Start-ups expand omni-channel reach to grab a bigger piece of meat market

With the demand for hygienic and ready-to-cook products on the rise after the Covid pandemic, meat start-ups are making the cut with an omni-channel presence to serve quality meat and poultry products to consumers, in the safety of their homes. Bengaluru-based start-up Nandu’s, which has seen a 40 per cent rise in its offline sales, is looking at adding over 30 new stores to its chain or retail stores apart from expanding to two new cities by this year. 

“Omnichannel is the future of business. In the next three years we plan to go pan India with 600 stores in around seven cities,” says Narendra Pasuparthy, CEO and Founder of Nandu's, who left his job as a software engineer in the US to join his family’s poultry business in south India.

Sistema Asia Fund-backed Licious which has seen its order volumes go up by 300 per cent after the Covid outbreak via online sales is also looking at expanding its offline capabilities beyond Delhi and Bengaluru in the near future. 

The company has seen per day deliveries more than double, with a 30 per cent increase in average order value from customers the past few months. “This demand surge is seen across all markets where we are present including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai,” said Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious.

CE Ventures-backed FreshToHome, which currently has 10 offline stores, had plans to take it up to 50 stores by the end of this year which has been delayed due to the numerous lockdowns. “Consumers now understand that going to the wet market is not the most hygienic experience given the safety elements during Covid times. Our omnichannel strategy is offline to online conversion where first customers experience the product at our stores and then after the second or third order, they move to online ordering,” explains Shan Kadavil, CEO, FreshToHome.

According to RedSeer Consulting and Research, there has been a 61 per cent rise in consumer spending on home cooking during the pandemic. With this growing trend of healthy convenience foods, people are looking for healthy food products that reduce the time, effort, and stress of cooking. This has led to traction in sales of ready-to-cook category for meat startups.

Nandu’s, which is seeing a 200 per cent growth in its frozen foods category, is already eyeing a pan India presence through this segment via modern trade outlets. 

“People are now looking for convenience more than ever so we will be adding 2-4 products every month to our frozen foods line in the coming months,” says Pasupathy. The company currently has 30 products in this range and is looking at increasing its revenue from the segment which forms 10 per cent of the total business revenue.

Licious, which has also seen a three times increase in its ready-to-eat category during the last quarter has recently added spreads to its offering. It has kebabs, cutlets and marinades available in this segment.

“Given the fact that most of us have already adjusted to the new normal, the behavioural shifts are expected to be long-term and in all likelihood permanent in nature. This trend is also being witnessed in the growth of convenience food in the ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat segments,” said Licious.

Meat is a $30 billion market in India with over 90 per cent demand being catered to by players in the unorganised segment. Meat start-ups eye to control a big piece of this space with their omnichannel play as they have R&D centres and testing labs to check the quality of meat and technological setups to keep a track of the whole lifecycle of the livestock. The segment is currently growing at a healthy 16-17 per cent YoY.

For FreshToHome, the ready-to-cook segment has seen a three times rise since April and the company is planning to add more varieties to this line such as cutlets, kebabs and chicken ghee roast.