About the People and Happenings at FritoLay India

Most Trusted Brands - PepsiCo

2008-12-14T22:19:00.006+05:30

Our brands have done it again! After being nominated as the most trusted beverages brand by Readers Digest , brand Pepsi has now been ranked amongst the top 20 most trusted brands, across categories, by Brand Equity's annual survey (2008) of the Most Trusted Top 100 Brands.

Brand Pepsi is ranked 13th across pand India brands and is the only beverage brand in the Top 20 bracket. Pepsi is way ahead of competition, Coca Cola (42nd) and Thums Up (25th).

In the most trusted Food Products category, Kukure's peppy advertising and unique flavors contributed to it getting the Number 7 slot with Uncle Chipps following close behind at Number 9.

Lays was ranked 12th, which left PepsiCo India with three winning food products in the top 15 Most Trusted Food Products Category. Phew!

Making a Difference

2008-12-14T21:59:00.007+05:30

A unique opportunity for our employees to make a difference to the lives of girl child is the newly formed association with Salaam Balak Trust, an NGO that runs a shelter for homeless girls in Gurgaon. The orientation program saw enthusiastic participation from employees and their families. Employees and the children of the trust had a lot of fun knowing each other over fun games and interactive sessions. The spark in the eyes of kids were worth the effort made by employees however small it may be. As part of further strengthening this association, employees and in some cases even the family members are currently visiting the shelter on pre-assigned slots to share their knowledge , skills and learnings about computers, art & craft, healthy foods and communication skills with the children to prepare them for better future.

Parenting the Fun Way

2008-12-14T19:24:00.007+05:30

Ever wonder what goes through your kid's mind when you ask him/her to do something while they are interested in doing something else? Has handling tantrums of your kids been your most concerning thoughts? Does your kid find no fun in being with you offlately while all you mean is to get him/her to obey you on something that You think is right for them? Well, all parents go through these dilemmas but are unable to set a way that helps both parent and the child to create a loving, encourging and most importantly a fun environment.

To help employees on these issues a session on Fun Parenting was organized. The session was aimed at understanding various aspects of parenting like , knowing your parenting style, understanding child psychology, handling kids reactions and tantrums and bonding with your child. A few tips were shared on spending quality and fun time with children by the experts from Human Dynamics, our partners of PepCare program. After the session, we guess some kids would be wondering what happened to their 'not so happening' parents. Well, we hope for the best!

Switzerland of India - A trip to Shilon Resort

2008-10-10T14:43:00.007+05:30

July, 2008, Shimla. Shilon Resort, perched high in the Himalayas provided a welcome break from city life. Located on the Kufri-Chail Road, it is unspoilt by tourist traffic, yet not too far from Simla.
We took the Shatabdi to Kalka and drove up to Shillon Bagh in a comfortable 3 hour ride (for those planning a trip there, remember to take meds for motion sickness as the road is a pretty winding one!). The resort, which bills itself as ‘forty acres of Switzerland’, comprises cottages set in the midst of an apple orchard. Well maintained lawns trimmed with roses, larkspurs, and calendulas stood out against the dark green of the firs and evergreens of the surrounding mountains. (My daughter Malini on the right enjoying at the Resort)
On our first morning there, some in our group decided to drive down and explore Kufri, Chail and Simla, while others decided to trek around Shillon Bagh and chill out on the lawns of the resort. At night, the resort arranged a bon fire for us. The kids ran riot, running around the garden while the grown ups huddled around the bon fire. The next day after lunch we drove down to Kalka to catch our train back to Delhi.
Thanks to PepsiCo, we had a lovely and relaxed holiday!

Contributed by Abantika Banerjee (spouse of Rajat Banerjee, GM Sales Development)

Message From Gautham Mukkavilli - Managing Director FritoLay India

2008-08-07T17:13:00.014+05:30

Greetings from FritoLay Family!!
In the recent past, you might have received a chain mail contending that if you burn Kurkure, it would turn to plastic and is, therefore, harmful to health.

At the outset, we wish to assure you that there is NO merit in any of the contentions you have seen in the chain mail. We are sure after going through the details below; you would not only be sure of the quality of the product but would also inform those you know of the same so that unnecessary scare is not created by such malicious mails misleading the consumers. The contents of such malicious mails are, therefore, totally baseless.

Kurkure is new age Namkeen made from Rice meal, Corn meal, Gram Meal, Edible oil, Seasonings, Salt, Spices and Condiments and Flavours (some or all in variants of Kurkure). All the raw materials used in Kurkure comply with the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Rules that govern the manufacture, distribution and sale of food products in India. All ingredients are such that are used daily in our households for preparation of various food items consumed by the families. Every raw material we receive in our factory for manufacture of Kurkure (e.g. Rice Meal, Corn Meal and Gram meal) is thoroughly checked for all quality parameters and if any ingredient is found not meeting our stringent internal quality parameters or those prescribed in the regulations, the same are rejected and are not used in preparation of food.

The process of making Kurkure involves uniformly mixing these raw materials using water and the mix is extruded (extrusion is a process used for making many food products e.g. noodles, vermicelli, sevai, jalebi, breakfast cereals, pastas etc.), fried in a high-quality edible vegetable oil to develop taste and texture and then application of consumer loveable food flavour. The product undergoes series of quality testing and only quality-approved product is packed into the best packaging laminate using state of the art machinery to ensure delivery of acceptable quality Kurkure to consumers.

You would be delighted to know that Kurkure is made in automated plants in our three manufacturing locations - in Channo (Punjab), Kolkata and Pune. These plants are also audited and certified by various external agencies. These certifications include HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control point) certification by TQCSI (Australia), which confirms that products are manufactured in Food safety environment and manufacturing has adequate controls to ensure product tracking, American institute of Bakery (USA), one of the best auditing body which confirms process and product safety. Our Plants are ISO 14000 certified which confirms that the manufacturing process ensures environmental safety. Our plants are also certified to ensure that the product, process, environment and people safety have been maintained at very high level and this certification is issued by OHSAS 18001-(Occupational Health and safety assessment series) - (USA).

Kurkure is not only the safe food product but is also a healthier snack. We would also like to inform you that Kurkure is made with Rice bran oil. Rice Bran Oil (RBO) is one of the healthier oils because it is naturally high in the good fats (MUFA and PUFA) and low in saturated fats. By cooking Frito Lay range of products in RICE BRAN oil, the saturated fat has been reduced by 40%. Saturates are the ones to watch out for, because too much saturated fat can contribute to increased blood cholesterol levels. Know more about Snack Smart on our website: http://www.snacksmart.co.in/

We look forward to your continued loyalty to our best quality products and would urge you to visit http://www.kurkure.co.in/ for any further information or details you would like to have with regard to product. We wish to take this opportunity to extend our invitation to you to visit any of our plants (Pune, Channo or Kolkata) along with your family and friends to get a first hand feel on the manufacturing process as well as strict quality controls we employ in manufacturing our products. Do leave us a comment or write to us if you wish to seek any further clarification in this regard. It would be our privilege to be of assistance to you.

We from FritoLay are committed to provide safe food products to our consumers.

Cheers!!
Gautham Mukkavilli

Managing Director

(Add : PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (FritoLay Division) 4A, Global Business Park, DLF City - III, Gurgaon - 122002 Haryana, India)
-------------------
Comments from our consumers:

Hi Simi,
Thank you very much for such a pro active reply on the allegations. Perhaps this is the first time I am coming across a reply from a company on such chain mails. All Kudos to the team in PepsiCo. As a father of 2 young children you have imbibed a confidence in me to continue to relish your products.
Thank you.
Praveen Velmury
Tata Teleservices - 9246307788 Praveen.velmury@tatatel.co.in

===============================================================

From: vasan Thatai [mailto:nasav1@rediffmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 4:33 PMTo: Feedback, Consumer {PI}Subject: Re: RE: Seek clarification

Dear Ms. Mehta,Thanks for the elaborate reply. I have any complaints about the quality. Having seen such mails in large number one often gets concerned. I felt to get a first-hand information directly from the manufacturer.....and now I am convinced. Appreciate your prompt response. Yes ! I shall appropriately inform those who create such unnecessary scare.Thanks.Vasan
===============================================================
Dear Mr. Mehta,

Thanks a lot for your clarification and lovely explanation.Wish you all Good Luck.

With Best Regards,

AN Hariharan
Cipla Ltd
MIDC Patalganga
Dist Raigad
Maharashtra – 410 220

Email ID : 'Hariharan' [anhariharan@cipla.com]

From: Jayaraman K [mailto:kjram55@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:39 AMTo: Shankar, VR {PI}Subject: RE: PLZZZZ DONT EAT "KURKURE" VERY IMPORTANT

Hello Shankar Thanks for the detailed clarification. I am absolutely convinced and if you would send me a carton of Kurkure, I will arrange for free distribution to all the recipients in the chain mail. With best wishes jayaraman.k
===============================================================

Chalo Bazaar - Not to shop but to 'Sell'

2008-07-19T09:34:00.029+05:30

On July 10th, the entire non-sales staff of Frito-Lay India got on to the streets. Don’t worry they weren’t doing any demonstrations or burning effigies. They were out there to work along with our sales executives sweating out in the scorching heat to sell the products and to bring some excitement in their otherwise monotonous lives. A truly commendable moment in the history of Frito-Lay India. All employees including our Managing Director left their air-conditioned offices and were working in the market place, talking to customers, checking the availability of the products, discussing with stockists, putting up racks, listening to shop owner’s grievances, chatting with consumers and helping the sales guys load - unload the stock. 80% of our corporate office staff devoted 800 manhours in a single day to meet their day's target which was 4 times higher than of a normal day. Every 5 minutes the cell phone would beep with a SMS flashing a victory that an employee has made either to open a new account or moving up the sales or to have introduced a new outlet to do away with the competition product.
Manjari our Executive Trainee from R&D shares her experience on “Chalo Bazaar Day” . Here's a picture of Manjari look alike.

