Dukes has entered the league of the most well-known brands with recognition extending well beyond national borders. We are thrilled to announce that Dukes India has been bestowed with the title of “World’s Greatest Brands 2017-18” by PwC. The man behind the brand, our managing director, Mr. Ravinder Kumar Agarwal, who orchestrated its success, bagged the award for the “World’s Greatest Leaders”.
Let’s take a trip down the road and know about the backstory of how the brand came into being 15 years ago and got to where it is today. The biscuits and confectioneries based business was the brainchild of Mr. Ravinder Kumar Agarwal, a business visionary at the time. When he could no longer shake off his dream of reimagining the sweet treats space and bringing products such as wafers, to an unexplored market, he turned entrepreneur and embarked on a journey to craft premium products, at a time when it was heavily biscuit-oriented. He found a void in the market and filled it with a product that consumers would come to love, forming the backbone of a staggeringly successful wafer – Waffy. It involved a heavy dose of customer understanding, unconventional strategies, and disruptive brand positioning. Dukes further made the case for its crumbly goodness by going all in, breaking down the Indian palate, and catering to its increasingly global appetite with flavors such as Butter and Cheese. With a whole profile spanning flavors such as Orange and Mango, Vanilla and Chocolate, the brand was able to provide a distinctively diverse, palate-pleasing experience. The products are now rounded off with real fruit extracts and premium ingredients, raising the bar further.
Dukes India ascended rapidly and today its sales are pegged at Rs. 1500 crores with an 80% shelf space in MTOs pan India and backing from global certification agencies such as the USFDA – which highlights its commitment to quality. Mr. Agarwal aims to continue its winning streak by “looking at becoming an Indian multinational with a manufacturing footprint across the globe by 2020”. Dukes and Waffy are well on its way to becoming indisputable forces in the sweet treat’s marketplace across the nation, with new, revolutionary products with presence in more than 50 countries and in markets such as the US, Middle East, Europe and Africa.