Minbury: Guwahati's one-stop shop for fresh fish, meat, and seafood

While struggling to get different varieties of non-vegetarian items from different markets, the traditional way can be a tedious task in today's fast-moving world, a brand in Guwahati is offering all under one roof. And it is all fresh rather than frozen.

Minbury is Guwahati’s first one-stop retail store for non-vegetarian proteins, be it fresh fish, chicken, mutton, eggs, and even seafood.

Minbury was founded in 2021 by three young boys of Guwahati, Javed Laskar, Dhrubajyoti Kakoti, and Hrishikesh Kalita. Its parent company is headquartered in Delhi and is Assam’s first one-of-a-kind brand providing ready-to-cook non-veg raw proteins.

The brand has 11 outlets in Guwahati and is looking for further expansion across other cities. The outlets are in Beltola, VIP road, Panjabari, Jyotikuchi, Birubari, Basistha Chariali, and Sawkuchi.

"You can visit our retail outlets and can choose the fresh fish from the aquarium. The product is then cleaned and cut to the customer's liking," said Javed Laskar.

The concept is new in the Northeast region although it has been in existence in many Southeast-Asian countries like China and Japan. "One of our co-founders went to China and he saw the concept. So we tried to replicate it here”, said Javed Laskar.

Starting with a minimal investment of Rs. 4 lakhs each and Minbury also received seed round funding from a Delhi-based investor of Rs.1 Crore. The brand is now looking for the next round of investment to expand in tier-one cities like Delhi, Kolkata, and others.

Being a non-veg solution, they sell fresh fish, chicken, mutton, seafood, and eggs. Among seafood, customers can choose from a variety of prawns, Indian Basa, Vietnamese Basa, octopus, crab meat, and crab sticks. Minbury also sells spot crabs, a rarity in the Northeast markets.

With an endeavor to become Guwahati's first D2C ( Direct to Consumer) platform, Minbury will soon be launching their very own aquaculture. Presently, the establishment is procuring the fish from local fisheries. "The fishes are delivered to our warehouse every morning where they are kept alive and fresh in big tanks. From there we transfer those to the outlets," said Laskar.

To keep the fish fresh, a RAS (Recirculatory Aquaculture System) machine has been installed which helps in filtrating the wastes of the fish into their feed. It not just keeps the big tanks clean but also reduces the nitrate content in the water, thus reducing the mortality rate of the fish.

The founders incorporated the company in November 2021 and started their operations in March 2022. Recently in August, Minbury launched its online platform which makes buying fresh proteins easier.

ALSO READ : Minbury: Guwahati’s first one stop shop for all your non veg needs