Kishore Biyani-led Future Value Retail is looking to set up a new format of standalone stores only for fruits and vegetables. “The company is enhancing focus on fresh fruits and vegetables as a category. We are thinking to open new format stores only for that,” Future Fresh foods Limited President K Radhakrishnan told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the Nielsen Company today.

According to Radhakrishnan, fruits and vegetables is a profitable category and promises upto 10 per cent margin after taking into account wastages and supply chain losses. He, however did not give details on the timeline and the number of new format stores the company plans to set up.

Currently, fruits and vegetables are sold at about 160 Food Bazaar outlets located across India. Within the Food Bazaar outlets, fruits and vegetables currently contribute about 3 to 4 per cent to the total revenues. “With increased focus on this category, we are hoping to take this figure to about 10 per cent in the next two years,” Radhakrishnan said.

The company is working on strengthening supply chain and increasing direct sourcing from farmers going ahead. “We are targeting to source atleast 80 per cent of fruits and vegetables directly from farmers as a part of the process,” he said.

The company is setting up consolidation and collection centres to cater to a set of outlets. “We have started with Kolkata already and by March next year, Food Bazaar outlets in about 8-10 big cities will see a renewed focus on the category,” he added.

According to him, currently there are about 160 Food Bazaar outlets in India and many more are in the pipeline. The size of Food Bazaar outlets ranges from 8,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet and the company is looking at dedicating an area of 1,000-2,000 square feet only for food and vegetable within the store.

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