Breaking the myth of India – a Vegetarian Nation
A perfect recipe for the non-vegetarian Indian palette
India – second largest populated country of the world – and is considered as vegetarian capital of the world with 400 million people identifying themselves as vegetarian. However, various surveys over the years show that the estimated percentage of the vegetarian population is anywhere between 23% and 37%. That leaves a huge percentage of the population with non-vegetarian food habits!
The meat production industry is a vital part of the Indian agricultural setup. According to a research, meat production in India is estimated at 6.3 million tons annually and is ranked 5th in the world in terms of production volume. India is responsible for 3% of the total meat production in the world.
We know what you are thinking!
India has a history of start-ups recognising market gaps coupled with huge market sizes and revolutionising them! Then why is this huge meat market still so raw (pun intended)?
Well, there are an abundant of reasons – a highly unorganised market, procurement issues, supply chain issues and what not! One player, however, seems to have covered it beautifully - Licious! A brand catering to the meaty needs of the invisible population of 70% of non-vegetarian Indians!
Sticking to the recipe of being a healthy start-up, Licious identified the huge meat market of India and identified a potential gap – lack of transparency about source of meat, lack of hygiene and broken marketplace experience and voila! You are starting at the face of next big thing in India!
Licious ticks all the boxes of a typical Indian startup –
Foundation -> Bangalore
Founders -> Three friends - a foodie, a numbers guy and a chef
But hey, India is known for one more thing – competition! India is a country where for every twitter, you have a Koo or for every Amazon, you have a Flipkart! Then why haven’t we seen a brand taking head-on war with Licious? Because taking on Licious isn’t taking on with an individualistic start-up – Licious seems to have all the best ingredients from different startups, all compiled into one.
Confused? Let us try to break it down for you:
BigBasket’s Farm-to-Fork:
Licious has formed a Farm to Fork brand, backed up by a reliable supply chain with a network of livestock farmers and fishermen. This is coupled with setting up of a cold chain system – a high-tech processing unit and a customer base seeking quality meat and sea-food products. Licious owns every element of the meat value chain, also creating a huge point of differentiation. This farm to fork model is similar to that of BigBasket which buys in bulk from farmers directly, thereby ensuring a fresher & healthier produce.
Also Read :
From Farm to Fork
for an in-depth study on this model
Netflix’s Technology:
Ah! Our favourite – we at Finns&Marks firmly believe that success of any new age start-up lies on its technology literacy and Licious fits the criterion! The company uses an AI-based demand-supply algorithm that predicts demand from cities which do not have processing centers yet and products are shipped accordingly from nearby processing centres. Take, for instance, Jaipur. In this case, products are shipped from Delhi-NCR, and within two days from the time of procurement, these are out for delivery in that city. Delicious, isn’t it?
Pepsico like Quality Control:
When it comes to food, quality takes the centre-stage and in case of Licious, quality is the very root of the brand inception. From training farmers to maintain bio-secure farms with zero external contamination, to training procurement teams on handling food using Licious protocols, the brand ensures fresh quality and claims that it sells no frozen foods!
The Amazon amounts of Customer data:
What good is a start-up today that does not have a database of consuming habits of its customers? A careful analysis of the feedback it receives directly from consumers helps the company track not just the consuming habits of its customers but also the trends in a specific city/area and stock up its offline stores with the ‘right’ products.
Speed of Dominoes:
Working with aggregators leads to a loss of control over quality during handling – a problem due to which Dominoes still trusts only their own delivery boys even when you order through Swiggy, Zomato, etc. With more than 200 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in its inventory, ensuring timely delivery and zero or minimum wastage is critical for Licious. Therefore, Licious sells 90% of the stuff through its D2C (Direct to consumer) channel and only 10% through aggregators – which is necessary to reach a wider audience in the start. 90-minute delivery model is also something that Licious is proud of!
No wonder the company clocked a 300% YoY growth since its inception in 2015, From 100 Orders Per Day In 2015 To Over 20,000 In 2021. With presence in 12 cities, 90+ delivery centres, 5 state-of-the-art processing centres, & 2 offline experience centres – Licious has an impressive chunk of online meat market share. With a simple mission statement of not selling what they won’t eat, the founders of the brand have brought a change in perception of meat markets and probably paved the way to soon become a billion dollar brand!
When was the last time you purchased meat? Let us know! And if we left your senses watering for more, don’t forget to share and subscribe for a regular delivery of Finns&Marks!
By: Anmol Gupta | Isha Garg