Thacker to expand direct milk procurement

Kolkata-based Thacker Dairy, which sells 'Farm Fresh' milk and 'Cold Rush' icecreams, is looking at a 20 per cent year on year growth on the back of direct milk procurement from farmers thus doing away with middlemen, launch of various dairy products and foray into retail business to stock its products.

The Rs 300 crore Group, one of the biggest in eastern India, is setting up 'Bulk Milk Coolers' in 38 locations in West Bengal, covering around 450 villages in Nadia and North 24 Paraganas districts, from where it will directly procure milk from the farmers.

Each bulk milk cooler will entail an investment of Rs 15 lakhs, and will be located within five kilometres of each other.

Speaking to Business Standard, Nishit Thacker, director of the company, explained, "The idea is to do away with middlemen. This will help the farmers get a better price for their milk. Also, middlemen often have a tendency to alter the composition of fresh milk by adding preservatives and water. By doing away with middlemen, we will be able to procure fresh milk and make better quality dairy products."

Each bulk milk cooler will be able to handle around 2,500 to 5,000 litres of milk at a time.

Initially, the company plans to set up bulk milk coolers in 38 locations in West Bengal. Each bulk milk cooler will cover around 12 villages.

"Since bulk milk coolers will be located within five kilometres of each other, which entails a travel distance of 15 minutes, we will be able to avoid growth of bacteria on the milk," Thacker pointed out.

Milk will be chilled at four degree celsius.

Milk is available at around 38 degree celsius when procured from the cow.

At present, the company is sourcing part of its milk from Visakha Dairy of Andhra Pradesh as well as from 25,000 farmers through four chilling centres across West Bengal.

Gradually, Thacker plans to move away from the chilling centres and use the bulk milk coolers for direct milk procurement from farmers.

In products, Thacker offers five types of milk "" full-cream milk, cow milk, toned milk, double toned milk, and skimmed milk "" under its 'Farm Fresh' brand, priced between Rs 17 and Rs 28 for one litre.

It also offers 'gawa Ghee' and 'lassi' under the 'Farm Fresh' brand.

The company is also rolling out 'standardised milk' which will have 4.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent solid-not-fat (SNF). This will be priced at Rs 22 per litre.

Currently, the company sells 65,000 litres of milk per day and is expecting sale of an additional 15,000 litres post the launch of the standardised milk variant.

Currently, toned milk is Thacker's highest selling variant, making up almost 35 per cent of its overall dairy business turnover.

The company also plans to introduce products like 'dahi', which is likely to be priced at Rs 7 for 200 gms, and will be sold in pouches and cups under its 'Farm Fresh' brand.

Thacker's already manufactures dahi for Britannia which the latter sells in cups.

Thacker has also made fresh investments of Rs 50 lakhs to buy automated machines for new packaging options for its icecreams, like the cup and cone formats.

"We will roll out around 50 push carts selling our icecreams all over the city this summer. Currently, we have 20 push carts selling icecreams," Thacker informed.

The company produces 5,000 litres of icecreams per day which are sold under the 'Cold Rush' brand.

With newer product launches, the company is also planning to get into organised retailing.

It will roll out around 10 standalone stores of close to 150 sq ft each, christened Thacker's Shoppees. These will run on the franchisee model.

These will be set up only in residential areas in locations like Salt Lake, Bhowanipore, Ballygunge, Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and essentially in areas where new residential complexes are coming up.

Thacker's Shoppees would house all of Thacker's dairy products as well as its non-dairy products "" chips, dry fruits, chutneys, pickles, and cashew nuts "" that are sold under the Elmac brand, one of its group companies.

The non-dairy products are manufactured at three of its factories in Kolkata, which so far are primarily for exports. Once Thacker's Shoppees stores are in place, all its products would be available under one roof.

The company is also looking at strengthening its institutional sales as it expects 25 per cent of its overall turnover to come from this segment.

Among the hotels, Thacker Dairy products are currently being used at the Taj, Park, Hyatt, and Oberoi hotels in Kolkata, as well as in hospitals like Apollo, Belle Vue, and coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day in Kolkata, claimed Thacker.