WestCoast Group is broadening its horizon in the domestic market.

The company, which recently launched its ready-to-cook pizza, said it has also ventured into a unique project of fish cage culture – cultivating fish species in cages over the reservoirs.

To augment its growth, the company said it is also is scouting for private equity to give a fillip to its businesses and strengthen its e-commerce platform.

“Our domestic business is growing and we are looking to mobilise funds for future expansions. We are looking to raise close to ₹50 crore and are in talks with private equity players,” Shivam Gupta, Director, WestCoast Group, told BusinessLine .

Speaking on its newly-launched pizza, Gupta said that frozen RTC pizza market was at a nascent category. “We are seeing a strong potential to grow in it.”

Amul was the first marketers of frozen Pizza in the country in the early 2000s, mainly to market its Mozarella cheese.

However, they pulled out from the market after a few years. The organised pizza market is dominated by Dominos, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s with a market size of ₹3,000-3,500 crore. He said the pizza launched under the Frish brand name will be retailed through the general trade and e-commerce platform. Gupta said the e-commerce portal of the WestCoast Group, which will go live in a few weeks. Besides this, the company has Frozone.in, a portal that sells seafood.

WestCoast group also exports to the European market. It sells its frozen seafood under the 'Cambay Tiger' brand. It owns the entire chain right from hatcheries to shrimp farms to shrimp processing plants to retail and export.

Gupta said WestCoast Foods has also partnered with renowned international brands like Kawan for the distribution of its frozen food products in the domestic market. WestCoast has a turnover of ₹600 crore. At least 90 per cent of its revenues comes from export and the balance from the domestic markets.

Fish cage culture

Speaking on the fish cage culture, Gupta said it is cultivating fish species in cages over the reservoirs. The company started the practice in June 2015 at a 1,200 hectare water spread area at Varasgaon reservoir and 800 hectare at Panshet reservoir in Maharashtra. It breeds Tilapia and Pangasius species in this reservoir. The company plans to scale the project to 2,000 cages by 2018 with possibility of cultivating up to 10,000 tonnes of high quality fish.

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