Everyone on the street was staring at me. I got on to the tempo (a three wheeled vehicle being used to carry the stock to markets).When tempo picked up the speed I was afraid of rolling down on the road. I was equally apprehensive about the sale of the products and meeting the target. With these situations I started my venture for the Chalo Bazaar Day. However little did I know that all my worries would culminate into an evening when I really felt and wanted to speak out to my mom with the words like “mummy I have grown up, have become responsible, and have tasted the real struggle of fieldwork and bla bla bla……………. . Wanna know why…….go ahead.

Entire staff had started talking about the Chalo Bazaar Day (CBD) since Tuesday. I received information about the area I needed to work in and also got the two forms, but was not clear what I have to do with them. The real bombshell was when I came to know that the target was 4 times than that of a Route Sale Agent’s regular target. Now, that seemed impossible more so for a girl…….sorry a lady (have grown up friends……) who has been into restaurants and malls as a fastidious customer. But I did take it as a challenge.

I reached Rohini, Sector-8 at 10:30, an hour late against the scheduled time………….Was a little tensed about getting late (new employee…impression…seriousness…etc etc…) but came to know that Meenu (my colleague) and I were one of the first people to reach there among others. I heaved a sigh of relief. My distributor was a perfect gentleman. He went to bring his car for us so that we feel comfortable. That was very nice of him but somehow it could not materialize. Then came the unforgettable part. I popped on a tempo for the first time in my life. Scare, embarrassment, fun, laughter…………emotions poured over me.

I sold lots of Cheetos “Ben 10” packs and also Quakers (picture)…convinced Panwalas and Kirana men that all of it will be sold and not to worry……………Guys believe it, I hadn’t planned anything……. and I was planning the stuffs instantaneously. The tough part was to handle the complaints of shopkeepers and retailers. Knowing that I have come from the corporate office, shopkeepers and retailers shared there problems about stock unavailability, racks, margins, discounts etc with me which I very diligently noted down and assured them that these will be taken forward with the head office.

Another interesting part of my day was a cute little fight I witnessed between two perspective consumers about our two new flavors. A little boy around 5 years of age was fighting with his father to buy Saif’s Spunky Pomento (Saif seems to be hit with kids now-a-days with his movies catching up with little ones very successfully) whereas his father who seemed to be a die hard Dhoni fan was insisting on buying Dhoni’s Balsmic Blast. A perfect example of on- the- ground activation of our campaign “FFF – Fight For Flavor”. I just smiled at my RSA when both of them ended up buying both the flavors. It’s a delight seeing consumers loving our product!!

CONGO…………..My hard work as a seller of my products really paid……How?????? Guys I sold products worth staggering Rs. 10,000 against the set target of Rs. 5500……..nearly double. No I am not faking, friends, it’s true. At the end of the day when I was reverting back to the distributors point where everybody was eagerly waiting for the target feedback I saw our RSA, Pawan,very hardworking, poor fellow had to sit on a metal platform the whole day because there was not a place for him to sit.

Guys, there are no free lunches in life and one has to work hard for getting his fish. I have got this philosophy well embedded in me, thanks to the CBD. Well not ending with a philosophy stuffed notes, I should add that I will look forward to such opportunities yet again. But for now……….let’s enjoy some new kurkure “tedha hai par mera hain”…………………he he he…and be a little naughty with our new “Naughty Tomato” flavor

Just Kidding

2008-06-15T22:07:00.008+05:30

Jayashree loves to play with her little kid when she gets back home after a tiring day. The smile on little ones face makes her forget all her worries and tensions. She quickly starts to finish all her regular chores for the evening and sits down to feed the baby his dinner. "Tomorrow I must close the financial report of the month and submit the final numbers to the boss. I have to be back home on time to take chhotu for his vaccination as well. Hope the quarterly update meeting gets over on time and am able to send the summary to the headquarters before that", she thinks. Her husband enters and finds her smiling on her own and asks, "hey, who are you smiling at?" She suddenly gets back from her thoughts and says,"just wondering about the regular jobs for tomorrow and also that its feels great to be balancing it all. Its so satisfying. Never thought I would be able to sail through it all after the baby."

Jayashree is our GM compliance working with finance function where the diversity ratio is compratively lower than other functions. I happen to interview her one day for our newsletter and here are the excerpts:
How does it feel to be back after maternity leave?
Jayashree (JS): Feels rather uncomfortable in the beginning, since your thoughts are on the baby – how is he coping, is he comfortable and so on. With time, you learn to switch off home when you are in office and switch off office when you are home.

What was the response of your colleagues & Supervisors when you returned?

JS: Generally everyone was interested in knowing whether it was a boy or a girl, what had we named him, what arrangements I had at home for looking after the baby, how was I coping with work & whether my baby was keeping me awake through the night and so on….

What thoughts come to your mind when you decided to go the family way?
JS : Lots of thoughts crossed my mind – to name just a few:
· the infrastructure that one would need at home to look after the baby – this is vital
· Whether the manager would be willing to allow you to adjust the work timings a bit or allow you to work from home, if this is possible for the role that one has
· How to manage career and home?

What kind of support did you get from PepsiCo during this period?
JS: All infrastructure required to work from home – data card, courier docs to my place, send the rider to pick them up etc.

Do you have any suggestions for PepsiCo to deal better with gender diversity / to make this place more female employee friendly?
JS: It would really really help if we can have a crèche at our office to keep babies upto at least 2 years of age. The cost can be picked up by the employees who use it.

Jayashree's phone rang which she picked up quickly and said,"baby ko kela dena mash kar key, thoda dudh bhi daalna usmein" (give him mashed banana and put some milk as well). She smiled at me and said,"time for lunch for baby and for me too. Catch you later. Bye."

Career opportunities for Women at PepsiCo

Monday Blues

2008-06-03T21:00:00.009+05:30

I got up from my bed at 7 am….oh my God! It’s another Monday…In another two hours I have to get ready, search for my shoes, belt, wallet, my Yamaha keys (I call it Tiger) and have to reach office…

…..lying in the bed I could visualize how the office would be on a Monday morning…………the large 10000 sq ft office will be fully packed with professionals acting busy, all 7 conference rooms will be engaged with people pretending to have meetings, some at their workstations some on phone, some will be glaring at their laptop screens, a few would be figuring out the way to come out of their weekend mood and a few chirpy ones would also be gossiping in the corridors… oh My God! It’s another typical Monday where my boss will review me on my projects.

I reached office at 9 am. My boss reached at 9:45 am and as usual I am at her workstation with my D630 laptop (my life) ready for all downloads.

I get a call from Vasudha, R&D Manager…. “What should I do for Southern Challengers” she asks me. In the corridor Nishi Malhotra (the happening EA) from MD’s office checks with me, “Which team do I belong to? Southern Challengers or MT Max?”

In HR Cubicle I could hear Manvi, our OD Manager talking with someone on phone (old American accent) “ Avijit, why don’t you update me on Western Warriors Agenda and Sales Achievement Communication Plan” ??????. She otherwise generally talks about CGM (its PepsiCo’s Career Growth Model)

Muralidharan, the irritating Trade Manager asks me “When will I come to know about my team?” And adds another question rather quickly and aggressively “Where are my cheer leaders”….

Why Vasudha from R&D talked about Southern Challengers, Nishi about MT Max, Manvi about Western Warriors achievements and why the hell Muralidharan is enquiring about Cheer Leaders instead of his trade routes….all these funny questions on a Monday which visually has no connection to their regular job!

After getting puzzled for some time, I suddently realized its all about FPL. What is this FPL????????

FPL has created a revolution in the organization. Currently the talk is on for “Chalo Bazaar Day” and taking entire office to the market. I mean the ones who have the privilege of sitting in this air conditioned office in Gurgaon’s upscale Global Business Park, will now have to go to market and sell the product in this scorching heat along with the frontline sales men. In the next two months of FPL, there are plans of road shows, spot awards, exciting month end meetings, website, trip to Dubai, meeting with Indra Nooyi…etc etc.

Frito Premier League (FPL) is a summer mega sales contest of Frito-Lay between May to July 2008 focusing on sales target achievement and market share. Ok, our name sounds quite familiar with a well known contest recently happened. But what the heck! It has no connection with any one of those. It is our own league. The great Frito Premier League.

This contest has been designed to reward individual performers and team performers covering 100% Sales Team spread across 5 teams South, East, North, West and Modern Trade including our channel partners

This FPL contest is an organization-wide momentum with ExCom taking ownership of each team personally and has more than 6800 awards for our Sales and Support Teams. The teams have been categorized into 5 Sales Regions – South as Southern Challengers, North as North RDX, West as Western Warriors, East as Eastern Tigers and Modern Trade as MT Max. Each of the team is owned by one Ex Com (Executive Committee) member with non-sales office employees playing the role of Cheer Leaders (Support team).

Some exciting titles are :

Player of the League
Master Blasters
League Champs
Champion of Champions
Heros of the huddle

Hai na exciting ?? For the next three months, every Monday rather every day, I will see each one of our employees talking about FPL and working hard for their teams to win….Monday never seemed to be so exciting before...

- contributed by Krishna Kumar, Sales HR Manager

Do you Engage Every Day?

2008-06-01T23:25:00.011+05:30

Frito-Lay India's HR Program recognized for being top 6 Innovative practices in the industry
It’s not too long ago when we mentioned about our clean sweep at the Employer Branding Awards in January 2008. Our guys just can’t sit without making any stir in the industry. Dev Raj Sharma, our Operations HR head was complaining last time around as we could not showcase our Operations HR innovative practice called ‘Engage Every Day’ at Employer Branding Awards since there wasn’t any specific category for such an initiative.
This time however, he had his way and sent his registration for ‘Innovation in HR’ awards organized by DMA & Erehwon and undoubtedly became the only one among us to have reached the final stage after great amount of grueling and auditing by the Erehwon representative. In fact, this practice has already made its mark on the PI world and has won ‘Talent Sustainability’ Award by Indra Nooyi. To give a brief overview on the practice this is an initiative led by our plant HR teams which connects Frito-Lay India with all its stakeholder on an ongoing basis making it a way of life through a 3 way connect:
· Connecting with employees and their families on a personal level
· Connecting with the community through CSR initiatives & community leaders
· Proactive engagement with bureaucrats on community initiatives /CSR agenda

(photo: L to R Dev Raj Sharma – Vice President Operations HR, Suchitra Rajendra, EVP Staffing and OC, Sudharshan Banerjee, Managing Director India Market Business Advisory Board (Jury member) & Suweshi Sharma Agro HR Manger Frito-Lay India accepting the trophy).

