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R. Balaji

Hatsun to sell products through franchisee-operated outlets

Mr R.G. Chandramogan

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Chennai Jan. 24 Arun Ice Creams, the ice cream brand from Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, is launching a new range of ice cream outlets, Arun Ice Creams Unlimited.

Also, Hatsun Agro, which is the largest private dairy in India, plans to make available its range of dairy products at the conventional Arun ice cream outlets operated through franchisees. This network will also be expanded.

The company sees this as a move to improve returns to the parlour operators, which will help it expand its network.

Outlining some of its plans for the coming season, the Hatsun Agro's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R.G. Chandramogan, said Arun Ice Creams Unlimited is a continuation of the process of `building excitement around the brand'.

Ice creams traditionally are a low volume business. Hatsun is pushing to increase volumes, he said.

The new range of outlets will sell ice cream by the scoop, `aggressively priced' at Rs 20 a scoop of 100 gm, Mr Chandramogan said.

Parlours' feature

A feature of these parlours will be the wide selection of flavours, over 25 flavours with five new substituted for the existing ones each month to ensure more variety.

Hatsun has opened three such parlours in Chennai with 15 more to come in the summer. Another 15 outlets are planned in Bangalore and other centres. Initial indications are that the market response is good with at least 400 footfalls a day during the week and 700-800 on weekends, he said.

The company is investing over Rs 15 lakh in each of these outlets.

Sales promotion

Another move to push sales, he said, is to sell Hatsun's range of dairy products through its ice cream parlours owned by the franchisees. There are over 1,000 such outlets in the Southern States. In the shops where this was tried, sales grew by 45 per cent.

These outlets will stock the Arokya brand of paneer, ghee, butter and curd. By March, they will stock the dairy products, Mr Chandramogan said.

Higher revenue

Apart from increased sales of its products, the advantage to the parlour operator is the higher revenue. With the fixed overheads of rent, salary, and electricity, the additional revenue makes for attractive return on investments.

Of the 1,000 outlets, 670 are in Tamil Nadu, 148 in Karnataka and the rest in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. With the returns attractive to the franchisee operators, Arun Ice Creams can expand this network by another 300, he said.

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