Bengaluru gets its ‘best’ meat cuts here

The upscale neighbourhood of Indiranagar in Bengaluru is dotted with retail stores. Apart from the outlets of Nilgiri’s, Reliance Fresh and Value Mart, there are two stores of Big Bazaar within a 4 km radius. But New Frosty’s, which started in 1981, has survived and even bested the competition that now also includes e-groceries.

New Frosty’s is run by brothers Koshy Harris and Anil Harris, who took over the day-to-day operations when their older brother Mathew, who ran the store, passed away in 1984. “Those were very hard times when I worked all day and went to an evening college to complete my degree.  Even today, one of us is at the store to check the quality of meat that is delivered every morning,” says Anil Harris, the youngest of the brothers. The store caters to 15 localities and attracts customers from satellite towns such as Yelahanka, Hebbal and IT hubs Whitefield and Electronics City, which are 20-22 km away.

So what makes New Frosty’s special? “There is none to beat us when it comes to our core offering of fresh and frozen meat and meat products, which contributes to 80 per cent of our revenue. The rest of the revenue is from items such as fruits, veggies, dairy products and staples. Good quality pork and beef are hard to come by in Bengaluru,” says Anil. The store has a clientele of over 20,000 customers.

One of them is Sharmila Bhattacharya. “I get a great choice of fresh and frozen cuts of meats; packaged masalas to make chicken pepper fry and pork vindaloo,” she says. In addition to international and national brands, the Harris brothers sell meat products through their own label called KAM’s (which stands for Koshy/Anil/Mathew).

The niche product portfolio and a loyal customer base has helped the store, which had revenue of ₹12 crore in 2014, grow by 10 per cent year-on-year despite having no home delivery. While it has a website, the store doesn’t take online orders. Like a ‘traditional’ mom & pop store, it is open from 8.30 am to 9 pm everyday of the week and employs 50 staff, 20 of whom have been around for over two decades.

The only time the brothers heeded to a changing competitive landscape was in 2010, when they transformed their small cold storage into a 4,000 sq ft self-service convenience store. Smita Vijayakumar who has been buying meat from Frosty’s for 23 years says, “After they converted to a convenience store, it made life easier for me. I now buy fresh vegetables and fruits here.”

Given New Frosty's popularity, e-commerce players such as Bigbasket.com and ZopNow do not seem to have dented its business. The Harris brothers have opened a second 1,000 sq ft cold storage in Whitefield. Asked if he has considered tying up with technology or logistics partners to keep up with competition from the bigger brick and mortar retailers and e-commerce peers, Anil answers, “No, we have no such plans. E-commerce retailers pose no competition to us. Our biggest competitor is M K Retail.”

Unlike New Frosty’s, M K Retail has grown to a chain of seven supermarkets after opening its first neighbourhood store in Indiranagar in 1981. The store offers daily best prices and weekly deals across all the categories of merchandise. The store chain offers a loyalty/rewards programme and is present on Facebook and Twitter. “We are planning to start online ordering and launch mobile app this year. We offer free home delivery for minimum order value of ₹500,” says Shashidharan, who manages the outlet in Inidiranagar.

Similarly, Top in Town, a family-run chain of 12 stores, has two stores in Indiranagar. From a small grocery store of 800 sq ft in Ulsoor in 1992 the store now takes online orders and offers free delivery. “Our customers can shop from 120-plus locations across Bengaluru. Very soon we will launch a mobile app for Android and iOS,” says Riyas Mohammad, a Partner in the company. 

Though M K Retail has lured away 5-10 per cent of New Frosty’s customers, Anil is not worried. “We are confident that customers cannot get what we have to offer anywhere else,” he says.

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