"Nothing to worry about Bird Flu," says Nandu's, Karnataka's leading meat retail brand

Bangalore: While many companies claim to operate on the farm-to-fork model, Nanda Group is among the few poultry businesses in India that have fully integrated back-end operations. They own their own hatcheries, feed mills, breeding farms, broiler farms, processing centres, food factories, cold chain infrastructure and retail stores. "Given that we own the entire supply chain, we can guarantee 100% traceability and transparency in our operations. We have expert veterinarians who monitor the process at every level and stage to ensure that the products are not just safe but meet the global certified standards," says Narendra Pasuparthy, CEO and Founder, Nandu's, the retail arm of the group. 

Talking about the current bird-flu and its impact on the industry, Naren says, "Having grown over 60 million birds in the last 15 years without any instance of an outbreak at our farms, we strongly believe that there is absolutely no reason to worry about Bird flu! The high-end biosecurity measures at our farms, our feed formulation of nutritious feed, FSSAI certified production facility, FSSC certified processing centre and end-to-end cold chain system has helped us deliver fresh, safe and anti-biotic free chicken to our consumers every day. We  can proudly claim that our process innovation and cutting-edge technology has ensured that we remain the most trusted brand in this segment."

 "We believe that our consumers at Nandu's have the right to know what they are eating; how the chicken were grown; how they were processed; and how they were finally brought to their homes. We’re committed to providing our customers with safe and tasty food and will continue to lead the industry standards with stringent protocols and robust systems put in place," adds Pasuparthy, fondly known as Naren.  

 The size of the chicken market in Bengaluru alone, is in the region of INR 3,500 crores annually and almost 90 percent of that is in the wet markets. Nandu's, India’s leading omni-channel meat brand, is addressing this huge gap through its customer-first approach and high-quality meat products made available online as well as through their branded retail stores across Bangalore.  

 Naren, an engineer-turned-entrepreneur, calls himself the ‘Chief Farmer’ and CEO of Nandu’s. He joined his family business Nanda Group, set up by his father PS Nandakumar in 1963 after he returned from USA. In 2017, Naren launched Nandu's retail as an extension of the group - to transform the meat industry by connecting their existing bio secure and world class farming high-tech sustainable processes in the poultry business with a last mile-connectivity. "Today customers not just trust Nandu's but also believe in the quality and safety protocols that we undertake," adds Naren. 

 There are many firsts to Nandu's credit. It is the first meat retail brand in India to successfully roll out a CRM and loyalty program for all its retail consumers. The retail brand has also been undertaking mystery audits in all its stores to enhance the experience of customers visiting the stores. “We deployed Net Promoter Score (NPS) – the first meat brand in India to introduce NPS in meat retail – to gain valuable insights into our customer experience. We are constantly striving to learn and improve. Our Ready to Cook/Eat range of products including the recently launched Nawabi and Donne Biryanis are designed on the basis of customer feedback,” he added. 

 Nandu’s plans to have 600 brand stores across India in the next 2 to 3 years with a goal to be India’s fastest growing and largest omni-channel meat retail chain. “As a truly omni-channel brand, we will continue to offer customers home delivery via our e-commerce website, app, call centre orders as well as e-commerce marketplaces. The vision is to make fresh, healthy and high-quality meat and meat products accessible to customers, irrespective of where they are based,” said Naren.