Muslims in Indian Economy Series-1

Fruit Shop: creating magic with fruit juices

By M Anwaruddin

www.khabrein.info Muslims in India play an important role in all walks of life today. In education, politics, business and economy they are making strides along with the nation. Khabrein.info is beginning a new series focusing on Muslims’ contribution in Indian economy.

Fruit Shop in Chennai is not an ordinary fruit shop. It was a humble beginning though just over a decade ago that has gone on to create waves not only in Chennai with its ever increasing number of branches, but beyond the state as well.
Theirs’ is a pleasant, quiet place and if you happen to drive in and decide to have the juices sitting in your car, that’s possible. There is a menu hanging on their gate for the perusal of all those who prefer to be in the privacy of their cars.
As one enters their Greams Road branch, their first branch, the first thing that will greet you would be a shelf stocked with fruits, which they also sell. Several people say that they first tasted a kiwi fruit at Fruit Shop.
Prices of juices start from Rs 10 for a Lime Mint Cooler and the most expensive drink is well within the Rs 100 mark. Their Lime Mint Cooler is one to down if you are feeling tired? Even if you don’t feel tired that’s the most refreshing drink to have.
All their juices have exotic names. So if you want more clarification regarding the contents of the juice in addition to the ones on the menu, ask the bearer. Flosbury Flop, Ethel’s Choice, The Blue Dot Special, Sheikh’s Shake, just a gist of what you might see on their menu.
But this was not the same when Fruit Shop was launched exactly 12 years ago. When two friends Harris Abdulla and Mohammed Salim first set up a tiny juice bar in Chennai in 1995, they were the object of much ridicule within their families. Their families that were in plywood business did not approve of their dabbling in such a small business like running a juice shop.
Their disagreement was also due to the fact that the two friends had chosen a relatively low-profile address — Greams Road — to kick off their enterprise. “Our families laughed at us and thought we were crazy. And to top it, we ended up selling more colas than juices. We quickly learnt that only patience would help us survive,” Abdulla says.
But Abdullah and Salim had the last laugh. Today they not only have their Fruit Shop in best commercial areas of Chennai but the small 250 sq. feet shop has grown into a 11-store chain with outlets all over Chennai — including the campuses of companies like Infosys and Cognizant — and the company’s revenues currently stand at roughly Rs 4.5 crore. They have a big expansion plan not only in case of increasing the number of outlets they already have but also launching their own fresh fruit juice brand. They are launching two more outlets in Chennai over the next couple of months, the Dubai outlet will be functional very soon. And they are looking at setting shop in Bangalore and Hyderabad thereafter. Abdulla says that they are a little conservative in case of expansion. He says hat they want to ensure that first a formidable and dependable supply chain is in place.
The duo have run some of the most attractive ad campaigns in the city that has helped Fruit Shop become one of the brands most associated with Chennai, according to a survey by Ford.
One of their ads was appreciated by Chennai Police department. The ad bore tagline "It's ok to drink and drive". They were talking juice, of course, and at that point the need was to promote drinking juice over the more popular soft drinks. Another novel ad that they ran was "Put your lips to good use", accompanied by two orange pods arranged as a pair of lips.