Soon after the dawn of this millennium in 2001, an Area Sales Manager happily employed in an FMCG Company with three little school going children, quit his lucrative job to take over a 15 year old family managed business. The family was into the business of making masala for domestic and commercial consumption. It was a bold but uncertain career move for Joseph D’Silva; the young budding entrepreneur. The business then had a turnover less than his own annual emoluments. The masala brand was named BON from time beginning, an acronym which emerged from a combination of family names. However, it also represents the brand’s bare and lonely origin – ‘Born Of Nothing’. Today, BON masala products are the main success secret of many parties and the source of happiness in families across India and abroad! Managed by the Father-son duo, Joseph and Nikhil D’Silva the company is optimistic of touching greater heights in the next few years. 
Committed to customer satisfaction accompanied by ‘like homemade’ quality products to tickle diverse taste buds, the company has turned many bachelors into a fast food culinary expert in no time. BON masala products have helped several working women too, to make dishes faster to make ‘space and time’ for themselves and their families in their daily lives.
For BON Masala & Food Products proprietor Joseph D’Silva, cooking became a hobby which eventually helped him to launch his own masala range in a competitive market, all with the help of his mother’s secret recipes. After he took over the leadership of the family managed company and became an experimental chef himself, he subjected his products and his delicacies to innumerable trials within his family and friends circle before their official launch. Feedback from food consultants, women with good taste buds, trying out other similar products of quality and buying ideas has helped in the evolution of his product range over the years. Today, with the tag line ‘like homemade’, BON Masala & Food Products supplies masala which tastes as good as they are depicted, be in their advertisements or on their labels. And that perhaps is the secret of their success – Paper and platter are congruent.
Devoid of a distributor network, the company supported by a dedicated work force leapfrogged to find itself among the best in the trade. The company currently offers 43 chilli and pepper based masala products with 163 shelf keeping unit(SKU) variants starting from Pulimunchi for Konkans, Amshi-thikshi for Mangaloreans, Balle-chole for Punjabis, Mughalai for murgh lovers without leaving behind the western folk who take special liking for Indian cuisine from papadam to payasam.
In adherence to FSSAI norms, most BON products provide their users with the option to add ‘salt to taste’ which is a healthy trend. It is an option which most of their competition does not offer. BON is diversifying with the launch of custard powder, falooda mix , China grass pudding mix and jelly products and the company is upbeat about its future and plans to make it as a ‘one stop shop’ for ‘foodies’.
Inspired by Colgate’s enduring success, the Company’s boardroom occupied by the father-son duo of Joseph D’Silva and Nikhil D’Silva engages in serious debates over the ‘whys’ and ‘why nots’ of various options to enhance the company’s brand image or innovations to keep the company ahead of the competition. Close contact with retail shopkeepers and end users on a regular basis helps this small FMCG Company to assess market conditions to improve service levels, incorporate changes in work culture and above all to maintain and improve the quality of the product on a continuous basis. On line sales augment growth but word of mouth product promotion plays an equal part in increasing a committed customer base. The entire administration of BON Masala & Food products is handled by Mrs. Marietta Dsilva who trains and instructs the staff to work and fare better each day.
Young Nikhil, a mechanical engineering graduate has partially taken over the mantle and sounds confident of enhancing the existing brand image and reaching more households in the near future. Ready to steer the wheel of a company vehicle at any given time in the absence of a driver, pragmatic Nikhil is committed to his company’s three fold growth in the next few years.
When asked whether being an FMCG Company, Sundays count, Joseph D’Silva said “working on Sundays will not eliminate hunger, emphasising one day’s rest for all stake holders is important”. Being a cook himself and cognisant of the fact that one cannot be happy by keeping another unhappy, D’Silva felt men make better cooks but cannot serve food with love like women do. Relishing both the father’s food and a mother’s love, son Nikhil admitted that his mentor father has proved him wrong on many occasions and it will take years for him to emulate his father’s business acumen and confidence.
Expressing her views on Bon products, a working married woman said, “I realised in no time that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and BON products have helped a novice like me not only win my husband’s heart but also those of my in- laws”. Bachelor boys, who shied away from giving response to questions at a retail counter, only said “our pockets burn slowly off late”! Even more comforting for consumers is that BON Masala Products are available online on ‘Place of Origin’, Amazon Grocery & Big Basket.com.
Shop keepers look for margins and end users look for quality were the parting comments of the father-son duo who headed to complete their day’s individual assignments as both believed in not carrying out ‘today’s work tomorrow’.
(This article was published in the recent issue of Karnataka Today Magazine)
