Country Delight Expects 2x Revenue Growth
Indeed, Country Delight (CD) has grown to become India’s leading D2C fresh food essentials brand, offering dairy, fruits and vegetables to consumers' doorstep. The company’s business model ensures fresh deliveries in 24-36 hours facilitated by a fully integrated, just-in-time supply chain model. "Country Delight’s quality first DNA approach with a focus on freshness enables a tangible differentiation in product quality. CD enters a household with fresh milk as the hook and does around 8 million deliveries per month across 15 cities with a supply chain across 11 states in India. In the last three years, Country Delight has grown 10x in scale and is currently at around Rs 900 crore ARR (Annual Recuring Revenue)," Chakradhar Gade, CEO & Co-founder, Country Delight tells BW Businessworld.
On an operating revenue basis, CD expects to close FY22 with an operating revenue of over Rs 600 crore, virtually double of what it generated in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue is the sum total of a company's profit after subtracting its regular, recurring costs and expenses whereas Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the amount of predictable revenue generated in a year.
The company's business model ensures new deliveries in 24-36 hours facilitated by a fully integrated, just-in-time supply chain and subscription-based model. VIP memberships are offered at reduced prices to consumers and can be renewed at regular intervals.
Revenue, Challenges
Can you please share the revenue numbers for the past few years? "Of course! From Rs 19 crore in operating revenue in FY18, Country Delight jumped three times to log in Rs 65 crore in the next fiscal, and pole-vaulted to Rs 175 crore in FY20. The rapid pace continued after the pandemic," Gade said. From Rs 321 crore in FY21, the brand is likely to end FY22 at Rs 600 crore. In order to continue the growth momentum, CD has raised $108 million in a Series D funding round led by Nicholas Cator-backed Venturi Partners and Temasek, Gade informed.
What Kind of challenges did you face initially? "We started this business without a dairy background and little money. Coming from a finance background we had to figure everything out from scratch," he confessed. For the promoters and founders, there was a lot to figure out like how to procure milk, fix the last-mile delivery, and also how to deal with customer acquisition costs, Gade added. "But we were able to overcome these challenges by integrating our supply chain with technology. Technology, customer feedback and research all played a major role in helping us to arrive at the product base we have today," he said.
What is your ultimate vision? "Our vision has always been to become a natural wellness brand in the Indian market," said Gade. "We want to become a one-stop space for people looking for products that help them live better," he said. As a company, the way CD moves forward is to innovate and adapt to the dynamic nature of the essential food market. "We continuously evaluate and improve all our processes to meet new and challenging customer requirements as and when they arise," he added.
Market & Opportunity
What are the market size and opportunity for CD? Gade says the India’s fresh food and staples market is expected to cross $50bn+ by 2025. But it is riddled with challenges. For example, Gade said over 60 per cent of the fresh foods market is in the unorganized segment and with limited cold storage capabilities, fragmented logistics chains, and inadequate visibility of product quality across the supply chain. "Country Delight, with its quality first DNA and tech-enabled supply chain, aims to solve these challenges. We at CD have taken a tech-driven, consumer-centric approach to solve these problems by delivering Natural, Fresh, and Minimally processed food essentials sourced directly from farmers across the country, delivering to the doorstep of consumers every single day," he said.
Going forward CD wants to build an inclusive business while solving customer problems and empowering the farmer community. "CD should be the one-stop platform for wellness. Hence, our mantra is "Live Better"," said Gade.