A short AV can be viewed on you tube link -Engage Every Day

Our other two entries on ‘People Certification Process and Employee Communication program were also seen as Best Practices that other organizations can imbibe. To give a snapshot, People Process Certification is a unique self paced online learning tool designed to on-board and build capability on People Processes. It has this very interesting format based on Karate Belt System. Employee Communication initiative is an innovative design to reach out and engage existing employees, potential employees and impact external environment to build the employer brand.

The other two apart from us were – HCL on its program of Employee First – where the HR has many flexible programs of meeting the needs of the employee. And Carborundum Universal Ltd (part of the Murugappan group of South) for its innovative recruitment where workers were hired as supervisors in a new factory which was technology intensive.

DMA Erehwon had received 40 odd entries. Some of the other organizations that have participated are Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance, Crompton Greaves Limited, NIIT Technologies Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), CavinKare Private Limited, IPCA Laboratories, HCL Technologies Ltd, Zensar Technologies, Indian Hotels Co Ltd, Aviva Life Insurance Company India Ltd., TATA Projects Limited, Coromandal Fertilizers Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Aricent Technologies (Holdings) Ltd and Wipro Technologies

Through an exhaustive round of debate and dialogue and shortlisting , 21 entries were first chosen of which further 12 entries (4 of which are from PepsiCo – 3 from Snacks and 1 from Beverage) were chosen for the third round which was the in-context audit. From these 6 finalists were given an opportunity to present their practices in front of the Jury and a live audience of about 150 delegates from various organizations across India.

Heartiest congratulations to our Beverage division to have won the 1st runners up trophy for their highly innovative and unique PepsiCo Values roll out initiative. Don’t miss how it was done, call up someone in HR PepsiCo and find out. We have a lot more to tell!

Bhoot Hotay Hain (Ghosts Exist)

2008-05-16T15:01:00.016+05:30

Last Saturday, we took Frito Employees and their families to watch ‘Bhoothnath’. Other than a lots of Bhootiya (scary) scenes, well played by senior AB, there was a lot of Juhi and our very own Kurkure and Pepsi in the movie. In one particular scene, they even show Bhoothnath munching on Kurkure along with the kid ‘Banku’ (played by Aman Siddiqui) and his mother (played by Juhi Chawla). We all simply loved the movie for the fact that kids really laughed their heart out more often than getting scared and along with them parents (our employees) and even the grand parents of a lot of families were part of the laughter. Overall an enjoyable great Indian family moment. My 5 year old too was very excited since morning about the movie and he pulled us out of the house 45 minutes prior to the show. It was a good decision however, to leave early, keeping in view the dearth of parking space in Gurgoan malls which had made us loose first 10 miutes of any movie that we have seen in the past. Ok, let me get out of the cribbing mode and get back to the movie show. The hallway was full of kids of our employees, some running around, some piling on to the snacks counter, some just clinging on to their parents making it difficult for them to stand straight. My own son was also after my life to buy him Lays & Pepsi and after failing to convince with words like, “Beta I will get you once we will move inside the hall”, I had to give in to his demands and found my self at the snacks counter with a jumping jack – My son! Finally we were inside the dark hall and suddenly my son’s loud scream astounded me, “Mamma Bhoothnath !” Well, his preoccupied mind works overtime and he called the PVR hall escort (ticket checker in old terms) a Bhoothnath because he was holding the torch up while looking at our tickets. We all settled and the movie started. First few scenes were a bit scary and my son had no choice but to hide in my lap out of fear. Am sure a lot of parents were thanking the Movie Director to create such a start which settled down the kids quickly. Movie progresses to an interesting plot and there were some rib tickling scenes between the Ghost and Banku which created hysterics. "When the company outing includes the whole family, find something everyone will enjoy and Going to a movie Bhoothnath was just the thing." said Arvinder Singh, (on left with family) one of our senior executives. Everyone enjoyed and it was quite clear from the fact that after the movie, while getting out of the hall, I overheard Shaminder Singh, one of our senior executives telling another colleague, “It was a good movie and enlightened kids to respect elders by projecting some good family values”, who brought his two wives and one son (oops!) two sons and a wife to see the movie. Manisha Arora, (photo on right with husband and two lovely kids) another colleague brought her family to watch the show and said, “Movie was scary initially but turned out to be a good comedy, kids enjoyed a lot. It was a good experience to see all Frito families around while watching movie in the theatre. I look forward to many such fun events in future.” Well, 45 minutes to the movie and my son finished his big glass of Pepsi, (and was ready to go to the loo). “Why can’t they make attached toilets in theatres keeping in mind the age group that turns up now a days to watch movies?” I thought. Am sure the fear factor of Bhoothnath was adding to this and many parents would endorse the same.

Movie however, towards the end, seemed to drag a bit because of which most kids were back in action. Last 45 minutes of the movie one could clearly see little Ghosts running around the hall up and down disturbing the non Frito crowd and we were quietly confined to our seats assuming no ones knows whose kids.

What are your angels doing this summer??

Straight From The Heart

2008-05-12T22:30:00.011+05:30

Some of the guys who join us, we do a quick fun interview to know them better. Here's a sneak peak into the lives of our 4 Frito Champs who have joined at 4 different regions of Frito-Lay India Sales team and what they feel about working with Frito! Enjoy.....

"Me" in one word : Energetic

Hobbies : Travelling, watching movies

First Day @ Frito-Lay : At the Corporate Office, skeptical, cautios but a lot of optimism

Most enjoyable moment @ Frito-Lay : Yet to come

Dream : To play an active role in improving the environment be it company/society

What I like about Frito: It allows people to think BIG

--------------------

"Me in one word : Target

Hobbies : Playing and watching Cricket. Going for long drives

First day @ Frito-Lay : Was the best day of my life

Most enjoyable moment@ Frito-Lay : Too early to zero on one

Dream : Become a good Manager

What I like about Frito : Sales system

--------------------

"Me" in one word : Positive

Hobbies: Adventure sports (Mountaineering)

First day@ Frito-Lay : Good atmosphere to work

Most Enjoyable moment @ Frito-Lay: Yet to come

Dream: To grow my territory in higher double digits and combat competition to less than 10%

What I like about Frito: Exciting product portfolio

----------------------

"Me" in one word : Go getter

Hobbies : Watching sports

First Day @ Frito-Lay : Proud to be associated with strong brands

Most enjoyable moment @ Frito-Lay : Placed a second rack at a disputed outlet in Frazer town

Dream : To become an Area Sales Manager

What I like about Frito : Brand strength

EVER TASTED SUCCESS AT PEPSICO?

Frito Reality Show

2008-04-28T20:07:00.007+05:30

“Oh! My God…”, said Nishi Malhotra, the ever so happening EA to our CEO, almost creating a mini quake in my cubicle. Other 2 fellow colleagues looked at me as if I was surfing some other sort of ‘interesting’ stuff. Let me tell you nothing unusual needs to happen to get such overly exaggerated statements from our folks in the office. I was just casually flipping through the drafts of my newsletter when she caught Dhoni’s pics peeping from the pile. The cascading effect takes place and another one joins in, “ Wow…Dhoni, look at his biceps, he sooooooooo cute!” "Dhoni is cute indeed", I agreed.

These pics are live from our promo that is currently running with our products called Chala Change ka Chakkar (CCC in short) details of which I had posted some time back on this blog (check out guys..its for real!). FritoLay gave three thrilled fans a chance to live their favorite stars life – Dhoni’s, Saif Ali Khan’s and Juhi Chawla’s through this promo. In this pic Dhoni is checking out Hiren's bike…how cool.. (Nishi would have almost imagined herself sitting behind him). He also went to Hiren’s office and tried his hand on answering a few calls and assembling a few sockets, prepared some tea for his family while Hiren was off to being a cricketing superstar. Hiren enjoyed a meal at Dhoni’s favorite Dhaba while Dhoni was enjoying a game of gully cricket with Hiren’s mother and boys of his building. “I ended the day reliving my experiences over a cup of tea at a tea stall overlooking the Ranchi landscape”, said the youngster. “It was a perfect end to a perfect day.”

Another 20 year old Paras Kakkar swapped lives with Juhi, complete with being pampered at a spa, picking out an elaborate wardrobe, getting a make over and doing a photo shoot in a true star style. And well, Juhi was in a for surprise because it turned out that it was Paras’s parents anniversary and she was incharge of their surprise party!! She cooked Paranthas with the ladies of the house.

Umed Rana, the lucky man from Bhiwana got to live Saif Ali Khan’s life for a day. Not surprisingly his schedule involved getting fit. “I followed his fitness routine, workout at his gym and a dance rehearsal at the end of the day, full on Bollywood ishtyle! Saif in the meantime did shopping with his family at a mall, went go-karting with his kids and had meal with them. He also played guitar while kids did a small dance performance.

Well, can we have a ‘Live life of your Boss’ kinda internal contest in here? Is anyone listening?

2008-04-07T21:04:00.006+05:30

Ok Abhijit, you say good bye and wash your hands off this Blog..but you bet, there is something special to this organization which made you write this emotional note. You miss Frito-Lay..don't you? In the meantime we’d like to continue reckoning and marveling at our rehires which reached no. 14 last month.

To start with let me announce that PepsiCo is named among world’s Top 20 Most Admired Companies in the World! PepsiCo has been recognized by Fortune and Business Week magazines recently as "Top 50 Performing Companies in the U.S.," as well as the list for Fortune's "World's Most Admired Companies."

