Gharana Foods’ authentic ethnic snacks focus on clean label products without any artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Image courtesy of Kathy Travis
Joyce Fassl is the former Editor-in-Chief of ProFood World.
Twenty years ago, many Indian communities in the U.S. created homemade foods in batches to sell in local ethnic stores. As the popularity of these snacks grew, Edison, N.J.-based Gharana Foods needed to expand its operation. Today, the Indian snack food producer continues to make sweet and savory snacks with homemade appeal, but with increased efficiency due to automation.
Five years ago, Amit Patel, Co-Owner of Gharana Foods, left his job in the tech industry to run the family business, so his parents could ease into retirement. “I was the most logical choice,” explains Patel. “I had the tech expertise, plus I had experience with the food.” More recently, Patel’s focus has been on process improvement and efficiency, as well as modernizing the operation with automation.
The company produces Original Chakri (a rice flour-based, spiral-shaped, buttery, salty, savory, mildly spicy, and extremely crunchy snack), Jalapeño Chakri (a rice flour-based, spiral-shaped, buttery, salty, savory, jalapeño spicy, and extremely crunchy snack), and Sweet Shakkar Para (sweet sugar pieces made from all-purpose flour, sugar, water, and oil tasting similar to the crispy edges of a funnel cake).
With Patel’s mother creating the snacks and his father’s background in engineering, Gharana Foods was able to keep that homemade taste for years using his dad’s original equipment fabrication. But the family knew they had to update to more modern equipment.
“Imagine working with chili powder, jalapeño powder, salt, and other spices that aerate when you do it by hand. It’s just very uncomfortable,” says Patel. In the past, the family produced small batches requiring about 50-60 spice mixes per day. Not only was this labor intensive, it also resulted in less than optimal accuracy. Today, Gharana makes larger batches requiring 20 spice mixes per day utilizing three Versifeeders with custom software that gives plant floor workers the flexibility to easily move from between making a spice mix, and back to other duties.
“My parents made our spicy mix manually via memory at the expense of their hands and noses,” says Patel. “While we only needed to perform this task 20-25 times a day, we needed something that could scale and provide an automated way that could be used by any employee to dispense our core spices [salt, chili powder, dehydrated jalapeño] in controlled and small amounts without exposing the recipes to the employees.”
Three gain-in-weight Versifeeders from Vibra Screw deliver more accuracy and require less labor for Gharana Foods. Image courtesy of Joyce Fassl
Investing and automating save time
A few years ago, Patel discovered Vibra Screw through a Google search, but he wasn’t quite ready to contact the equipment supplier because he was still working on all the automated changes to the previously manual manufacturing process.
After reviewing all the ingredients his company uses, Patel decided that he required feeders to boost efficiency.
In 2023, Patel was ready to make the call. “Vibra Screw worked with us to create three independent gain-in-weight feeders, along with a custom-programmed touchscreen to dispense our spices,” explains Patel. “They provided a scale and a stand that I put on a small track to manually move between the feeders depending on which ingredient needed to be dispensed.”
Proper feeder programming was essential to project’s success. Once the feeders were installed, Patel realized he had to make some changes. “You don’t really think it through until you’re using it, and then you realize things can be tweaked a little bit to improve the workflow,” explains Patel.
Each Vibra Screw gain-in-weight feeder is designated to a specific spice mix. “Since all our products use three ingredients, it wouldn’t make any sense to perform changeovers for different product runs,” says Patel. “I would probably get a fourth feeder if we needed something new.”
Feeder washdown involves emptying the vessel, and then adding hot water and a little bit of de-greaser. However, the salt feeder requires a specific cleaner and sealer that prevents rusting.
Vibra Screw supplied a gain-in-weight batch system consisting of three sanitary design Versifeeders, a batch scale, and a custom programable controller. One of the feeders has a 3/4-in. feed screw; the other two have a 1-in. feed screw. Hopper sizes are 1.5, 2, and 3 cu ft and are flange bolted to the feeder trough to allow for increased storage capacity in the future. The hoppers are fitted with low-level probes to signal a refill requirement. The spice feeders are 304 stainless steel, while the salt feeder is 316SS.
The scale accommodates Gharana’s batch container and is rail mounted so it can be readily positioned beneath the operating feeder. A ratio between what the scale can pick up and what it can discharge allows the unit to handle the minute amounts of ingredients required in this application.
The feeders are controlled via the central programmable controller, allowing the processor to input proprietary recipes as production requires. All three feeders are programmed to run in serial.
A horizontal form/fill machine prints date codes while still providing a homemade look and feel to the packaging. Image courtesy of Joyce Fassl
Controls and touchscreens add value
The original project goal was to make the user interface as easy as possible to operate. “I always looked at it as if an employee who rarely uses a cell phone has to use this piece of equipment,” says Patel.
Because his mother is still involved in production, Patel also needed is to ensure someone who may not be up to date on technology can easily understand what each screen means. “I took our manual process and wrote it down. Then I took my software background and applied that to what we needed,” he adds.
Production increases by 40%
“All the automation we’ve done has scaled this business. In the last five years, the business has done 40% more daily production than what we were doing five years ago,” states Patel.
For example, conveyor installations sped production. “When we added conveyors, one of our products that needs to dry out a little bit processed faster,” explains Patel. “We ‘created time,’ and it wasn’t done intentionally. Something that took two days now it takes one day.”
Plus, two decades ago, Gharana Foods was placing pre-printed labels on bags by hand, manually date-coding them, and then sealing the bags ready for distribution. Today, the company has a horizontal form/fill machine that prints the codes while still providing a homemade look and feel to the packaging. Clear packaging uses a high-end film that has a built-in moisture barrier to prevent product from going stale during its four-month shelf life.
The main benefit of the feeder project was saving time and energy, says Patel. Employees don’t have to feed the feeders as often. The process has become a rote task. “That’s ultimately the win. It’s now a parallel task versus a serial task.”
“Vibra Screw is New Jersey based, which made my experience comfortable. I realized working with local companies is much more useful if you need parts,” says Patel. “Vibra Screw delivered in a timely manner with clear communication and provided unparalleled support throughout the installation and startup process.”
Welcome to the inaugural Packaging World/ProFood World Innovations Report on liquid food packaging, drawn from nearly 300 PACK EXPO International booth visits (Chicago, Nov. 3–6, 2024). Our editors highlight the most groundbreaking equipment and materials—supported by video demos—that promise to transform how liquid foods are processed, packaged, and delivered.
Three gain-in-weight Versifeeders from Vibra Screw deliver more accuracy and require less labor for Gharana Foods. Image courtesy of Joyce Fassl
