Anupam Nair, chief marketing officer and growth officer at MTR FoodsThe insight stems from MTR's decades-long presence in Karnataka's kitchens.
While consumers may buy the 102 year-old company's sambar masala, Nair notes that every household still personalises its recipe.
Quick commerce expands MTR's addressable marketOn the business side, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh continue to be MTR's strongest markets, particularly for spices and masalas.
MTR's expansion strategy also coexists with another prominent South Indian food brand under MTR's parent company Orkla Group, Eastern.
Heritage may still matter, but increasingly it must coexist with ingredient transparency, digital discovery, creator validation and rapid delivery.
For a brand synonymous with Karnataka's kitchens, celebrating sambar was perhaps only a matter of time.
MTR Foods, the Bengaluru-headquartered packaged foods brand, recently unveiled a television commercial as part of its Sambar campaign, a multi-platform initiative built around a consumer-led celebration of the dish.
The campaign, developed in collaboration with folk-fusion artist Vasu Dixit, began with social media conversations around people's memories and emotions associated with sambar before evolving into a broader programme spanning a musical anthem, creator collaborations, a live concert, radio, digital content and now television.
For MTR, however, the campaign is also a reflection of a larger strategy. As consumers become more conscious about ingredients, younger audiences fragment across media platforms and quick commerce reshapes product discovery, the company is adapting both how it markets and how it grows.
"When we wanted to make something for sambar as a communication, we realised that sambar, as a dish, is not just food for most people in Karnataka," says Anupam Nair, chief marketing officer and growth officer at MTR Foods. "It evokes many emotions in you."
Anupam Nair, chief marketing officer and growth officer at MTR Foods
The insight stems from MTR's decades-long presence in Karnataka's kitchens. While consumers may buy the 102 year-old company's sambar masala, Nair notes that every household still personalises its recipe. "The powder is mine, but the sambar is yours," he says.
The company used those consumer memories and experiences as the foundation for the campaign. What started as a collaboration with Dixit eventually expanded into a live morning concert in Bengaluru, streaming releases and broader media amplification. MTR is now preparing outdoor executions as well.
Yet even as the company leans into regional culture, it sees opportunities that stretch well beyond its home market.
Quick commerce expands MTR's addressable market
On the business side, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh continue to be MTR's strongest markets, particularly for spices and masalas.
For that business, Nair says the focus remains on driving deeper penetration across towns and villages while encouraging consumers to shift from loose spices to branded alternatives.
"We are from this state, and ensuring that we drive our business here is critical to our growth," he says.
The growth opportunity looks different for convenience foods. Products such as dosa mix, rava idli mix, gulab jamun mix and Mysore pak have broader national appeal and are increasingly reaching consumers outside traditional southern markets.
Quick commerce has played a significant role in enabling that expansion. While MTR has long been present in major metros, the emergence of rapid delivery platforms has improved access to consumers in smaller towns who may not previously have had easy access to the brand's portfolio.
Digital commerce contributes between 8.5% and 9% of sales for Orkla India, MTR's parent company. In some categories, particularly fresh idli and dosa batter in Bengaluru, quick commerce accounts for the bulk of sales.
MTR's expansion strategy also coexists with another prominent South Indian food brand under MTR's parent company Orkla Group, Eastern. Nair argues that the two brands serve distinct consumer preferences and regional tastes.
"Karnataka sambar is very different from Kerala sambar, and the method of preparation itself is different," he says.
In Kerala, Eastern dominates. The brand is present in about 70.4% of retail outlets and reaches roughly nine out of ten households, far above the 30 to 40% category average, as per an IPO Note by Aditya Birla Money. In Karnataka, MTR plays the same role, sitting in around 67.5% of retail outlets and, by some estimates, penetrating close to 90% of homes.
The category itself is fiercely contested, with regional brands such as iD Fresh Food, Aachi, Brahmins, Sakthi and local unorganised players competing for a place in consumers' kitchens.
The rise of the ingredient-conscious consumer
Among the most significant shifts MTR is witnessing is a growing consumer focus on ingredients and product labels.
According to Nair, shoppers are increasingly scrutinising products for preservatives, artificial colours, artificial flavours, palm oil and trans fats before making purchase decisions.
"There is a lot more scrutiny on the ingredients panel of the pack," he says.
Importantly, consumers in tier-two towns are now just as interested in knowing what you're putting in your product as those in metro cities.
The shift is also influencing packaging design. Consumers actively seek information, leading to the relocation of attributes that may have previously been relegated to fine print to the front of packaging.
"If I am not adding preservatives, I would like to make sure that it is really visible because the consumer is searching for it," Nair says.
Alongside clean-label preferences, MTR is also seeing growing demand for fresher products with shorter shelf lives, a trend aided by the rapid rise of quick commerce platforms.
The consumer obsession with protein has emerged as another significant trend. "We seem to want protein in everything in our food today," he says.
Yet despite changing preferences, Nair believes one principle remains unchanged. "I can give them the healthiest product in the world, but if it doesn't taste well, it won't move."
Why creators matter more than ever
Another important part of MTR's marketing mix is its growing engagement with food creators and influencers.
Nair believes consumers increasingly seek validation from voices beyond brands themselves, making creator partnerships an important part of modern food marketing.
"It cannot be a one-way dialogue where I say something about my brand," he says. The company regularly collaborates with food creators across product launches, reviews and campaigns.
"When somebody else says it, it carries a lot more value."
For a brand built on decades of trust and familiarity, that acknowledgement reflects how dramatically the rules of consumer engagement have changed. Heritage may still matter, but increasingly it must coexist with ingredient transparency, digital discovery, creator validation and rapid delivery.
