It’s hot to be cold: Why everyone’s betting big on frozen foods

Earlier this year ITC, one of India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) majors, announced it would acquire frozen food brand Prasuma. The acquisition, which will take place in multiple tranches over the next three years, will cost ITC a total of Rs 187 crore.

For ITC, which entered the frozen foods space all the way back in 2019 with its ITC Master Chef line, the Prasuma purchase will help in its quest to become a full-stack frozen foods company, adding products such as frozen momos, baos, Korean fried chicken, and Japanese fried rice to its existing portfolio of over 50 frozen food offerings. It will also add frozen raw meat products through Prasuma’s subsidiary, Meatigo. 

ITC’s bullishness on frozen foods is a ringing endorsement for a category that hasn’t received much love in India historically. Typically, Indians have viewed frozen food products with scepticism, only resorting to them as a last resort, and venerating freshness as a culinary virtue instead. 

ITC, though, is betting on this mindset shifting, and it may have a point.