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Delightful Gourmet, which owns the direct-to-consumer (D2C) meat and seafood brand Licious, reduced its losses by 44 per cent to ₹293.77 crore in FY24 from ₹524.18 crore in FY23. The revenue from operations stood at ₹685.05 crore down from ₹746.38 crore in the year-ago period.
The Bengaluru-based company attributed the drop to the closure of distribution channels, especially Dunzo, along with a reduction in exposure to modern trade and local stores as the company started focusing more on owned channels.
Quick commerce fills Dunzo gap
The losses from the closure of Dunzo and Swiggy Meatstore, alongside deprioritising modern and general trade, were offset by the growth of quick commerce deliveries, which increased 35 per cent y-o-y.
Licious platform-driven sales were up 5 per cent in a year rejigged front-end distribution to focus on the route to profitability. Licious expects EBITDA breakeven or to turn in profits in the current financial year even as it aggressively ramps up its offline store network.
Targets 500 offline stores in the next few years
The company is now doubling down on building an omnichannel network and plans to open 500 offline stores in key markets over the next few years.
“During the pandemic-fueled surge in online consumption, we focused on scaling supply and cold chains to unprecedented levels in India, which we’ve accomplished. We are now focused on building a full-stack distribution operation through an omnichannel strategy. Last year has been a transition, with short-term impacts from strategic adjustments. However, we expect to see the positive results of these choices by the end of FY25,” co-founders Ajay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta said.
Currently, 85 per cent of its business is conducted on the app. Its flagship loyalty program, Infiniti, has 2 lakh weekly active subscribers, contributing 58 per cent of the company’s monthly business.
Earlier this week, Licious expanded its physical retail presence by acquiring Bengaluru-based offline retailer My Chicken and More, bringing its retail points of sale to 26.
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