food for a wedding with 2000 guests!

7) Rajni was fulfilling all orders from her home kitchen, which she had set up on a ₹300 budget.

She would end up selling below cost price, ruining tiny batches, and in the process incurring losses.

Commercializing the business was the only way it could work — if at all

8) Leaning on her family, Rajni decided to invest ₹20,000 to set up a small baking unit in the backyard. She hired a few people, and that was it...

Cremica was born

9) 1980s India was a tumultuous time — Punjab was hit by violence

The Bector's 100 year-old fertilizer business was destroyed. Economy of small towns like Ludhiana was ravaged

The Bector family decided it was time to team up and double up on what's working — the food business.

10) The Bector's opened their first ice cream retail joint next to Kwality's — an instant hit in Ludhiana!!

Using those profits they opened an operations facility in the town — finally moving out of the home kitchen.

The upstart became a legit company...

11) Meanwhile, the family began taking an active role in the business, eyeing further expansion.

Cremica commissioned a biscuit plant in Ludhiana in 1991.

Big break came in 1995 — when McDonalds was expanding in India. Cremica became the sole supplier of buns and sauces

12) By 2006, Cremica was cashing in ₹100 crores in revenues, with a 30% consistent growth rate

They were expanding across north-India, supplying to major chain restaurants

Dalal Street was taking notice and big bracket investors including Goldman invested in the business

13) Fast forward to 2020

Today, Cremica reports north of ₹700 crores in revenues each year.

They're supplying to the most envious global brands, and manufacture notable products like Oreos, Sunfeast — in addition to a diverse portfolio of self branded products

14) The IPO, going live on Dec 15, is expected to net the company nearly ₹540 crores in fresh capital

While Mrs. Rajni Bector takes a back seat, the rest of the business empire is now split and managed by her 3 sons — with the family owning 52% of the business.

15) Fun fact — the name Cremica was taken from “Cream ka” in Hindi, as back in the day Rajni was known for her creamy ice creams

Join us at Filter Coffee to stay on top of the emerging business landscape in India http://www.filtercoffee.co 

Links to relevant reads on this subject

Inspiring interview with Rajni Bector
https://wow.outlookbusiness.com/rajni-bector/ 

Mint on IPO
https://www.livemint.com/market/ipo/mrs-bectors-rs-540-crore-ipo-to-tap-retail-investors-with-rs-286-288-price-band-11607605093693.html

Other
https://www.cremica.com/aboutus/ 
https://proudfeeling.blogspot.com/2015/07/rajni-bector.html
https://www.thedollarbusiness.com/news/baking-charm/43151

Also BIG BIG shout to @wtfishika for absolutely killing this! Go follow her