Nandu's chicken, a chain of retail outlets, by the 500 crore Nanda group is aiming to expand with 10 more stores in Bengaluru. The retail store, providing fresh, hygienic, healthy and quality chicken to the end consumers is a part of the 50-year-old, Nanda group, which is known for having revolutionized the poultry industry in India.

Currently the company operates 10 Nandu's Chicken retail outlets in Bangalore and the brand has plans to expand further, with a 45 crore investment planned in the next 6 months. Narendra K Pasuparthy, Chief Farmer, CEO, Nandu's Chicken, speaks to retail4growth on the expansion plans. Edited excerpts. 

What made you enter into retail? 

We are one of the oldest poultry firms in India. We started in early 60s. What we do is being a part of the entire value-chain- from growing the food for the chicken to, birthing the eggs, growing them, selling it to the shops. In that way, we were involved in 80% of the entire value chain. We had some issues, where some of our sellers started down playing the price factor that ended us with poor margins. Then, we thought of retailing which will make us 100% part of the entire value chain. Thus we got into the retail. 

What are the ways you are unique in getting the customers inside the store?

When you think of a chicken shop, the image of an unclean butcher with untidy looks in a shady place might come into your mind. We want to change that perception of a place where chicken is sold. We don’t cut chicken in the retail shop. We produce it in a plant and bring the final product to the store. Inside the retail outlet, we store the chicken in a way to ensure freshness. We maintain temperature between 0 to 4 degree. We are 100% traceable, where If one buys a chicken from our store and finds any problem, we can trace it back to the minutest detail till which family this chicken came from.

What is the unique factor you concentrate on your retail stores? 

In any chicken shop, you will not see a woman coming freely and buying chicken. We want to change that. Despite being the decision makers, women are not able to buy chickens based on their liking. Our whole idea is to improve the buying experience where women feels safe to buy chicken unlike traditional chicken shops. They should feel welcomed at the store and have best buying experience. Thus our stores are located, designed and framed in a way to attract them.

Tell us about your retail presence and store format.

We have 10 stores across Bangalore. Our target market is people who want to know where the food they eat come from, and customers who are extremely health conscious. Thus our stores are strategically located in a place where such population reside in large numbers. Our retail store format is 300 to 500 sq feet. We give high priority for good ambience, no smell as we don’t cut chicken inside the shop. 

Our motto is to give the customers a farm feel. We stress this through our communications to our customers, that we are farmers first and then sellers. We have more on positioning ourselves as a green company. Our look and feel in terms of interiors, marketing activities will have more green colors.  We focus on simplicity in the store.

Could you tell us about your expansion plans. 

By 2018 March, we are targeting 10 more stores wherever our target population is. Right now, our expansion is only in Bangalore. Those stores might be coming in places like Whitefield, Marthahalli, Sarjapur. We might increase the number of stores in the existing locations. In the long run, say 2019, we are planning to go to other metros. That will happen in a phased manner. 

Please explain your Omni-channel strategy 

We are Omni-present. We are partnered with all the leading e-portals and we have our own portal for home deliveries.  We are particular about to being both online and offline. We are also working on store-in-store model, dark-store model where customers ordering online we serve the customers with home delivery. We are already doing 15 thousand deliveries on a month online in Benglauru. 

What are the in-store activities you host at the stores?

We are planning to start cookery shows to educate the house-wives. Inside our stores, right now we have images of our plants and we in fact, invite our customers visit our units. 

What are your plans for partnering with existing large retail shops?  

We have partnered with supermarkets. Latest one is with Star Bazaars. Customers can buy our products at Star bazaars.  We are getting phenomenal feedback. We are also speaking to other supermarket chains who can target our market.