PepsiCo made Fortune magazine's the list at #13 on their "World's Most Admired Companies." The magazine's survey asked businesspeople to vote for the companies that they admired most, from any industry. To read the full list, visit http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/globalmostadmired/2008/top50/index.html.
PepsiCo was also #31 in the BW50, which represent BusinessWeek's picks as the top performers in each of the 10 sectors that make up the S&P 500. To select this year's winners, BusinessWeek ran the S&P 500 through a proprietary screen that ranks those companies within sectors by two key metrics: return on investment and sales growth over the past three years, and for financial-service firms, their returns on equity and growth in assets. To read about the list, visit http://www.businessweek.com/bw50

2008-04-01T23:11:00.003+05:30

THE RETURN OF ABHIJIT BHADURI

We’d like to announce that Abhijit Bhaduri has decided to return to PepsiCo owning to the emotional farewell he got from the team and the peer group. Over a quick phone call to our CEO he mentioned that he could not give up thinking about the good times he spent at PepsiCo and that he cannot afford to miss the excitement and passion that runs through FritoLay India Snacks team. He broke down looking at the scrap book presented to him. Upon hearing him sob and snivel, his family had to literally break the door to find out if he was alright. Attached is the glimpse of the farewell booklet we presented to Abhijit and a few clips from the AV we presented to him as a small token of affection.

Just kidding ….just a small way of celebrating fools day guys…Abhijit is perfectly sane, healthy and happy doing some great stuff at U.S. of A

Au Revoir

2008-03-31T03:06:00.003+05:30

On 18 Sept 2006, I started this blog. To write about the fun filled culture of FritoLay, India. To get it going there was a short 3 min video of What is it Like to Work for FritoLay? That video uploaded on Youtube (click here to watch it) got us a lot of eyeballs. Research (basically that means all the people I spoke to) showed us that it was the first place for candidates to get a feel of the culture of PepsiCo's Snack division in India. Candid confession: When I saw that a lot of people were using that to decide on whether they would fit in to this culture or not, I did feel a tad bit inhibited and stopped doing videos of giggling employees on candid camera kind of stuff. Thats was truly tempting given the number of applicants who wanted to come into work in a giggly environment! Honestly - someone did say that to me.

Thereafter the focus was more on describing all the fun moments at work. The innovative people that we have here inspired us to do more. The media and other bloggers took notice and we got a gazillion suggestions on what to put into the blog. That made me realize that the challenge in having an unofficial corporate blog are two. One is to avoid sounding like a commercial for the company. More than that is the challenge of getting more than a few enthu guys to post. How do we update the blog continuously and frequently?

Madhu Rajesh was our answer. Besides being a part of the Employee Communication piece of HR, she brought oodles of ideas and enthusiasm to the table with her stories on our efforts at being RJs for a competition (which we lost miserably!) and many more.

Meanwhile it is time for me to say goodbye as I choose to pursue my dreams outside of FritoLay. So this will be my last post on the Frito blog - heck nothing stops me from commenting on the posts as a reader does it? So maybe instead of saying goodbye, I should say Au Revoir.

FORTUNE Teller!

2008-03-04T05:39:00.012+05:30

Our very own Indra is back in news. This time on the FORTUNE COVER in its March 3 issue with the title, "What Makes Pepsi Great?" and then answers that question by offering "an inside look at how she has transformed an American business icon." (BTW doesn't she look amazingly cool & composed? She can easily give any Cosmopolitan, Vogue cover model a sprint for their job!)

Getting back to the business, here are the excerpts imparted by PepsiCo headquarters . The article examines the company's success from many angles. It looks at the Frito-Lay and Pepsi cultures that were merged to form PepsiCo in 1965, contrasting "the get-things-done expertise of Frito-Lay and the never-take-anything-for-granted underdog mentality of Pepsi-Cola." The magazine says the result is a "contrarian, risk-taking big company that prides itself on acting like a small company" and has posted an eye-popping compound annual growth rate of 13% over the past 42 years." It points out the company's revenue has nearly doubled since 2000.
The article also highlights "Performance with Purpose," which it says puts a positive spin on how PepsiCo does business both at home and abroad, boiling it down to "balancing the profit with making healthier snacks, striving for a net-zero impact on the environment and taking care of the workforce." FORTUNE lauds PepsiCo for taking on a completely different flavor in balancing the old with the new. It contrasts Fritos and Cheetos with Stacy's Simply Naked (pita crisps) and Flat Earth (fruit and veggie chips); Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew with Naked Juice Pomegranate Blueberry and IZZE Sparkling Clementine; North American Van Lines and Wilson Sporting Goods with partners Lipton and Starbucks.
The article also provides a timeline on how snacks and beverages got healthier, highlights PepsiCo's business unit leaders, discusses the rivalry of Coke and Pepsi, as well as Wall Street's reaction in recent years. To download the online version , please click here

An exclusive family picutre of Indra published by Fortune ......(the smiling tall lady on the left)

The queen of transformation! Surely, Indra Jaisi Koi Nahin! (No one's like Indra)

Frito-Lay India wins Marketing Excellence Award

2008-03-04T04:44:00.006+05:30

Our 'Love Mark' flagship brands Lays and Kurkure are not only being loved by the consumer but also accepting accolades from the industry for setting standards in marketing excellence. At the 7th Indra Marketing Excellence Awards held on 23rd February at Pune Pepsico India (Fritolay Division) was awarded under the category “Brand Excellence”. The Award is presented to those organizations who have put passion into building their brands and shifted the paradigm in setting a new trend in Brand Excellence. Top FMCG companies and advertising agencies were among those who were evaluated for the award. The function was held in Pune, attended by approx 2000 people which included senior professionals from the industry.

On a seperate note, just wanted to share how our innovation in India is making us proud gloablly. After creating a special place for itself at ‘Chai Time’ (Tea time) of Indian consumer, Kurkure is now being introduced to various international markets to showcase the unique magic of Indian spices. Check out our brand new campaign ‘Chala Change ka Chakkar’ and change everything you have.....even your life. Ever thought of exchanging 1 day of your life with your favorite celebrity? Well..do leave us a comment, it feels great!

Sum Of Us Is Not All of Us

2008-02-23T10:14:00.006+05:30

Last evening we had a great party to celebrate the slew of awards that the FritoLay HR team won at the Asia Pacific HRM Congress. So we had to get our new Managing Director, Gautham Mukkavilli to foot the bill for a Rock 'n Roll party. Gautham has taken over as the head honcho of FritoLay India from the 1st of January 2008. He is a 16 year old PepsiCo veteran who was part of the early team that launched Pepsi in India in 1991. So like all good PepsiCo employees he enjoys our "work hard party hard" culture. Gautham loves to play the flute and guitar and promised us a performance soon. Watch this space for more.

The venue was this cute little place in Gurgaon (I think the place is called JMD Plaza) where the HR team from the FritoLay office had one helluva rocking time. The place plays classic rock and they play it loud and that forces everyone to scream out their conversations.

The high energy HR team had many others from the office joining in to burn the dance floor. Suchitra won the award for finally armtwisting our CFO, Kimsuka Narsimhan to do her first ever dance performance. Thus proving that she can handle all kinds of numbers (that was a bad pun, but y'know the worse the pun, the harder they are to resist).

On the dance floor was Deepika Warrier our Marketing Veep who was in the news recently for signing on Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the star cricketer as our brand ambassador.

We missed having the HR folks in our plants at Channo, Pune and Kolkata at the party. Also missed were the Sales HR folks in the various offices across India ... but here are the rest of us.

Sitting (L to R): Bhavna, Mridula, Umang, Krishna, Mohit and Sekhar

Standing (L to R): Madhu, Romika, Suweshi, Dev, Manvi, Abhijit, Suchitra and Charu

Frito Buzz - True Stories from Life @ Frito-Lay India

2008-02-20T23:13:00.006+05:30

This is a quick little Promo of our in-house AV Newsletter Frito Buzz. Our highly inquisitive and info hungry employees would like to be continuously informed of what's happening in and around the organization and they refuse to accept the conventional ways of communication. That’s when we thought of creating our own production house called – ‘HR Entertainment Limited – a product of Employee Communication’ and created this interesting format. Manvi Sarkar, our HR Manager and Amitabh Pandy, our VP Consumer Insights are the anchors of the movie (imagine after we gave him this break, he got a job offer in UK and is now an international star!) and the rest of the characters are as real as it can get including our CEO and the highly enthusiastic women force in our Kolkata Plant. We first released this promo and then the movie was shown to all our employees across the country by creating the ambience and feel of a actual movie show (worx n'all!) . It turned out to be a huge hit :) We had fun making it and employees had fun watching it indeed. Remember, if you are thinking of joining Frito-Lay, do brush your acting skills…who knows you might be our next Frito Buzz star anchor!

Vaisay bhi..Yeh toh sirf Trailor hai...picture abhi baki hai mere dost!!

COMING SOON...FRITO BUZZ 'four'

FritoLay Wins Employer of Choice - Thirst RU

2008-02-16T08:25:00.007+05:30

That's not a typo. We did get the "Thirst" R.U. Award But let me talk about our Employer of Choice award in a moment. First things first.

We had already won three awards at the Asia Pacific HRM Congress held in New Delhi a fortnight back. But then this was the national round. So it was a different game. We all keep joking with each other about how inherently competitive a FritoLay employee is. Basically we like to win. Hey I am different. For me winning is not the only thing - it is EVERYTHING!! When we decided to go across to Mumbai (we were apprehensive. Would we win or wouldn't we. It is a tough thing to go to an awards ceremony and then return empty handed. That just sucks.

Well we did win awards. Allow us to preen and strut for a brief minute. The first one was the Global HR Excellence Award that recognizes FritoLay for being an Organization With Innovative HR Practices.

