If you are an Indian there is no chance that you would have missed seeing the simple Maggi masala noodles on Indian streets.  The bright yellow packaging is hard to miss when visiting any grocery store or supermarket.  Maggi is undoubtedly the king of Indian snacks and wildly popular with youngsters across the country for its quick cook time and ease of preparation.  Many a student or bachelor must have definitely whipped themselves up a quick bowl of warm Maggi noodles because they were feeling lazy or just simply craving for a bowl of goodness.  However, this iconic brand has a long history starting with its introduction to Indian markets to the current day where it is available almost everywhere.

Beginnings:

The Maggi brand was originally born in Switzerland in 1886 by Julius Maggi when the government tasked him with making a food product that is not just fast to cook but also delicious to taste.  After a few experiments, Julius came up with a pea and bean soup which was simple and quick to cook.  After further experimentation Julius figured out that a cheap but delicious food product would be helpful for industry workers and that was when he came up with the idea of soups, sauces and flours prepared from pulses.  In the year 1897 Maggi GmBH was founded in Singen, Germany.  Nestle group later acquired Maggi in 1947.  Maggi products are extremely popular in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and many other countries in the Middle East.

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Brand Spread in India

The introduction of the humble Maggi noodles dates back a few decades to the early 1980s when the Indian Cricket team won its first World Cup in 1983.  Maggi was introduced as a brand and it was marketed as a food that could be cooked in two minutes.  The ‘2 minute noodles’ became a catchphrase that is synonymous with Maggi noodles in India.  Nestle’s relationship with India goes back to 1912  when it launched in the country as The Nestle Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company while India was still under colonial rule. 

Nestle used to originally manufacture Milkmaid, a sweetened and condensed milk. After the Indian independence in 1947, Nestle realised that they were sitting on a potential gold mine and formed its Indian subsidiary in 1961 and opened its first factory in Moga, Punjab when it recognised the newly formed Indian government’s emphasis on local production.  The choice of the location was also government-dictated and steered by the socialist idealism of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who wanted Nestle to develop the milk economy of Punjab.

The two minute noodles advertising campaign became a hit with mothers and children as the ads focused on the motherly love to cook up delicious food for their children.  The message was one of liberation for women as the noodles were very easy to cook and tasty to eat which meant a very little effort on the part of the mothers.  This made Maggi very attractive among the women in India.

Maggi quickly spread like wildfire and was able to command 90% of the quick noodles market it had created within its first 25 years of launch.  When the brand launched the Me and Meri Maggi campaign (Me and My Maggi,) in its silver jubilee year in 2008, inviting people to send in their personal Maggi stories, its advertising agency Publicis Capital was deluged with more than 30,000 entries.  Even today people can hum the Maggi Maggi song which comes in the television advertisements.  India today is the biggest market for Maggi noodles in the world, despite the serious challenge mounted on the brand by rival Top Ramen. 

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Maggi, along with the buffet of complementary products – soup mixes, sauces and cup noodles – contributes more than 20% of Nestle India’s revenue, clocked around 15 billion rupees in annual sales in 2015.

Ecosystem

Today Maggi has spawned a slew of entrepreneurs who have set up their own businesses to sell the noodles in various kinds and forms like the soupy noodles, schezwan noodles, cheesy noodles, fried noodles and a long list of other delicacies.  It is easy to find a store selling hot cooked Maggi in any corner of India be it the Himalayan ranges, the Indian Ghats, the Indian shores and any remote location.  Maggi has managed to transcend economic divide as it is enjoyed by people from all classes.  

Maggi has managed to dig its roots deep in the Indian culture and is an integral part of the Indian gastronomy scene.  Maggi managed to become an Indian ‘staple food’ after wheat and rice.  There is no doubt that the popularity of Maggi will only continue to grow in the future.  Let us know when you had your favourite bowl of Maggi noodles!