TenderCuts Turns Profitable After 2024 Restructuring as D2C Meat Delivery Shifts to Omnichannel Model
Chennai-based TenderCuts (founded 2016) posts turnaround, now profitable after a deep 2024 reset
Earlier crisis: rapid pre-2023 expansion to 75 stores across Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru → severe cash crunch in 2023 amid rising delivery costs and funding slowdown
Acquired by Delhi-NCR based GoodToGo — enabled operational continuity; both brands run separately while sharing infrastructure and admin
Restart: scaled back to 13 stores in 2024, rebuilt from ground up
Sector backdrop: online meat delivery startups broadly pivoting from pure-play online → omnichannel due to high delivery costs, cold-chain capex, customer acquisition challenges
Sasikumar Kallanai (Co-founder & CEO): reset focused on 3 levers — store economics, supply chain, cost structure
Store format change: moved from large outlets → ~1,000 sq ft neighbourhood stores serving both walk-in and online demand on shared infra/staff/inventory
Result: higher order velocity and throughput, reduced idle capacity, better unit economics
Capex per store more than halved by December 2024
Store-level breakeven timeline: crashed from ~2 years → under 1 year
Growth strategy shift: geographic spread → cluster-based growth — better utilisation of existing supply chain infra, lower incremental costs
Supply side: streamlined sourcing optimised last-mile delivery to cut variability and leakage
Demand side: ~85% orders from repeat customers, 88% organic traffic — slashes marketing spend
Core philosophy: unit economics must work at micro-market level, not just in aggregate
Kallanai's mantra: every store and every order must contribute positively before scaling