Five year old Analisa Fonseca has returned home from school. Onthe table is her favourite dish, macaroni and cheese comfort food. Goans are known to enjoy macaroni in theirsoups, stews and other dishes. To meet the growing demand in 1978 Kamco Foodsventured into the business. For 34 years now, the company which operates from Corlim,manufactures a variety of macaroni and pasta. Kamco has ten types of macaroni,twisted Italian flat pasta, instant noodles and sevia in their product range.
Keshav Kamat proprietor of the company said, “During thePortuguese regime, we were distributors for food items. After liberation, werealised that Goans, especially the Catholics ate a lot of pasta. There wasonly one company from Calcutta that catered to the needs. We saw this as anopportunity and invested in the food sector.” The company subsequently imported a German automatic plant at a cost ofabout Rs 5 lakhs then. “Today it is not feasible for an entrepreneur to ventureinto the business as the cost of machinery and raw material runs into crores ofrupees,” Kamat said.
The rumble-crank rhythm of the machine “folds circles of the macaroni,cut from a sheet of dough into different shapes and sizes. It is thentransferred onto drying plates before the little pieces of dough begin theirjourney for packaging. On an average Kamco Foods churns out 200 to 400 kgs aday. The company sells their products in Gujarat and Maharashtra too.
Keshav said, “Initially we had about 60-70 per cent of themarket share. But with growing competition this dropped to about 30-40 percent. Margins too have come down.” Big names like Bambino, True biscuits fromPondicherry, Blue Bird enter the business. “Since we are a small company ourproducts cater to a particular clientele,” said Kamat.
On the feasibility of the business, Keshav said, “The profitsin the business are limited as it is a volume item. An increase in the transportationcharges coupled with VAT does not make it economically viable. Competing as asmall business has gotten difficult. Everybody’s gone corporate. For smallerguys, it’s hard to survive. Government regulations are getting harder. I amseriously looking forward to quitting the business,” he said.
