White Wonder
"Hopefully by next year, Astra Dairy will be delivering fresh all-natural vegetables to our customers who buy our milk. Our aim is to focus on expansion in the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala."
Astra Dairy was the first one to introduce farm fresh cow's milk in glass bottles in India. The all-natural dairy farm based in the Chennai delivered milk to doorsteps every morning. "Our mantra is cow's milk at its purest," RakeshRavindran, founder and chairman of Astra Dairy, who comes with a rich experience in textile manufacturing and exports, but it was his passion for organic farming that led him to explore greener pastures in the dairy business.
It was Ravindran, who had delivered the first bottle of milk to a customer at Anna Nagar, Chennai, years ago. The initial response was lukewarm, but slowly people warmed up to the idea of unadulterated cow's milk, and today he caters to more than 2,000 households in the city, delivering about a few thousand litres per day, at around 25 locations. His modus operandi to increase customer base was simple - explain the methods used for milking, farming and the entire process to motivate people to try, buy and suggest/prescribe this milk to others. "We consider this to be a very good practice," he says with a grin.
The brand celebrates the inconsistency of milk as it is natural. “At times, the milk is watery, less cream, or more cream. We cannot do anything about it, since the milk is natural. Our mission is to make our product to be something that our customers are aware of and welcome wholeheartedly,” he says on the product differentiator.
The company has started churning out ghee, paneer, beverages and kulfi. “Our kulfi is quite popular and available at supermarkets and a few departmental stores in Chennai and also in cities like Coimbatore and Bengaluru,” says Ravindran.
Astra Dairy, Chennai
Apart from milk and dairy products, Astra is also delivering free range chicken eggs to customers in special packing and is also engaged in the cultivation of paddy and sesame. Like milk, sesame oil is also delivered in glass bottles.
