Indian meat industry has the potential to be a global leader. As India’s largest hyperlocal and omni-channel meat brand, we see immense potential for disruption and growth in the meat retail space. There has been a perceptible shift in customer preference, with the pandemic putting the spotlight on health, safety and hygiene. Indian consumers are making a conscious choice to purchase from trusted brands that vouch for high standards quality in products and services, said Narendra Pasuparthy, chief farmer, CEO & founder, Nandu’s, in an email interaction with Nandita Vijay. Excerpts:
How would you view omni-channel meat retail market in India and globally?
The omni-channel meat retail market is at an inflection point. Globally, the meat retail ecosystem has been highly competitive and the pandemic has further fuelled innovation and customer-centric growth among the top players.
India’s meat industry has witnessed remarkable evolution, particularly over the last two years. Traditionally, over 90 per cent of the Indian consumers buy meat from local markets. The meat industry has been largely unorganised, with online players catering to niche sections of the urban population. Going forward, we believe, omni-channel is the way to cater to the diverse clientele in a country like India and empowers brands to meet these demands and win customer attention.
At Nandu’s, we have 50+ retail outlets and further expanding rapidly across Bengaluru and Hyderabad. We also offer our customers home delivery via our e-commerce website, app, call centre orders as well as e-commerce marketplaces.
Where does India stand in the global market in this space?
Given that nearly 73% of Indians consume meat, we have a huge market to cater. The annual per capita meat consumption in India is a measly 5.2kg, as compared to USA which stands at 120kg, hence there is massive room for growth and the category is expanding rapidly with chicken and fish recording the highest consumption rate.
India is currently the 3rd largest producer of eggs and 5th largest producer of meat. It has witnessed a healthy growth rate of 8 – 10% per annum, generating promising returns for the producers and opening up newer avenues of employment.
Indian meat industry has the potential to be a global leader, provided we invest in food safety across production, processing, packing, storage, and marketing of meat and meat-derived products.
From an India perspective, what are its strengths in branded meat sale?
When we started Nandu’s in 2016, the intent was to become India’s fastest growing and largest omnichannel meat brand. For the last 60 years we have owned and operated a completely integrated backend operation. Our aim is to make fresh, healthy and high-quality meat and meat products accessible for all while providing traceability and transparency.
How had omni-channel retail platform concept transformed meat marketing in India?
Omnichannel retail is more than a trend. It is a reflection of how customers want it today. Brands that listen to customers are in a position to evolve and meet their changing demands. Indian consumers are passionate about the meat quality and customising it as per their requirements
Meat retailers’ marketing strategies need to change according to customers expectations. Consumers want to interact with brands, through both online and offline channels. Brands that deliver omnichannel experiences, in which shoppers seamlessly move between different channels but still enjoy a unified experience, which is likely to thrive. For us too, marketing plays a critical role to address diverse clientele tastes and preferences.
How much has the ongoing pandemic deterred footfall into your brick-and-mortar outlets?
The pandemic hasn’t really deterred the footfall, rather on the contrary, people are shifting from local butcher shops to branded retail outlets which provide a delightful meat buying experience with complete transparency.
While the online sales at Nandu’s has increased impressively over the last two years, there is also a surge in customers opting to shop for meat from their trusted neighbourhood store. The number of walk-in customers at Nandu’s stores has grown massively since March 2020.
What are your key strengths?
We have been farming over the last six decades and are among the pioneers of the poultry. The company’s key strengths are that it is the only omnichannel player in Karnataka with a hyperlocal presence and fully-integrated operations. The company owns the entire supply chain across production and retail. This covers feed mills, breeding farms, hatcheries, broiler farms, processing centre, food factory, cold chain infrastructure and retail stores. The poultry products are free from hormones, steroids or antibiotics, and growth promoters. Its operations are evolved around Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). It is a pioneer in India to implement automated feeding systems for chickens. The robotic feeding systems have facilitated cost optimisation, minimised wastage, and optimised efficiency while adhering to all bio security protocols. All trucks carrying processed chicken from the factory to the retail outlets are powered by IoT and GPS devices to help ensure the right cold chain infrastructure. The chicken is processed every day- based on data analytics of what the demand and consumption on that particular day.
