Bad way to sell Chicken

Venkateshwarya Hatcheries, better known as Venkys chicken are sellers of ready to eat chicken – kind of KFC of India. Venkys have been around for a long time and I remember their “One minute, 2 minute, minute chicken – Venkys chicken in minutes” ad that ran in my school days. Like most Indian companies, Venkys seem to have garnered exponential growth as the Indian economy has blossomed.

One reason for this growth seems to be shift in patterns of food habit of Indian households. Traditionally Indian house holds are known for cooking fresh food at least twice a day and eating out was a rare practice. Restaurants were reserved for special occasions. However with the woman taking more financial responsibilities and full time employment there is a shift in trend towards eat out and frozen / ready to eat food culture. Venkys have done well in meeting this demand.

As Venkys ambitions have grown they have ventured into Europe, especially Britain where there is a huge demand for Indian food – Chicken Tikka Masala being the national dish in this country. Here comes the “Bad way to sell Chicken” part. Looking at the popularity of Football in UK it was obvious to use it as a tool to market their products. And Venkys did that. But instead of advertising at football stadiums, putting their names on some jersey or hiring a iconic footballer as brand ambassador – Venkys went ahead and bought the Blackburn Rovers Football club for 41 million pounds.

Is it a god idea for companies to buy football clubs? – Not really. First of all most football clubs in the premiere league and for that reason all over Europe make losses every years. So at some point Venkys will have to bear these losses at some point. Secondly footballing clubs have become a playground for billionaires from Russia, UAE and the US.

These guys have immense passion for the game and are not afraid to pour money into the teams to help them perform better. The clubs are their status symbols and they will pour their hearts in them irrespective of the costs. However, Venkys are approaching this from a business perspective. When the Arab prince bought Manchester City FC he went on spend over 700 million pounds to rebuild the team. On the other hand Venkys promised their fans investment of 5 million pounds.

The firing of a very competent manager in Sam Allardyce and statements such as “Protein is needed for sports, chicken has proteins and hence we are buying the club” suggest that Venkys have limited experience in this field. Moreover Blackburn FC are lying at the bottom of the league and relegation chances are very high. Relegation could be doomsday scenario for both the club and the Ckicken company.

Venkys seems to have embarked on a bad ploy to sell their chicken.