Retail meat omni-channel brand Nandu’s began operations in late 2016 when Narendra Pasuparthy, the CEO, sensed that meat in the open markets was being processed in filthy and unhealthy environments with no consideration for hygiene or quality. More research revealed that there was a large unorganised sector that was primarily responsible for the below average quality standards.
He also realised that his own parent company, the Nanda Group (which has diversified interests in the chicken processing industry spanning feed mills, parent farms, hatcheries to the broiler farms) was producing great quality chicken for many years, but this was unfortunately not reaching the average consumer’s table. The only missing link to complete this supply chain in reaching a consumer’s table was then conceptualised as Nandu’s.
Today the brand has 53 outlets in Bengaluru and five in Hyderabad. By the end of March 2023, the brand is planning to open seven more outlets in Bangalore and 15 more in Hyderabad. Nandu’s is also planning to expand to Chennai.
“We see the potential of Bangalore being at around 75 stores in another three years and around 50 to 60 outlets in Hyderabad during the same period,” said Pavangopal A, CMO, Nandu’s.
Chennai is going to be the next city that the brand is planning to expand to, in 2023-24.
“We should probably look at going live in Chennai from 2024-2025 onwards by opening 10 outlets in the city,” added Pavangopal.
While entering Kerala market was part of the brand’s five year-plan, currently they are not ready to venture into the market.
“We are clear about being grounded in terms of business. For us, growth cannot happen at any cost, it has to happen in a very sustainable manner. In our perspective, growth has to be profitable. Nandu’s is a profit-oriented company. We are the only hyper-local omnichannel meat place that will turn profitable by the end of the year out of operational revenue. Our emphasis and focus on growing in a very economically sustainable manner is of paramount importance to us. So to set up operations in a different city with a highly perishable product with huge dependency on supply chain and inventories takes a lot of effort,” he added.
According to Pavangopal, one of the challenges about Kerala as a market is that there is no singular city which is probably as big as Bangalore or Chennai, barring Ernakulam (which can possibly have a maximum of 20 outlets).
“We need to move out to other cities like Trivandrum and Trissur which operationally is not easy. Hence, at some point in time operational efficiency and other factors become standardised, we will look at entering the market,” he added.
With respect to expansion in Bangalore, Nandu’s marketing and ad strategy is digital coupled with ATL.
Digital Shift
Three years ago, ATL constituted about 70 pc of the brand’s marketing spends. 20 to 25 were dedicated to BTL related activities, and digital constituted 5 pc.
From then to now, digital contributes to 35 pc of the media spend, ATL about 45 to 50 pc and the rest would be BTL.
“We see this shift of ATL plus BTL probably contributing to 60 pc and about 40 pc is going to be oriented towards meaningful digital advertising and content marketing in Bangalore. As we are a relatively new brand in Hyderabad, we will look at continuing the entire conversation with respect to why choose Nandu’s to consumers in Hyderabad and that’s how we look at entering any new market,” Pavangopal added.
The split between offline and online sales of the brand is 60:40, he revealed. Marketplaces and quick commerce contribute 25 to 30 pc of the sales.
“Our single most dominant channel is our retails stores, which we will continue to grow and want to be the main channel,” surmised Pavangopal.
