How would you like it if the meat you ordered came turmeric-washed?

“Traditionally, any meat that came into the house was given a turmeric- and salt-wash. I would see my grandmother do it,” says Sudarshan Boosupalli, co-founder of Meamo, that stands for Meat, Memories and More.

“Turmeric has proven Ayurvedic benefits and helps kill any bacteria that might be present in the meat and readies the meat perfectly for cooking. That is why at Meamo we have an option of a turmeric clean-up. And because some customers might be put off by the yellow tinge that turmeric leaves, we use white turmeric. When you open a packet of Meamo, you will get a gentle, comforting aroma of the spice. It is one of the ways in which we want to bring back our culture”.

‘Culture’, ‘quality’, ‘choice’, and ‘conscience’ are in fact the four words you would frequently hear in a conversation with Boosupalli.

Meamo, his brainchild, is currently the only farm-to-fork startup in India offering Jhatka meat. It is a brand of Dharmic Vibes Pvt. Ltd. The company recently came out with an announcement of having raised $1 million (approximately Rs 8 crore) in funding.

Culture And Quality

Customers come for cultural reasons and stay for the quality, stresses Boosupalli.

“At every stage of the process, the meat is handled only by Meamo employees to ensure strict adherence to quality and hygiene standards.

“I had the entire chain set up before the very first order. 10 distribution centres. Cold chains. Reputed farms to source the meat from. Today, we have established a true farm-to-fork model with our own abattoir, processing centres, distributions centres across Bengaluru. (Meamo serves only Bengaluru at the moment). Even the delivery boys are from Meamo itself.”

Apart from that, “all poultry feeds are organic. Our meat is free of any antibiotic residue and we have a hormone- and chemical-free policy”, says Boosupalli.

Meamo has over 60,000 customers buying Jhatka meat from them in Bengaluru today.

Currently, around 70 per cent of its sales are to individual customers and 30 per cent to businesses.

Isn’t pleasing individual customers more difficult than catering to the standard needs of restaurants?

Indeed, it is. “Many customers from northern India prefer meat that melts in your mouth; similarly, in the south, people like their meat to be chewy. They like that bite. For many Bengali customers, they like their fish to be cut and cleaned in a certain way. Then there is the size of the animal, and the age of the animal. We had to standardise our offerings keeping all that in mind”.

The real challenge though is with mutton: “Mutton presents a unique challenge due to the fact that a single farm is unable to provide sufficient supply, and there are various breeds and climate conditions to consider. To address this issue, we have sourced our livestock from the north, specifically from Uttarakhand, Punjab and Rajasthan, where the colder climate produces tender and moist meat. This has allowed us to stabilise our supply chain for this particular meat source. In addition, we have also made sure to obtain goats and sheep of the appropriate age”.

And how was the response?

“We are the highest rated meat app in the country today,” says Boosupalli. “Within a short time, we got thousands of loyal customers who have stuck with us firmly”.

And what about businesses?

“Leading brands like Sodexo and Big Basket (Tata Enterprises) have started buying from us. One of the largest pubs in Bengaluru recently approached us saying that they wanted 90 per cent of the meat they served to be Jhatka”.

Choice

What do you do if you want to buy Jhatka meat today? Ninety-nine per cent of the meat in India is sold through wet markets that have their own issues of hygiene. And even these are disproportionately biased towards Halal meat.

The meat market in India has been monopolised by the Halal ecosystem, says Boosupalli, and “our goal is to establish a significant market share for Meamo by offering the option of Jhatka meat in such a monopolistic market”.

“As soon as we announced our initiative in Bengaluru, we received thousands of inquiries from people. Many of these were people not originally from Bengaluru. Northern Indian customers have more awareness about Jhatka and Halal. They told us how they had been eagerly awaiting a place to buy Jhatka meat and in the absence of a suitable outlet, had resorted to obtaining and slaughtering their own livestock. Many had even turned vegetarian.

"This reinforced our belief that there is a strong demand for Jhatka meat and it is a choice that people should have access to. Rajputs, Sikhs, Bengalis and Christians are a significant proportion of our loyal customer base”.

Merely serving Jhatka meat is, however, not enough. Quality is the key. “As I said”, says Boosupalli, “they come for cultural reasons, and stay for the quality. In fact, a large section of consumers doesn't care about Jhatka or Halal as long as it is hygienic meat. This group is also a segment Meamo is targeting”.

Conscience

Throughout our conversation, Boosupalli stressed on a unique phrase that he used for Meamo — ’meat for those with a conscience’.

While Jhatka (one-stroke cut) itself is the more humane way of slaughter, the process at Meamo is that they first stun the animal before it is taken to the pneumatic cutters. “The animal feels no pain that way. We take care that before stunning the animal has no sight of the slaughter. That saves him from trauma. Even the ramps we use to make the animal alight from the vehicles are made of wood to ensure that their feet don’t get hurt as they step on it.”

Meamo’s process, which is more humane, has appealed to, and attracted, the pet-lovers in Bengaluru in a big way. So much so, that stocks of their pet food offerings run out within 30 minutes of going online.

“Our pet food products are carved from the same chicken that we would serve you. While many pet owners may be vegetarian themselves, they still need to feed meat to their pets. They appreciated that Meamo was providing Jhatka meat, which ensured that the animals were not subjected to unnecessary suffering, and also offered high-quality meat for their pets. This has led these pet owners to become emotionally attached to the company”.

What’s next?

"We are planning to open up in four additional cities — NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad. We are also working to launch our aggregator model in Tier 2 cities. In this model, we will approach the local Jhatka butchers and invest in them (cutting machine, weighing scale, vacuum packaging, etc). Once certain hygiene and cleanliness standards are met, we will work with the butchers to serve their existing customers. Our goal is to add value to these wet markets by providing high-quality meat, while only charging a small commission for online Meamo orders and not impacting the butchers' walk-in business."

“This will not only help modernise and empower Jhatka butchers in Tier-2 cities, but also provide employment opportunities without disrupting the existing ecosystem in these cities"

And what about the popularising Jhatka meat?

“Before starting Meamo, we had conducted a poll. To our surprise we found that more people wanted Jhatka than Halal. We have even been approached by five-star hotels who want to keep Jhatka meat on their menu. The hospitality industry will not take risks with something like this. But what choice did they have up till now? That is the standardised, hygienic, and stable option that we provide."

“We are not pro-actively chasing big brands, in fact. Because if and when they feel a requirement for Jhatka meat, they have to come to us. We enable that choice," he says.

farm-to-fork model

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