In addition we won all three categories of the Employer Branding Awards for 2007-08 at the national level. These were for FritoLay Division being recognized has having the Best HR Strategy in line with Business, Innovation in Recruitment and the fiercely competitive category of Excellence in Training

We won the 3rd Runners Up award for being Employer Brand of the Year 2007-08 the national round of Asia Pac HRM Congress which celebrated 16 years of the awards. Mahindra and Mahindra got the award for being the Employer of Choice. Congrats M&M. This was no mean feat with "2600 entries, out of which 50 companies reached the finals." According to Suchitra FritoLay is "THIRST Runners Up". I agree. Until we win the first spot, we will remain "thirsty for more"!

Here is a closeup view of the awards. And the awardees (from L to R): Madhu Rajesh, Abhijit Bhaduri, Suchitra Rajendra and Sanjeev Dixit.

Sidelight: Both Suchitra ("Suchi" to friends) and fellow blogger Madhu are diehard fans of Shah Rukh Khan. Since the venue of the competition was bang next to the superstar's house and it just happened to be Valentine's Day - yes the competition was on 14th February 2008, Madhu and Suchitra decided to camp outside the Bollywood actor's house (called Mannat - means a vow made to a deity) in Bandra. They clicked this photo of Pepsi's brand ambassador Shah Rukh's mansion (Mannat is marked with the arrow - and that's a road sign. Not what you thought). Both of them swear that if you look hard enough you will see Shah Rukh Khan standing in the Balcony. Leave your comment behind to let me know if you spotted SRK.

FritoLay Wins 3 Awards at Asia Pacific HRM

2008-02-02T10:25:00.000+05:30

Just so you know it first from us. Last evening our HR Team went to attend the awards function for the Regional round of the Asia Pacific HRM Congress in New Delhi. The entire HR team had turned up hoping that we would win at least one of the three categories we were competing for. And then the first one happened...

"The award for innovation in Recruitment goes to FritoLay India...". The rest of the announcement was drown by the loud applause. It was great to see how our Employee Referral Program aptly called "Bring a Friend to Work" (there is a neat video on this site). It was recognition for the great done by Suchitra and her staffing team with some superb work done by Umang and the Sales HR Team with Mohit, Avijit, Dhruv and the inimitable Krishna doing some stellar work in making sure the Referral program of Frito becomes a national benchmark.

The second one was the category that saw steep competition from all the companies - Training. But our innovations in linking training to business strategy helped us win ahead of others who were competing on number of training days and all that. That's Suchitra and her Org Capability team at it. The work they have done in building the talent pipeline at Frito is truly outstanding. We always thought so and now everyone thinks so too!

But the biggest recognition came to FritoLay India came for having the "Best HR Strategy in Line with Business". This award had 600 entries and despite that we were recognized for "setting a standard for the rest of the industry". The entire HR team was delirious and was busy hugging and congratulating each other. A million sms messages were sent to friends, colleagues and well-wishers all over. And the responses kept pouring in and are still coming in.

So where are the pictures? Errrr... well.... we did not take the camera along. As one of them explained, "It would have been worse if we had brought a camera and not won any awards." But we will get some from the organizers and share them with you.

See you in Mumbai when we compete for more on Valentines Day!

Radio Jokers!

2008-01-31T20:06:00.000+05:30

I and Abhijit, our HR Head, somehow just landed into this Radio One Office Champ contest which is on air everyday between 6 – 8 pm. Although we end up goofing up every time but the fun of the whole thing is that we are able to generate a lot of excitement in the organization. Every evening employees’ Radio’s are switched on and we all eagerly wait for our round to be aired. In a true reality show ishtyle, our success on this competition also depends on SMS voting. (Now I know how unfair these contests could be; you could be at best of your talent n’all but if you don’t generate enough votes, you are good for nothing!!) We are SMSing left, right and centre and are hopeful to win this competition. Check out this cool campaign we created :)

Now let me tell you what’s happening on this contest. The teams are : PepsiCo, Global Logic, Live India, HT, Dainik Jagran……A team of two from each of these organizations is participating by answering on various rounds. First day was an introductory round and we were thrown questions like ‘Kee Haal Hai’??!! Were we to be witty? May be funny, don’t know yet. Imagine what Abhijit would answer when asked, “what would you say to your boss if he has caught you singing looking at his wife”? BTW, we scored 9 on 10. Not bad!!

Round Two was a disaster – Bollywood quotient! Who’s got the time yaar to read Filmfare or watch Bollywood ka Boss!! Anyway, we jumped into this without any arms and ammunitions and yet came out with flying colors. WE GOT ONLY 6 ON 10, LOWEST OF ALL!! Good fun (was made of both of us!). For God’s sake how on this earth will we know “what role J.D. Chakraborty played in Satya”?

Round Three was Flirt quotient. Abhijit was very happy this time and as expected he did a great job of flirting with the RJ and the lady who called him to check out his flirt quotient. We scored 8 on 10.

Today was round Four & Five. Cricket quotient and Talent Round. Well, we are the masters at that. A perfect 10 on 10 in Cricket and 9 on 10 on Talent. Hope our happiness is not short lived and we are able to sail through tomorrow’s Quiz on Delhi. God bless us!!

But, are you voting???? SMS OC FritoLay to 53650 right now!!

Snack Smart!

2007-12-18T23:19:00.000+05:30

On one fine afternoon, we caught Saif to do this little promo for us. Let us know what do you like about this Ad and what you don't. What do you think the Ad is trying to convey? Simply post your views in the comment box and who knows we might get Saif to answer your questions...

AR Rahman Concert in Delhi

2007-11-18T10:42:00.000+05:30

What would you need to do if you wanted to listen to AR Rahman, Hariharan, Chitra, Kailash Kher and Rapper Blaze in Delhi. You had to go to the mega concert that was held last evening in Delhi. If you were a PepsiCo employee you got to see the show. You had to find your place among the 25,000 fans who ranged from six year olds to their grandparents (children below five years old were not allowed in).

AR Rahman came across as an immensely talented composer who has yet to make the transition to being a huge entertainer. He is an artiste who just focuses on creating great music and leaves the flash and glitz to others. I love the way he has transformed the face of Bollywood music by bringing in new sounds and singers with each venture.

When the concert started with Rahman singing the operatic overture from the film Guru

"Jage hain der tak hamein
kuchh der soney do
Thodi si raat aur hai subah to hone do.
Adhe adhure khwab jo pure na ho sake
Ek bar phir se neend mein woh khwab boney do".

Translated that would mean

"I have been up till late, let me sleep some more
Let me dream again and complete those incomplete wishes"

Rahman's voice left me with goose bumps as he closed his eyes to focus on the music that draws from the traditional Operas. Cut to the song Maiyya Maiyya from the same film, and you can smell the influence of Turkish music as clearly as the rich notes of their coffee!

For me the highlight was to see the legendary Sivamani perform. The percussionist with his trademark bandana created magic with the solo performance where he drummed without missing a beat even as he twirled his drumsticks and threw them in the air as the double bass drum thumped away. He has used even the humble wok used to make biriyani, to create music!! According his official website

"Siva was adept with his drumsticks even at the tender age of 7 and went on to give his first stage performance at the age of 12. "

He led a troupe of twenty dhols to give us a glimpse of a track from the yet unreleased Bollywood film Jodha Akbar.

Allah Rakha Rahman was born AS Dilip Kumar on 6th January 1967 and has played keyboards for Ilaiyaraja. He has a degree in Western Classical Music from the Trinity College of Music at Oxford University. Last evening he played his hits from Hindi, Tamil and even English compositions. We got glimpses of Rahman playing the synthesizer and even a grand piano. The only thing that jarred was the sound system that was truly awful. The system did not do justice to the master of music.

PepsiCo Shakiras

2007-11-15T14:41:00.000+05:30

The newspaper Mint in its issue dated November 5, 2007 provides some statistics on the growing focus of organizations to hire more and more women. PepsiCo features in the 10th spot in India – thanks to the PepsiCo’s worldwide focus on Diversity and Inclusion. With Indra Nooyi being the most powerful woman in US, now it is our turn to celebrate. Over to the Diwali Party. Here are glimpses of our Diwali Party on 2nd November.

No, it is not a group of Shaimak Dawar Performers; these are the same colleagues you will see in the offices of PepsiCo.

From Left: Reshmi Tikmani, Surabhi Bist, Suweshi Sharma, Manika Sahni, Himani Bahuguna, Vidhisha, Aarti Shouri and yours truly. Our very own Charu was the co-host for the evening.

Indra Nooyi with Women Leaders of PepsiCo

2007-11-13T15:25:00.000+05:30

Diwali with a Difference at Pune

2007-11-13T14:30:00.000+05:30

This Diwali Pune Plant decided to celebrate it in a different way by inviting BVJ Education Institute (an Orphanage for street children) to the Plant premises. Kids had a great time making plasticine models, dancing and playing. A talent show was also organized followed by prize distribution.

Inviting Nominations for the Kurkure Moment of 2007

2007-11-04T11:31:00.000+05:30

We are institutionalizing a Kurkure Moment of the Year Award. The HR group was recently at Rishikesh for a rafting trip. Thats when we came up with that idea. At the end of a hard day of having fun - what with beach volleyball, long adda sessions in the tents on the beach, after moonlight treks in the jungle (where Umang wore a Halloween mask and gave Manvi the shock of her life), we got chatting around the bonfire on the beach about what were some of the craziest moments in our office that had us in splits. Here is the nomination from the HR team:

Colleague says to Bhagyashree aka Bags of our Marketing department, "Hey, are you on Orkut?"
Bhagyashree responds, "Nahi Yaar, I am on Kurkure."

Thus was born the idea of collecting the Kurkure Moment from other colleagues and other offices.

Who can nominate: Anyone. It does not have be limited to just Frito employees. We promise to be unbiased and fair.

How do you nominate someone: Just send us the incident with details and possibly a photo of the moment or of the person if you can. Mail it to madhu.rajesh@intl.pepsico.com
Please put the subject of your email as "Kurkure Moment Nomination". Please mention the name of the organization and location where the incident happened.
What kind of incidents qualify: Hey, anything that spiced up the and brought everyone together. So a fun quip, a practical prank ... a Bakra... anything that is a pur Kurkure Moment. Talking of Bakras, I would love to share the Bakra we played on the HR team during the Annual HR Meet. But my lips are sealed. Ask Umang or Charu what it was all about. Or ask Krishna about the Bakra he played on the gang during the bus ride back from Rishikesh. That was a "bloody nasty" trick he played on everyone. Ask me, I was victim too.

