CHENNAI: The lockdown has come as a blessing in disguise for the start-ups selling meat and seafood online. The start-ups in the sector have witnessed a significant rise of 300 per cent in their business in a short span of a month. Looking at the overwhelming response of the customers, the companies are anticipating a strong growth and are accordingly planning for massive expansion and leveraging its infrastructure to meet the demand.
“It would have taken us few years to create awareness among customers about the need to buy hygienic meat from our stores and online. But thanks, to coronavirus, the shift has happened in a month’s time at a much rapid speed and our business has seen an unprecedented growth,” said Nishanth Chandran, founder and CEO, Tendercuts.
During the lockdown,TenderCuts has registered a growth of over 300 per cent.Nishanth further added that 95 per cent of the non-veg market in the country is unorganized and the Covid-19 has created a better opportunity for the companies operating in the sector. TenderCuts has plans to double its stores from existing 20 to 40 in this financial year. The company, which has presence in Chennai and Hyderabad, aims to double its revenue in the next financial year as against Rs 130 crore registered in FY20.
Similar are the plans of Fipola Retail India Pvt Ltd. “We were expecting a downfall in the orders after re-opening of unorganised butcher shops as the lockdown is relaxed. However, nothing of such sort
happened. We are still seeing an uptick in our orders,” Sushil Kanugolu, Fipola’s managing director. said. Fipola was getting around 2,000 orders per day in pre-covid time.
The figure has now reached to 7,200. “We were unable to cater to the online demand with our in-house delivery system so we have tied up with Swiggy and Zomato to ensure better services,” he added.
The company is focusing on technology enabled operations, contactless deliveries, expanding product line to ensure better online experience.