Meet Meat One
Meat One does not hope to make it big by targeting the rich – they want to sell to everyone.
KARACHI:
It is likely that you will assume Meat One is yet another one of those solo businesses that aim to maximise earnings by selling to the niche, elite segment of Karachi’s population. After all, they did set up a seven-day-a-week meat shop in one of the more expensive commercial areas of the city and much of the company’s initial marketing primarily targeted exclusive neighbourhoods.
However, on the contrary, Meat One does not hope to make it big by targeting the rich – they want to sell to everyone. The organisation is determined to open retail outlets across all major areas of Karachi within the span of one year.
“When doors of the first shop were opened to the public, we had already started working on two more locations. Right now, four outlets are in the pipeline,” declared Adnan Budhani, manager of operations at Meat One.
Meat One is a part of Al Shaheer Corporation, one of the leading exporters of Pakistani meat products. In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, the team behind Meat One shared that after years of exporting to international markets, the company realised that there was immense untapped potential in the local retail market as well.
Poor health considerations at many meat vendors and the overall eating preferences of the country indicate that they may be spot on. A survey carried out in October 2008 shows that 52 per cent of Pakistanis would choose meat (chicken, beef or mutton) over vegetable or pulses.
“Our meat is being shelved in leading stores of the Middle East. If we can export products of such high quality, we can definitely supply them to the local market as well – the unhygienic conditions under which most meat sellers operate are sure to work in our favour,” explained Budhani.
According to assistant brand manager Osman Saeed, Meat One aspires to be a one-stop meat shop for all Karachiites, not just the residents of one particular area.
“If you notice, our products have been priced very competitively. The meat you buy from Meat One has zero water content and is weighed after trimming, thus our customers get exactly what they pay for,” said Saeed.
It seems as if Meat One plans to replace the traditional meat seller not just by providing export quality, free-range meat but also at an affordable price.
Quality you say?
In the aftermath of the floods, it has been reported from many quarters that diseased meat, unfit for consumption, is being sold in major cities of the country. Recent statistics show that at least 0.2 million animals have perished in the country as a result of the floods.
Some even believe that these figures are understated as livestock deaths in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone have topped 140,000 animals.
These numbers, coupled with the news of substandard meat being sold unchecked in markets have left many consumers irked.
But Budhani is confident about the ‘systems and processes that have been implemented by the ISO 9001:2008 certified company to ensure that only quality meat makes it to customers.
Although the free-range animals are in fact purchased from the open livestock markets of Sindh and Punjab, the Meat One team insists that strict checks have been introduced at every stage of the process in order to guarantee quality.
These checks include ante and post mortem examinations on every animal and laboratory tests on samples combined with a cold chain management system. Furthermore, the meat carcasses are transported from the company’s factory to retail outlets in specially designed refrigerated trucks.
“At Al Shaheer, exports and local operations are closely integrated. In other words, Meat One outlets receive the same export quality meat that is bound for some of the largest hypermarts in the Gulf region,” concluded Budhani.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2010.
It is likely that you will assume Meat One is yet another one of those solo businesses that aim to maximise earnings by selling to the niche, elite segment of Karachi’s population. After all, they did set up a seven-day-a-week meat shop in one of the more expensive commercial areas of the city and much of the company’s initial marketing primarily targeted exclusive neighbourhoods.
However, on the contrary, Meat One does not hope to make it big by targeting the rich – they want to sell to everyone. The organisation is determined to open retail outlets across all major areas of Karachi within the span of one year.
“When doors of the first shop were opened to the public, we had already started working on two more locations. Right now, four outlets are in the pipeline,” declared Adnan Budhani, manager of operations at Meat One.
Meat One is a part of Al Shaheer Corporation, one of the leading exporters of Pakistani meat products. In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, the team behind Meat One shared that after years of exporting to international markets, the company realised that there was immense untapped potential in the local retail market as well.
Poor health considerations at many meat vendors and the overall eating preferences of the country indicate that they may be spot on. A survey carried out in October 2008 shows that 52 per cent of Pakistanis would choose meat (chicken, beef or mutton) over vegetable or pulses.
“Our meat is being shelved in leading stores of the Middle East. If we can export products of such high quality, we can definitely supply them to the local market as well – the unhygienic conditions under which most meat sellers operate are sure to work in our favour,” explained Budhani.
According to assistant brand manager Osman Saeed, Meat One aspires to be a one-stop meat shop for all Karachiites, not just the residents of one particular area.
“If you notice, our products have been priced very competitively. The meat you buy from Meat One has zero water content and is weighed after trimming, thus our customers get exactly what they pay for,” said Saeed.
It seems as if Meat One plans to replace the traditional meat seller not just by providing export quality, free-range meat but also at an affordable price.
Quality you say?
In the aftermath of the floods, it has been reported from many quarters that diseased meat, unfit for consumption, is being sold in major cities of the country. Recent statistics show that at least 0.2 million animals have perished in the country as a result of the floods.
Some even believe that these figures are understated as livestock deaths in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone have topped 140,000 animals.
These numbers, coupled with the news of substandard meat being sold unchecked in markets have left many consumers irked.
But Budhani is confident about the ‘systems and processes that have been implemented by the ISO 9001:2008 certified company to ensure that only quality meat makes it to customers.
Although the free-range animals are in fact purchased from the open livestock markets of Sindh and Punjab, the Meat One team insists that strict checks have been introduced at every stage of the process in order to guarantee quality.
These checks include ante and post mortem examinations on every animal and laboratory tests on samples combined with a cold chain management system. Furthermore, the meat carcasses are transported from the company’s factory to retail outlets in specially designed refrigerated trucks.
“At Al Shaheer, exports and local operations are closely integrated. In other words, Meat One outlets receive the same export quality meat that is bound for some of the largest hypermarts in the Gulf region,” concluded Budhani.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2010.