Taal Se Taal Mila - A Trip to Bhimtaal

2007-10-29T12:48:00.000+05:30

Vaibhav Modi, our Sales HR Manager got a chance to take our Central Region Sales Team and families to Bhimtaal. Based in the heart of Kumaon, 22 Km from Nainital, the city of Lakes, Bhimtaal is named after the famous Mahabhrata character - Bhim - renowned for his extraordinary strength. Bhimtal is at an altitude of 1371 mtrs. and 4498 Ft. It has the largest of the lakes in this region.

Vaibhav shares “stunningly green landscapes, breathtaking view of Mountains and
amazingly peaceful surroundings alleviated my soul to the core. The resort
was situated amidst the beautiful mountains and amazing scenic beauty of
Bhimtaal. A refreshing trip to the lake, games and dancing around a bonfire
gave us all a time of our lives. I’d ensure such trips happen more often to
constantly give our employees the break they deserve and that too with their
families.”

Rapid RAFTaar

2007-10-28T12:53:00.000+05:30

The rush of adrenalin when the raft swings wildly in the arms of a tempestuous rapid is a heady feeling that is called adventure. At a site called 43things.com you can find out the various things that people have listed. Things they want to do. It talks about various dreams that people have. I know that one of the 43 things I wanted to do always was to go river rafting. And ... I did. The Human Resources team decided that we should celebrate a successful year by doing something that we would all cherish. The HR Meet for 2007 was held on a raft!

Partho Pratim Saha is one of the four people who brought rafting in a big way to India. The other three people being Ajeet Bajaj - the man who went to the North and South Pole on a ski, Yousuf Zaheer and Ajay Mehra.

Camp River Wild is about 27 kms from Rishikesh. The Pauri Garhwal area is gorgeously pretty and being there on a full moon night made it even more so. Watching the sands turn silver in the moonlight and the quiet gurgling sound of the Ganges flowing by creates a magical concoction. Ever tried going for a midnight trek though the jungle in the moonlit night? You have to try it out is all what I can say.

The next day we went Rafting. Rapids are graded on a scale of 1 to 6. You do not want to encounter a grade six rapid if you aren't a skilled rafter. I discovered that the rapids have unique names and that there is a story behind each name. The first one we hit was grade 3 rapid called "Sweet Sixteen" after the romantic story of a sixteen year old British School girl who came there a couple of years back and fell in love with her rafting instructor. The next one was called "Mala's Curves" - Mala is the name of the village where the rapid is and not what you thought.

If you meet anyone from the FritoLay HR team, don't forget to ask them about the two major bakras (practical pranks) that some enterprising souls played on the group. The group has been sworn to secrecy so that the same tricks can be recycled and pulled off on some other unsuspecting group in the office.

World Cup At Frito-Lay

2007-10-08T22:25:00.000+05:30

World Cup At Frito-Lay

There was a blast at Frito-Lay office in Gurgaon on the eve of India Vs PAK-T20 FRONTIER. The spirits of employees was visible every time the Indian cricketers hit a six. Each time a bowler took a wicket, you could hear the screaming right across the hallway.

In the trade mark Ganguly style – and possibly even Salman Khan “ishtyle”, some of our employees at Financial Services office removed their shirts when the Indian bowlers took the last wicket and make victory a reality.

Environment Friendly Amsterdam

2007-10-05T07:04:00.000+05:30

"Be careful! Watch out for the bikes!!"

The locals warn the group of us gawking tourists as try to navigate our way through the city of Amsterdam where the Human Resources Conference of PepsiCo International is being held. From 24th to 27th September, the city of Amsterdam sees repeat performances of the above variety. There are 600,000 bikes for 700,000 residents of Amsterdam and 220,000 trees. There are 2500 houseboats that are sprinkled across the 165 canals that are dug in horse shoe form to garland the city.

Parking a car - even that tiny car that you see below - is a prohibitively expensive proposition. So bikes become the mode of transport for everyone. It is environment friendly and has no fuel bills. That goes well with the PepsiCo philosophy of Performance with Purpose that has Environmental sustainability as one of the three planks of our growth. The other two being Human Sustainability and Talent Sustainability.

With environment sustainability an important component of the “performance with purpose” strategy, PepsiCo has decided to replenish whatever it takes from the environment. “We’re going to reduce our water usage and move more rapidly towards the ideal of ‘net zero’ —for every litre of water needed to make our products, we’ll return a litre to the water supply,” says our chief Ms Nooyi. We want to roll back greenhouse gas emissions as the company grows, continue light weighting packaging and recycling while identifying bio-degradable solutions.

Back to Amsterdam. I saw this lady who had her guitar strapped across with her kid sitting at the back and a dog sitting pretty in a basket slung at the front of the bike. Where's the picture of that, you may ask. She was just zipping past and by the time I pulled out my camera she was gone. But here are a few more bike pictures.

Ever since I had seen the movie Silsila - the Yash Chopra classic in 1981, the scene of the tulip fields and windmills has been imprinted in my mind. I always wanted to see those fields. Sad to say, I did not make it to the tulip field but have pictures of glass versions along with the mandatory windmills and clogs (shoes) . So enjoy!

Engage Everyday Program Wins the Global Award

2007-09-29T02:16:00.000+05:30

The Global HR Conference in Amsterdam held from 24-27 September 2007, the Engage Everyday program got showcased as a global best practice. The HR team from FritoLay then went on to win the Global Award for Talent Sustainability. I don't know what it feels like to win the Oscar, but this felt just as special to me.

It was a grand event held at the famous Amstel Intercontinental Hotel - the pride of Amsterdam. Since its opening in 1867, the Hotel has played host to several celebs and world leaders. Located on the Amstel River, this gorgeous Hotel hosted the crew and cast of the film Oceans Twelve.

The Engage Everyday program has been impacting lives of employees and communities around our factories. The program is driven by employees of the families where they work to impact lives in the communities around our workplace. More about the program in a separate post.

No Need for Speed

2007-09-22T17:52:00.001+05:30

If you are the kind of person who lives in a city and then complains about the fast pace of life of the Metros thenvisit our plant in Channo. That has the kind of lifestyle that we city dwellers get to experience only when we go on vacation. We go to these places, unwind and then come back to regale our colleagues about the lifestyle of the smaller towns.

There is time to stop at the dhaba and grab a humongous glass of lassi on your way to work. In the evening our colleagues have a ritual of stopping by for a relaxed chat with friends over some piping hot jalebis.

Vipin Dhariwal our correspondent sent us these pictures. The event in question was the slow cycling race.While the aspirants to the prize were many, there was only one winner.

Happy Birthday to this Blog

2007-09-18T07:51:00.000+05:30

The first birthday is special.
Like the first drops of rain on earth.

The first job. The first salary.
The first time you got the promotion letter!
They are all heady moments.

The first blog of FritoLay... all this started exactly a year ago.

I Am One Year Old on 18 September 2007

2007-09-13T07:01:00.001+05:30

On 18th Sep 2007, this blog turns one year old. Maybe one year young. It was started on a lark. One fine day, I started this blog because creating a blog is easy. If going to the moon was easy, I would give that a shot as well. This blog was meant to give you an idea of the culture of this organization and share with you some pictures of the people here.

When your friends come home, you talk about work, moan about life and crib about lack of time. Then you pull out your album and show them photos of friends and people at work. Based on that chat and the pix, your friends have a glimpse of what your company is all about. This blog was meant to be the same.

During the year gone by, we have had more people joining up to blog for us. We have had people sending us messages to say they want to work for us, they have given their feedback on our flavours and products. The blog has been featured and written about in the media and by other bloggers. Thanks for noticing us everyone. This is a time for us to stand up and take a bow. We appreciate your point of view. And yes, we are learning from all what you tell us. So thanks again.

We will have a party on 18th Sep. Let me know what would be an innovative way to celebrate the birthday of a blog. Have you heard of an innovative way to celebrate a blog - not blogger's birthday?

How To Name It

2007-09-08T17:59:00.000+05:30

I came upon the blog of Apu - whose blog it is on all matters corporate who lists all blogs run by Corporates. Her blog is called Cubically Challenged which I thought is a cool title for a blog that describes the view from one. She is not sure if our blog can be put under the "corporate blogging" banner because it does not adhere to the strict guidelines of one. We are like this only, Apu. Reminds me of the musical masterpiece composed by Ilaiyaraaja which is simply titled "How to Name It".

Apu has rightly suggested that we pull up our sleeves and blog more often. The rap on the knuckles is richly deserved. We promise to make amends. I hope you will come back to track us.

There are some really happening blogs listed here. Check them out guys. And now it is over to Apu.

"I was interested in seeing whether companies in India have begun to use blogs as a means of communication with different audiences, and I did some digging around to see who is doing what. Surprise, surprise! I just can’t find too many corporate blogs in the first place. (Or my googling skills are poor!).

The usual culprits, which have been much talked about before, came to light again. First, the Infosys Blog, Think Flat. Now they have put together a star blogger team, with senior members from communication, marketing, sourcing, consulting etc besides Nandan Nilekani himself. But one odd thing about the blog is, that perhaps because of a number of contributers adding pieces whenever their schedule permits, the blog is very erratically updated. Sometimes articles follow each other after a day, and sometimes there are no posts for a week or ten days. I think regular updation is critical for a serious blog. Another surprising thing is that at the end of a page, there is no link pointing to ‘older posts’. One has to trudge through the archives. Perhaps they need someone who understands blogging and can help this senior team out by coordinating posts and having a more user friendly design. However, the content on the blog is quite good - while it touches briefly on Infy’s expertise, it doesn’t hardsell in any way, and in most cases, is quite interesting to read, though not phenomenally.

