NEWs: From farmer to retailer, he sows seeds of change in Bangalore market

December 19, 2011

INDIAN EXPRESS
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-farmer-to-retailer-he-sows-seeds-of-change-in-bangalore-market/889481/

Forty-year-old K H Krishnamurthy has been a farmer all his life. But one day, eight months ago, the Class X dropout from Kolathur village in Hoskote taluk outside Bangalore city decided he could do better.
“For 11 years, I had been supplying vegetables to supermarkets in Bangalore like Reliance, Food World, Nilgiri’s and Namdhari. I thought I should open a supermarket of my own, where I could sell produce from my farm and that of other farmers known to me,” he says.
His dream came true two months ago, when A1 Fresh World, Bangalore’s first farmer-owned supermarket, opened in Kadugodi, near upscale Whitefield. Hundreds of shoppers flocked to the store — located strategically in the midst of several high-rise apartment buildings — on its opening day, raking up Rs 2.5 lakh in sales. The farm-fresh vegetables and competitively priced groceries were an instant hit and the store began to draw shoppers from several kilometres away.

“I took a bank loan of Rs 18 lakh and invested in this store. It was a big gamble and I am glad it has paid off,” says Krishnamurthy.
A single-storey building, the 4,000-sq ft store stocks everything from groceries to steel utensils to baby food. Fifteen employees manage stocks, man the three billing counters and sort and pack groceries in the small warehouse attached to the store. Five others pick up fruits and vegetables from farms in Hoskote and deliver them, morning and evening, to the store, 15-20 km away. Groceries and exotic fruits are sourced from wholesale markets in Bangalore.
“Every day, we sell 1.5 tonnes of vegetables and fruits. On an average, we get 452 customers a day and make Rs 1 lakh-1.5 lakh in sales, depending on the day of the week,” Krishnamurthy says. His monthly expenses add up to Rs 2.5 lakh, which, he says, is half of what a corporate-owned supermarket spends.
With sales looking up, Krishnamurthy hopes to break even soon and open five more stores in the city in a year. “Now I get 50 per cent of the produce from my farm. But I want to buy more from other farmers. If I can buy 12-13 tonnes of vegetables and fruits from them everyday, I will get a good price,” he says.
He has a habit of thinking ahead. Six months ago, when he zeroed in on this plot of land that he has leased for 14 years at Rs 75,000 per month, he decided to build his supermarket without any help from city-based engineers. He left parking space all around and is now constructing a small room to house an HDFC Bank ATM, which will fetch him Rs 13,000 a month.
“I have to count every penny. There are frequent power cuts here, but I cannot yet afford a big generator,” Krishnamurthy says. However, he isn’t the least bit worried by the possibility of FDI in retail. “I am not a fan of corporates but if it means farmers will have a bigger market and get better prices, then why not?” he says.
Krishnamurthy says customer feedback has helped immensely. He has realised, for instance, that he must stock rajma, dhokla pots and Gujarati mamra to cater to the north Indian crowd. His learning curve has been steep, he says: in two months, he has picked up some Hindi and English, deduced urban preferences for things like baby potatoes which are of little value back in his village, and figured out that the home delivery model isn’t efficient. When customers wanted to buy fish and chicken, he promptly contracted out a small cabin in one corner of the store to a local vendor.
Krishnamurthy’s sons, Adarsh, 16, and Sudarshan, 14, help out with the weekend rush. “Earlier, when we got up early, we would go to the field to help with farm work, but now, on holidays, we come here to get a hang of the business,” says Adarsh, who takes a bus from Hoskote to Bangalore to go to school every day.
The family has about 20 acres of land back home, of which eight acres are devoted to a vegetable garden where every day is harvest day. Adarsh wants to study management and help his father expand his business. Sudarshan enjoys working the billing systems for now.

The store opens as early as 7.30 am and shuts at 9.30 pm. The extra hours fetch Rs 10,000-15,000 more every day, Krishnamurthy says. “My father asks me why I have to work so hard from 5 am till midnight. Life isn’t easy for a farmer. I want to do more, for myself, and for other farmers,” he says.