Which are the fastest moving products contributing to the total turnover?
Our product portfolio comprises farmed chicken and freshly sourced mutton, fish and seafood. There is also a wide range of heat-and-eat meat products, heat-and-eat momos, ready-to-cook biryanis, cold cuts, ready-to-cook marinades and breaded products, as well as pet food.
Fresh chicken is our fastest moving product, followed by mutton, fish, seafood, seekh kababs, chicken popcorns, and sausages. The ready-to-cook biryani kit, a first-of-its-kind marketed as Nandu’s Nawabi Chicken Dum Biryani and Nandu’s Donne Chicken Biryani which are a hit among consumers. Other value-added regional specialities like Chicken 65, Chicken Tikka masala, and Butter Chicken Masala, are recording a significant sale, contributing about 10 -12% to the turnover.
Currently, what are the learnings from the markets of Bengaluru and Hyderabad that you have garnered which will help to the entry into Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kochi that are already known for such products?
Our experience in Bengaluru and Hyderabad markets has definitely given an insight about consumer behaviour. Access to safe and healthy meat is of top most priority along with transparency and trust. In terms of products, fresh meat is always going to be in high demand. We are also seeing a rapid growth in the ready-to-cook product category that caters to the local tastes of consumers in particular regions.
We are excited about our omnichannel growth strategy that caters to diverse sections of the Indian meat market. By 2025, the plan is to have 300 Nandu’s outlets across the Southern and Western part of the country
There is considerable competition in the space in the online and app-based models so how does Nandu's stand apart?
India is a massive meat market and the online segment barely contributes to about 2%. We see opportunity for multiple large players to come and explore the space and make maximum use of all channels of sale. So, I don’t really see the online space as the sole winner.
As a zero-waste company in the making, our eco-friendly packaging has been a game changer and now the goal is to go 100% plastic-free and all our operations are environmentally sustainable.
Another aspect that differentiates us is that we work with over 300 farmers through integrated farming contracts. Our farmers are exposed to zero market risks and we safeguard them from emotional and financial stress that impacts those who are still dependent on traditional poultry farming practices.
Could you throw some light on the farm and processing units?
As an early adopter of technology, most of our farms are powered by solar energy which make it sustainable and clean. We adhere to global practices at the farms and processing units. Nandu’s has FSSAI-certified production facilities and FSSC-certified processing centres. The meat is hygienically cleaned, cut and packed in certified food-safe processing centres, untouched by bare human hands.
Our hatcheries are IoT-enabled helping us monitor the incubation process accurately from anywhere in the world, courtesy the cloud-based system they run on. This has a direct effect on the quality of the broiler. We are the first poultry business in India to implement automated feeding systems to ensure chickens are efficiently fed on a daily basis in a fraction of the time that manual feeding entails. The robotic feeding systems have facilitated cost optimisation, minimised wastage, and optimised efficiency.
Could you talk about the environment sustainability efforts on your farms and processing units among others.
For us, poultry farming is a science. Right from focussing on animal welfare and re-engineering feed programs to exclude antibiotics, invest in solar energy and smart automation, to consistently reduce our carbon footprint.
Also ours is the only meat company with an in-house sustainability engineer to ensure that right from manufacturing to the standard operating procedures, there is total adherence to green principles.
The chicken litter if left in the open emits methane, a deadly greenhouse gas which powers our biogas plant, to produce electricity to operate our facility. The chicken litter is also used as organic manure, ensuring that our farmers do not need to use any chemical fertilisers for farming.
What are the visible trends you sight in the market?
A visible trend is that since the onset of the pandemic, consumers conscious of what they consume.
Brands that embrace agility and evolve with the changing times will thrive. There will be more innovation in terms of enhancing customer experience. For many businesses, the pandemic has served as a wakeup call. It is only when global supply chains were disrupted, did they realise the urgent need to invest in cold chain as an integral part of logistics.
What are the challenges in this space?
For the meat industry, the challenge is cold chain infrastructure, educating consumers about the importance of knowing the source of their meat, and encouraging an organic shift towards buying from organised players.