Then, there is Fritolay India’s blog, maintained by Madhu Rajesh and Abhijit Bhaduri from their HR function. This is really more of a fun, informal blog, and as such, the regular aims of ‘corporate blogging’ may not apply. However, I think they do a good job of presenting Fritolay as a young, vibrant place to work in. Definitely, if prospective employees came upon the blog, they would find it interesting and appealing. Again, the frequency of blogging is not consistent. I am not sure if they are thinking of this also as a means to keep current employees updated or whether they have a separate intranet/blog for that. But if they do want to keep current employees involved as well, then it may be a good idea to update more often.

I also came upon Tata Interactive’s blog, which is a mix of general interest article as well as those focused upon design and technology related issues. This one seems to be updated quite often, and also has a mix of regular writers plus guest writers. I suppose this helps them keep things in control, since the core blogging team must be monitoring content, ensuring updation and a good mix of subjects. Another notable thing about this blog is that many of the posts have atleast a few comments on them, something absent from the other two.

In the case of the Infosys blog especially, I got the feeling that they were operating in isolation. There was little dialogue with other technology blogs, few links to other bloggers - the posts aren’t really very different from what a website or maybe online journal might have. They don’t seem to be really blogging in that sense, since one of the most powerful things about blogging is the conversations and relationships it can build. So does it really help to maintain a blog if you can’t be active in the related blogging community?

Some of the lesser known ones - Giftex - a company that I’ve never heard about, but has a blog with quite good content on its area of operation, gifting. Score India, a sports development/promotion company that has a corporate blog that sort of goes all over the place and stopped running after October 2006. I am not sure what book launches are doing in there, except for the one on the Commonwealth games. And the formatting is terrible. Tekriti Software’s blog too has not been updated after November 2006, though the content was good, while it lasted!

Does your company have a blog? Let me know if you’ve come across any others that I may have missed out."

September 7th, 2007

What's The Program - A Funky new Lays Website

2007-09-06T19:28:00.000+05:30

Like all brand managers will tell you, the consumers are watching far less TV than before. The need is therefore to engage different sections through different media. Keeping this in mind, Lays has developed the funky website http://www.whatstheprogram.com/ to reach the young and the restless.

Our own young and restless Krishna Kumar says that becoming a member in Whatstheprogram.com the Lays website was fun because it connects people to cool stuff around Music, Sports, Entertainment, College etc. He used it to find the latest movies playing at theaters in his neighborhood. His office PC now displays a Wallpaper from College section of the site “Different Programs = Different Downloads”. One can not only create customized wall papers featuring self and Saif but also can win a chance to feature in Lays commercial. Is'nt that cool? Just log in and enter a new world of excitement.

What Does Freedom Mean to You

2007-08-22T12:16:00.000+05:30

14th August 2007, the eve of Independence Day ... one could see happy and excited faces in the organization. Was it because it would be a holiday the next day? Or was it because our Independence Day brought a renewed and stronger sense of freedom?

Take a look at these pictures and see for yourself how flaunting our freedom and patriotism is the ‘in thing’ in PepsiCo India – Snacks Division.

Our slogan contest – “What Does Freedom Mean to You” evoked enthusiastic participation. Here’s what the three prize winners had to say

“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” – Himanshu Bakshi

“Freedom Means…….’fearlessly exhibiting the enthusiasm in you” – Abhijit Srivastava

Freedom to me means: “Doing a little bit more always ….” – Madhu Rajesh

Frito Blog Featured In Economic Times

2007-08-18T10:18:00.000+05:30

Blog and Get Paid in a Knowledge Economy says Shreya Biswas in Economic Times, the business newspaper that corporate India reads. And Madhu Rajesh gets quoted in Eco Times.

Madhu loves the responses she gets on her blog posts, writing about HR initiatives, the fun things on employee outings and behind-the-scenes activities on product campaigns. It has just been a month since she moved to FritoLay’s snacks division as assistant manager on employee communication. “I really love the interesting comments I get for my posts. People lead you to so many new ideas through this,” says Madhu.

For Madhu, it’s one of her core deliverables on the job front. And there are many like Madhu who are taking to blogs in a big way.

To the various innovative options thrown up as a career in the knowledge economy every other day, add this one — blogging as a profession. Surely, social media is catching up and blogging, being among the strongest, is something companies are looking to leverage. Hence, some like GlobalLogic, Infovision and FritoLay are all planning to hire bloggers. In fact, Communicate2, a Mumbai-based search engine marketing firm, has already hired bloggers to provide content for two of its blogs, internal as well external.

“These companies want to reach out to their customers, their potential employees, trying to create that unique identity as a employer brand. Besides, it helps to get feedback on their products and services through this route,” says Abhijit Bhaduri, director HR, FritoLay.

Sample the action. IT firm GlobalLogic plans to hire bloggers on the rolls for a blog they are coming up with in the next 2-3 months. This, as the company tries to increasingly position itself as ‘a firm focused on high-tech work’. It believes the blog being an interactive medium would be the best platform to talk about the company’s initiatives.

The search for professional bloggers are on. “We are looking at journalistic profiles and techies who have a flair for writing. Anyone who understands the business and draws in readers through good posts are welcome. We are already in the process of launching a blog that will talk about company initiatives and review latest gadgets talk about industry trends. Hence, we are looking for people who could get readers interested,” says Rajul Garg, co-founder & VP, corporate development and human resources, GlobalLogic.

IT services company Infovision has similar plans. It is coming up with three blogs in the next one month and plans to hire some professional bloggers. As for the sources for hiring bloggers, it plans to tap into advertising, marketing and communication professionals. Those having a good marketing background will help the cause of the company, thinks Infovision CEO Aditya Gupta.

Employers feel that a good understanding of the business is important before getting down to writing for the blogs. Blogger hiring, though quite common in western countries and among MNCs, has yet to catch up in India in a big way. In fact, as of now there are only a handful in India which are hiring bloggers on their rolls. This is because blogging is yet to reach a stage in this country where people would be hired to manage an entire blog and provide content.

Nonetheless, some have realised the impact of the medium as a cost-effective medium. As a result, some of the smaller companies like Communicate2 are even trying this out as an option. It has hired three people a month back who are being trained to become pro-bloggers. They will be writing for the two blogs the company has, both internal and external.

Vivek Bhargava, MD, Communicate2, says; “There are regular brainstorming sessions on what could be the topic of posts. Coming up with new ideas would be a challenge for them and the frequency has to be maintained too. Besides, we are also training them on the businesses they would be writing on. This is essential.”

But to begin with, corporate blogging would require people with a good business background. Besides, bloggers need to first get a hang of the subjects they are writing on.

R Rajesh is R Correspondent in Thailand

2007-08-10T15:06:00.000+05:30

Our Marketing guy R Rajesh was seconded to Pepsico's Asia Region Headquarter in Bangkok as Beverage Platform Director. Rajesh is an enthusiastic shutterbug and regularly delights his colleagues with unflattering mugshots of them.

He now shares these pictures of Bangkok’s famous floating market. Rajesh seems to be on the verge of discovering a new platform for sale of Lays. Hey Rajesh! Go ahead and strike a deal!!
Have a sneak view of Bangkok’s most popular floating market – Damnoen Saduak. The Thai name for Bangkok is Krung Thep Maha Nakhon

Rajesh shares :

"The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is
located about 105 kms from Bangkok. The excellent quality of soil beside the
canal makes it suitable for growing many kinds of fruits and vegetables. The
area is famous for Malacca grape, Chinese grapefruit, mangoes, bananas, and
coconut.

Here one can see the traditional way of selling and buying fruits, vegetables, etc., from small boats. A boat-ride along the canal is a great way to see the traditional Thai houses and the way they live and conduct their daily lives by boats.

The sheer hustle and bustle in the early morning as the sellers spread their wares and buyers jostle for a good bargain and the tourists crane their necks for a good shot makes it one of the “not-to-be-missed” attractions of Thailand !!"

To see more from Rajesh's albums of pix click

http://www.pbase.com/r_rajesh1801/

Meet the HR Folx

2007-07-27T08:46:00.001+05:30

Sometime back there was a get together of the people in Human Resources. They expect us to believe that it was for serious deliberations.

It was evident to us that they worked really hard at the offsite - we have pictures to prove that.

You decide what anyone could have been talking about with such an attentive audience.

The name of the location was Daru-hera. Need I say more?

The FritoLay Rack is Everywhere!

2007-06-28T16:58:00.001+05:30

One of the things that always strikes me is the challenge that the Supply Chain guys of Frito Lays face. Getting the crisp bag of chips from the factory to the distributor to the corner shop where you can just reach out and grab it when you want to... thats a tall order. And then you need to have just all the right flavor combos. Maybe you want to try the new MINT MISCHIEF or some other flavor.

That's where the rack comes in. It is there everywhere - at least we try to be everywhere. I went on vacation recently to various places in Himachal Pradesh. The most memorable one being McLeodganj. It is an amazing example of Tibetan culture and of course is most famous for being the residence of HH The Dalai Lama.

The city is busy with the buzz of the tourists. They are there everywhere mingling with the locals, driving a hard bargain over Tibetan junk jewellery or a CD of Tibetan chants.

I saw a street artiste walking a tightrope. Right there in the middle of the narrow lane the young artiste had set up shop and was performing for the benefit of an appreciative audience.

I saw the familiar FritoLay rack everywhere. Here is a photo of the rack at Mcleodganj. If you have spotted the FritoLay rack at remote and unexpected locations, you could send us those photos at fritolay2007@gmail.com along with a short write up about the place. We will publish it on these pages and give you credit. Come blog with us.

Pepsico's Headquarters in US

2007-05-24T06:12:00.000+05:30

Yes, sometimes bloggers do get lucky. I got a chance to visit the world headquarters of PepsiCo in US. This has to be one of the prettiest office campuses I have seen. Located about 31 miles from New York city is the HQ at Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, New York, USA. Yeah the city is actually called Purchase and is part of Westchester County.

Westchester County is marked in red in the map of New York state.

