A POWERFUL FORCE IN THE MEAT & SEAFOOD INDUSTRY FOR THE UNSURPASSED QUALITY OF PRODUCTS
Arising to be South India’s largest meat retail company with more than 68 stores across Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Vellore, Tirupur, and Bengaluru by December 2021, Fipola Retail India started 5 years ago as an omnichannel meat D2C (Direct to consumer) meat and seafood retail brand with 42 currently operating stores and opening 26 stores in November and December 2021. Fipola has also grown strength to strength in expanding their online presence, where 50%+ orders come from their website and mobile app.
Based in Bangalore, Fipola deals with all kinds of products related to Meat, Seafood, Gravies, Sauces, Cold cuts, Masala, and all accessory products which make it a Meat Superstore. Every day they research and find more varieties adding up. It is almost 500+ SKUs today and increasing daily with a mission to procure, process, and retail high-quality, world-class meat and seafood products at the best prices using efficient, effective and environmentally friendly processes to the highest satisfaction of customers and other stakeholders.
The Unique Business Model
Fipola does not compromise any of the aspects of health, hygiene, and freshness of its products. Perception and experience go hand-in-hand at Fipola. It is a brand known for its luscious, fresh, and extremely well-packed meat that is all set to spread its wing PAN INDIA within a span of the next 2 years with 200+ meat retail stores. Its journey for establishing quality and customer satisfaction has been the most cherished one. Gradual increase in better store interiors, learning lots of dos and don’ts during this course for saving wastages, improving quality, working closely with vendors across India to get the right produce, growth in technology to improve the online platform thereby delivery, improvement in feedback system and implementing the best practices of the western world, all have been a great learning experience for this brand. Now with these discussed improvements the brand is able to gather courage and confidence to take over other Indian markets, thus expanding.
Resilience through a Global Pandemic
Every business has faced its own rise & fall during Covid-19. Organizing resources to work to organizing commodities to sell has always been a challenge during the fearsome pandemic. But Fipola stood out from all others and proved a point by selling essential goods that were necessary for its customers during the lockdown and in fact, it started doing better than normal times. Pandemic has become an opportunity rather than a reason to slow down.
The Customer-Focused Brand
Staying customer-focused, maintaining quality & following are tools that help in regaining the customers and they start depending on you.
Fipola has its own unique ways to retain its customers or even increase them organically. It’s a no-tolerance policy for customer complaints helps its customer contact teams to realize that the customer is the most important part of the puzzle. “We replace or refund our goods to every challenge faced by the customer during their purchase journey,” said Sushil.
Strategies to Deal with the Challenges
Strategies were created initially during start-up. Then changed during these tough times & again as the times are getting better, other sustainable strategies come forth. Primary strategies are always Financial & Cost goals, Customer feedback metrics, Employee satisfaction, and their learning & growth, and finally, process compliance and measures.
Progressing in a Dynamic Industry with R&D
Technology is a large wing of Fipola. They strive for tech as they are a tech-enabledonline player. All analytical results are also gained through their apps and technical advancements. R&D is very significant for the growth of the company. Understanding the requirements from the last 5 years, Fipola has also developed another 5 companies in various products.
The Innovative Work Culture & Employees
Fipola has a huge team & here leaders come with tons of experience in large companies to motivate employees and make a platform for them to grow and earn. Expansion is synonymous with the growth of the employees too as the management team would want the key staff to be growing as the company grows. The work culture of Fipola is one of the best in South India today. Here, the offices are large & modern and our staff engagements are driven by human resource heads from the hospitality sector. Overall, a great place to work.
“The employees should be able to stay with us for a long time. This is a key quality we go for, looking at the person’s past records. Also, flexibility to move across India in times of need is another trait we go for, as we are expanding in different cities”, said Mr Kanugolu.
Mr Kanugolu’s Suggestions to Companies amid the Prevailing COVID-19 Crisis
In these hardest times that the human race has ever faced during its entire evolution, today surviving in these times is the biggest challenge that anyone can face. The tip that Sushil Kanugolu wants to give the world, after coming out victorious over other business players is that “Do not waste time waiting for the good times to come back or do not stay back with living in your glorious past, spring up immediately with time and environment and bounce back. Think of an idea that can survive in the circumstances and work towards it. It may be entirely different from what you have been doing. But it doesn’t matter. Bouncing back and surviving is the most important thing here.”
Fipola– Future Plans & Achievements
Fipola has been always synonymous with the Press and awards. It has been featured several times quite from its inception to now. Recently, the firm has been honoured with the prestigious Times Business Award and that too as the ‘Best Meat Retail Brand’ in both Chennai & Hyderabad in 2021. They also bagged the Times Business award last year in 2020. Moreover, they were also awarded Tamil Nadu’s Best Brand for Leadership 2020.
Arising to be South India’s largest meat retail company with more than 68 stores across Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Vellore, Tirupur, and Bengaluru by December 2021, Fipola is all set to spread its wing PAN INDIA within a span of the next 2 years with 200+ meat retail stores.
The Flag Bearer
Sushil Kanugolu, Founder and Managing Director, Fipola Retail India Pvt Ltd is an innovative entrepreneur having firsthand experience in the Meat and Seafood Industry. He is a commerce graduate and completed his Mastersin Supply Chain and Operations Management from the Manchester Business School. In the past, he was the Director of SR Marine Foods Pvt Ltd.
Sushil Kanugolu gives the message to the readers, “Keep fighting all odds, to sustain. As I personally have seen tough days and as we keep pushing ourselves and set our foot strongly in 3-4 years, we start reaping fruit slowly. So don’t give up and live with your dreams till they are full-filled even in odd situations, that may sometimes prove we are not correct. Patience and sustenance are key.”
