Down to the bone: Young consumers increasingly want clean, portioned and recipe-ready meats
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indian consumers are driving a surge in demand for boneless meat that is upending how chicken, mutton, pork and seafood are processed, stored and priced. Companies across the organized meat sector say the shift in preferences has been visible over the years, especially among younger households and consumers willing to pay more.
Zappfresh, an online meat delivery platform, says demand for boneless meat has risen 10-15% annually for a decade. Licious claims boneless now accounts for almost 30% of its portfolio – it didn’t provide a comparative figure. “It comes down to willingness to pay.
People who are happy to pay a premium choose boneless because the price difference is significant," said Deepanshu Manchanda, founder and CEO of Gurugram-based Zappfresh. Even those who prefer not to shop online are willing to pay more for boneless meat. And it’s not a case of paying more for less.
“You trim more and lose more weight, so boneless has to cost more," said Imran Qureshi, a butcher in Delhi’s Ghaffar Manzil area. “Customers think we’re charging extra for less, but actually we earn less on boneless than on bone-in." At Qureshi’s shop, bone-in chicken sells for ₹170- ₹200 per kg, while boneless chicken goes for ₹300- ₹350 per kg. Boneless chicken commands a hefty premium — often 70–100% higher than bone-in.
On Licious, boneless meat works out to about ₹688/kg versus ₹367-411/kg for bone-in, while on Zappfresh it’s ₹423/kg compared with ₹215/kg for bone-in. Much of the boneless meat demand is driven by psychology as much as cooking behaviour. Manchanda points to what happens in home kitchens: when bone-in meat is heated, natural pigments that look like blood seep out.
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