Suguna to set up 200 daily-fresh stores in South

Kochi: Suguna Group, a leading poultry enterprise, has proposed to set up 200 daily-fresh stores under the brand name Suguna Daily Fressh in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka this year.

The company has 15 such outlets in Tamil Nadu with franchisee model, and buoyed by the success, it decided to expand to other States, Mr B. Soundararajan, Managing Director, Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd, said.

Suguna Daily Fressh is a new shopping concept for purchasing fresh chicken in a hygienic environment with the promise of quality, he said.

Mr Soundararajan, who was here to launch the first three stores in Kerala, said that the store will retail fresh hygienic nutritious and tender chicken (8 forms of chicken, whole and portioned), speciality eggs, sausages and salami. These stores will be spread across 200 to 300 sqft of space in prime residential areas and will be set up with an investment of Rs 6 lakh. Kerala will have 40 outlets by the end of this fiscal, he said.

The company also has plans to introduce ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat chicken products in the market shortly. It had set up a plant at Udumelpet at an investment of Rs 4 crore. The stores will soon retail mutton also, he said.

Mr Soundararajan pointed out that chicken prices are likely to remain at the higher level because of increase in raw material prices like maize and soya. Whole chicken now costs Rs 95.

The total poultry market in India is estimated at Rs 20,000 crore, which is expected to double by 2013. The company, with a market share of 20 per cent, is producing 80 lakh broiler chicken a week, he said, adding that the company is also setting up a plant in Nashik to cater to the western market.

Started in 1994, Suguna Group has registered a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore in 2007-08.