Mr. P. Kanagaraj
Bringing More To
Your Table
Mr. P. Kanagaraj, was the first generation entrepreneur in his family, and initiated an idea to sell homemade pickle to the locals of Madurai back in 1973. What started out small as a small scale business, with their first product brand called Ravis had a steady growth in the following years with their freshly made pickles that was gaining popularity among the masses. Ravis today has a total of 9 yummylicious flavors under their kitty.
In the next 10 years, the Brand had a steady growth as they initiated supply of pickles at all the local stores and also initiated the distribution in the towns around Madurai. As the popularity grew, they also introduced a few more flavors to keep the people hooked to their supplies and were able to achieve the same due to their ability to maintain product taste and quality. Supporting him in this endeavor, his son K. Jayaprakash, was very much intrigued by the business, and wanted to join hands with his father to enhance the brand and take it to the next level.
Enabling this, Mr. K. Jayaprakash, joined with his father in the early 1975’s and stuck by his father to learn the ways of business and to understand the market situations and their end users. After working closely with his father he understood that their company’s strong suit was their ever constant Quality & Taste! He also understood that Madurai, at that point was a ripe market for their brand and wanted to initiate another production unit in a more developing market with a lot more potential. His choice at that point was clear that Chennai will be the best option for the same.
Arriving in Chennai a few months later, he took no time in initiating the work for setting up their production unit. And very soon, in 1983 not very long after joining hands with his father, Mr. K. Jayaprakash successfully launched Rajam condiments in Chennai. Supporting him in this endeavor, his wife with an all women work force managed the production side of the business, prepared and packed the products to be sent out without the compromise in taste & quality. Keeping up with his ever innovating attitude, he launched 6 more varieties in Ravis pickle and is also considered a notable game changer for the Indian pickle industry, when he took the “sachet” concept was majorly used to sell cosmetic products, and launched 50p sachets for Ravis pickle.
With constant and timely innovations Ravis Pickle was a soaring success both in Madurai and Chennai, with two fully equipped production units and in-house packaging units.
In 2010, wanted to launch more products under the Rajam Banner. With his ideas and his father’s help they launched the second product brand Jais Pickle in the same year. Following this with his ideas to approach the market in a different perspective, made sure the product was more reachable to the masses and broke the typical audience group and bought in some notable changes like placement of Products in supermarkets, ensuring product supply to Hotels & Private Caterers, product placement in multiple digital platforms to ensure more availability and reach-ability to the end users.
He also enabled tie-ups with the Indian Railways, for the supply of pickle packets in all their meals, be in in-journey or in the railway canteens. He also facilitated a few foreign tie-ups with caterers and hoteliers from countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Andaman. In the long term the company plans to launch more affordable and variety to the products they offer.
Seen generations of audience, was back then in all of Tamil Nadu, one among 300 other pickle companies, and today it is still one among the most remembered brands in South India.
Milestones
Being in the industry for more than 40 years now, we still have a long way to go and a lot more to establish. Though generations we have grown to achieve all the things we are known for, and for us it is just the beginning.