A 100% export-oriented unit, Ready Foods is promoted by an NRI entrepreneur, T V Raja Reddy. The company's main activity is processing vegetables, fruits and Indian food delicacies and exporting them. The processing plant is located at Madanapalli in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It has an installed capacity to process 24,000 tonnes of vegetables and fruits and 6000 tonnes of Indian food delicacies. The state-of-the-art imported plant with German technology has been put up and commissioned by turnkey contractors Rheinhold & Mahala, Germany. Its cold storage facility at Madras Port is coming up. Since the processed food industry is consumer-driven, marketing plays an important role and it becomes more difficult when the market is abroad. The overseas operations are managed well by the promoter Raja Reddy who has considerable business interests in Germany and has 14 valuable years of direct experience in this line of activity. This has enabled the company to forge tie-ups with Frigotrade, Germany, to serve Europe. The famous Marks & Spencers, UK, has also evinced interest in the company's products. Ready Foods has got a wide product mix in broccoli, romansesco, french beans, green chillies in vegetables; mango, pineapple, and tropical fruits; fried rice, snacks, prawn dishes, chicken items, etc, in Indian delicacies. Once the company's operations are in full stream, it wishes to cater to South-East Asia and the Gulf countries. Destination wise, 60%, of sales goes to Germany, 25% to the UK, 15% to the US and Belgium. Nord Germuse of Germany, Noon Plc, UK and Fisher Frozen Foods, UK are the key customers. Ready Foods Inc, San Fransisco, US, is involved in the US distribution. The company plans to add more products to its portfolio. These include baby foods, jelly sweets, spices, ready-to-use pastes, special pappads, chilled foods, chicken sausages, etc.