Head to Iiyndinai Organic Foods and its restaurant that
serve healthy treats ranging from seasonal fruits and millets to ladoos and
spices. For Raghul Dandapani, building customer loyalty is
everything. The twenty-six-year-old founder of Iiyndinai Organic Foods knows
that, despite its myriad advantages, the first experience of a customer looking
to go organic can be pretty underwhelming. The opening months of his organic
store — and subsequent restaurant — in Velachery have taught him as much.
“Customers walk into an organic store expecting it to be a
supermarket,” he says. His simple store stocks around five varieties of rice
and as many of millets, in addition to spices, pulses, oil and handmade treats
like ladoos. “Since it’s organic, and has never been exposed to pesticides,
it’s more susceptible to insects and the like. So we stock it all in small
amounts. If, one day, a customer walks in and buys something in bulk, it takes
us days to replenish it. But if someone asks for a particular variety, we
source it as soon as we can,” he says.
Outside his single-room store, which eschews plastic
completely, with its lines of glass jars and metal boxes filled with food
grains, is a covered garage-like area which houses a few stacks of seasonal
vegetables. Each sample from their suppliers goes through a chemical test
before an order is placed, says Dandapani.
“Nearly 50%-60% of our sales are through vegetables. When
you buy organic, your fruits and vegetables will always be seasonal. I can get
apples for only two months a year and grapes for only three months a year.”
A number of products, which we usually take for granted,
just aren’t an option anymore. “It takes time to explain to the customer that
some of the products they expect, we just can’t give. For example, we can’t
consider maida or refined flour organic since it is refined.
Sunflower oil has the same issue.”
“Some customers are okay with it, but most are not,”
Dandapani says. Those who are okay with it, however, keep coming back, and
bring their friends and acquaintances with them to the restaurant as well as
the shop. The little restaurant is tucked away in a homely tree-lined lane in
Velachery, but people from other parts of the city also visit the place. It
took him some months to realise that his customers don’t mind travelling the
distance. That was when he decided to start delivery services as well.
“In the immediate neighbourhood, the only other restaurant
with similar fare charges ₹80 for a meal. We
charge ₹160, because of the different ingredients we source. For customers just
passing by, that ₹80 is a big difference; they aren’t interested in the reasons
behind it. So, our target customers are those who actively search for
organic food, who are aware of the difference in taste that it brings.”
Like everything else in the store and restaurant, the
delivery parcels are also plastic-free. Think doggy bags made of thick layers
of newspaper, and poriyal, sambar and all liquids packed in
little glass bottles. “We pack the glass carefully and cushion it well, and so
far, there have been no accidents,” he says. It drives his operation costs up
quite a bit. It also makes the restaurant charge a packaging and delivery fee that
is higher than most, “but if you return the glass bottle, we give you the
amount back,” he grins.
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