What amazed me was the sculpture garden which is an integral part of the PepsiCo campus. Named after Don Kendall the company's former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, the garden was designed to integrate architecture, landscape, and sculpture.

There are 45 large-scale pieces of bronze, marble, steel, nickel, resin, granite and spruce by 20th century artists. The whole surrounding is just so cool and green. The perfectly manicured gardens and the sculptures tucked away in various corners was lovely.

The one sculpture that is most often photographed is this one. These are all supposed to be the sculptures friends in real life who have been immortalized.

You don't need a ticket to visit the garden. It is open to the public and so just pack your bags and land up here. And yes if you wanted to let your dogs enjoy sculpture, bring them along - but on a leash (says the security guard).

Kurkure's new campaign - Chaitime Achievers

2007-05-21T02:09:00.000+05:30

Ever thought a recipe with your fav snack can make you famous around the country?!! Well, trust the masti'khor' Kurkure brand to bestow this honour on its consumers. This summer, watch Kurkure get more innovative than ever as it awards the 'Best Kurkure recipe consumers' the distinction of being on over a million Kurkure packs across the country!!

This first of its kind campaign in India, launched in May aims at promoting versatile usage of Kurkure and is beginning to receive responses from eager consumers writing in with their most innovative preparations with this crunchy delight to teatime@kurkure.co.in and www.kurkure.co.in!

Powered by an exciting commercial showcasing crazy consumers trying to grab the 'Kurkure frame' - their ticket to famedom, this campaign truly gives consumers a taste of Kurkure in the most innovative way!!

Check out the commercial and rack your brains!!
I'm off to creating my most mast Kurkure recipe - want to team up? ;)

Chaitime masti bole toh Kurkure se bani winning recipes!!

Sharks (Southern) in the Backwaters of Kerala

2007-05-01T08:23:00.000+05:30

Kerala is one the states in south India which is flanked by the Arabian Sea on the West and the Ghats mountain range in the East and criss crossed by 44 rivers, Kerala is referred to in tourism brochures as the "Venice of the East" and in a very popular ad campaign as "God's Own Country".

The Southern Sales team of FritoLay - or the "Southern Sharks" as they are called, decided to have a party to chill and celebrate. What could be a better option than to go to the lazy backwaters of Kerala. The lazy backwaters of Allapuzha (you have to ask someone from Kerala how to pronounce that), earlier known as Alleppey was the venue of choice.

The highlight of the evening was the recognition of the super achievers - the Platinum Award and the Ring of Honor winners were all invited with their spouse, kids (Please note proud baby in the picture)or parents. When the winner came on stage for their moment in the spotlight, there was a video of the spouse or parent which mentioned how proud they were of having a winner in the family.

In keeping with their name, the awards were named after one of the 360 species of sharks. So we met the "Goblin Shark", the "Mako Shark", the "Bonnethead Shark" and of course the "Shark of the Year".

Masti bole तो कुरकुरे

FritoLay Blog features in Asia Times Story

2007-04-26T16:52:00.000+05:30

The Asia Times story on Corporate Blogging talks about Indian firms entering the blogosphere.

M Raja says, "Software giant Infosys (US$4 billion in revenues in the current fiscal year) operates a blog, "Think Flat", with postings from its top brass including from Nandan Nilekani, the chief executive officer and managing director; Aditya Jha, the head of global brand and communications; Stephen Pratt, the CEO and managing director of Infosys Consulting; and Richa Govil, the group manager of its corporate marketing section. While the Infosys blog is heavier with shop talk, snacks major Fritolay started a blog this month offering a more informal report of office outings such as a river-rafting expedition on the Ganges River and events in the company factory. Abhijit Bhaduri, who runs the Fritolay blog, said it is getting popular with employees. "Corporate blogs will grow as we realize the ability to impact on opinions," Bhaduri told ATol. "Today people use networking sites for information about prospective companies even before they have joined work, like networking groups of all MBAs [masters of business administration] or engineers. The corporate blogs help you join the conversation."

Other corporate head honchos such as Rajeev Karwal have begun to publish personal blogs. Karwal's blog says it's intended to "express gratitude to people, organizations, stories and situations which have taught me some important lessons in professional and personal life".

What we discover is that there are many avid bloggers from Frito who we keep bumping into in the blogosphere who blog about corporate life/ life in Frito and their points of view about how the world needs to be run and all that. Here's power to bloggers.

Read the story here http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ID25Df01.html

A New Train of Thought

2007-04-23T10:42:00.000+05:30

The Indian Railways (started on 16 April 1853) have always evoked a feeling of nostalgia among its travellers. Whether it is the steam engine chugging through the countryside or the hullaballoo and chaos at the Railways station, train journeys are an integral part of everyone's holiday memories.

This year, when you plan a summer vacation down south, you may get a chance to get a ride on the Kurkure “Masti” Express. In yet another first, Kurkure became the first brand in the country to have a branded train. In a path breaking initiative, Kurkure has tied up with the South Western Railways to brand 3 summer special trains emanating out of Bangalore (Bangalore-Chennai, Bangalore-Hubli, Bangalore-Nagercoil). These Summer special trains would be branded by Kurkure and would be called the “Kurkure Masti Express”. Kurkure has always aimed at creating “mast” family moments, and the Summer Special trains are going to leverage the season when families go for vacations, thereby giving us yet another opportunity to create fun-filled moments for the entire family.

A brand that has always “delightfully surprised” families through its innovative offerings, this is yet another example of the same. Kurkure has always provided lifetime experiences like a “Tea party on a plane”, and this initiative is going to be yet another initiative to further Kurkure’s promise to provide lifetime experiences.

According to newsreports South Western Railway had called for bids for a unique initiative called Brand Train, under which a brand name would feature along with the train's name in all announcements, on reserved tickets, on reservation charts, on destination boards of the train, coach indication slips and during all information dissemination about the train.

So if you have tried out a Kurkure Train experience write to us here and tell us all about it.

That's a Raft Idea

2007-03-30T13:29:00.000+05:30

White water rafting in India is almost exclusively confined to the northern rivers which flow southwards from the Himalayas, gushing between densely forested mountains and through steep gorges. Rivers such as the Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Indus, Zanskar and Teesta offer `raft-worthy’ rapids, and a trip down a river can be a great way to see the countryside.

At Frito we believe in keeping the adrelin going. When the gang got tired they decided to fight the elements... and sure enough some had to come up with a RAFT idea!! :)

Going rafting is just one way we increase our fun quotient outside the office. What you see here are the adventurous Marketing folks standing there posing before they start. There were a few who were apprehensive about trying on the version of a "leisure sport".

"If you don't try it out how would you know whether you like it or not", said someone who had taken the plunge (literally).

The team that took the challenge and plunged right in!!!

Watch this place to learn about what other groups have been up to.

For those of you who love rafting, what has been your fave rafting destination? Someone sent us this link

FritoLays Day celebrated at Channo Factory

2007-01-06T13:27:00.000+05:30

The factory of FritoLay India located at Channo is in the heartland of Punjab. They celebrated the Annual Day on 25th December 2006. The place is a quiet little hamlet surrounded by green fields as you drive in towards the factory.

I just love the verdant surroundings. There is something endearing about the land and people of Punjab that comes through in each interaction.

I found a map of District Sangrur that tells you the towns that surround Channo.
The FritoLays day celebration is a family affair. So you could see the kids trying out all the games of chance and skill while the adults preferred to sun themselves in the winter sun.

The day ended with a hearty round of Bhangra - the folk dance of Punjab that cuts across international boundaries because of its simplicity and appeal. Bhangra has been mixed with Disco, Techno, Reggae and of course with Hip Hop by the well known rapper Jay-Z (pronounced Jay Zee) who sang Mundiyan To Bach Ke (translation - Beware of the Boys). But what we had that day was the desi version and performed with gusto by the Frito crowd.

So here's to a great year ahead for you and your loved ones. Don't forget to try out a Bhangra move the next time you go dancing.

Bring A Friend to Work - Watch the Video

2006-10-07T13:39:00.000+05:30

Krishna Kumar - who heads Human Resources for the Sales team of FritoLay in South and East India has experienced tremendous success in hiring people through an internal referral process. The campaign dubbed as BRING A FRIEND TO WORK (sounds really cute) seems to be really working for our Sales team. So Krishna turned this into a 30 second commercial - by himself. yes - he loves learning new software. Here's what he writes in to say

"Employee referral is the best way to build talent. Out of 39 recruits, 43% are from South & East. It clearly reflects our employee satisfaction. Have developed a small communication to reinforce the same.

Brief:

Have linked the success of “Bring a friend to work” scheme with our brands. Each one of our brand refers other brands and thus building total commitment across. This 30 sec video gives a sense of “togetherness” and ends up with a note on Employee Satisfaction where all the brands are represented as a family.
This has been worked on 3D Max contains 1000 frames. Animating each brand was the challenge. It was similar to developing a Cartoon movie. Now we are going beyond stereotypical AV…"

Great job Krishna. That was an impressive effort. Congrats!!

If you wish to download the video here's the link just copy and paste this into your browser and reach the Youtube.com site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynfg27tErNU

PO1 R&D Centre Inaugurated

2006-10-03T21:57:00.000+05:30

Inauguration of the new Power of One R&D Lab
Gurgaon: 3rd October 2006

It is finally here. The combined R&D Lab will cater to the Snacks as well as Beverages Division of Pepsico International.

The swank new set up was put together in record time. Here's to more innovations and exciting products from the Lab.

Left to Right: Rajiv Bakshi, Vijay Sukumaran, Manu Anand and Doc TSR Murali.

2006-09-18T01:53:00.000+05:30

My friends and family often ask me what is it like to work for FritoLay India? It is a young and vibrant place, run by very young people. The atmosphere at work is best described as collegial, a tad crazy at times. A very high affinity driven culture where colleagues are also best of friends. Let's ask the people what they have to say.

Find out the answer to the question of the week....

"Who is the inspiration for the smiley that you see in the FritoLay logo?