Bhatbhateni: The Past, Present, and Projects
The previous article was about “Why Bhatbhateni is the biggest Supermarket in Nepal?”.
This article is about the formation and the current state of the Supermarket. Along with that, we will also talk about the various social contributions and projects that these massive organizations run. We know that every organization has to start small. Regardless of where the organization branched from or formed, it has to start small. This is because regardless of how much or fewer people, it takes time to build a reputation and become big. Once the organization becomes big, it needs to please people to keep expanding. Bhatbhateni follows this process as well. It started small, became big, and is not pleasing people. So let’s dive into the past of this supermarket brand first.
Past of Bhatbhateni.
Bhatbhateni before it became a nationwide brand was just a small cold store. In 1984, Mr. and Mrs. Min B. Gurung started a single shutter cold store. This store was no different from any normal next-door store across the street. Mr. Min B. Gurng was as most Nepalese were, one of the six sons of a farmer. Fortunately, he got an education and soon started to expand this small cold store. With the starting investment of Rs 35,000. This may sound a lot but considering the fact that he had to buy all the food and make furniture with this money, it is safe to say that this was a small amount. At that time Mr. Min B. Gurung was still working in Nepal Bank. His work was stationed in Nepalgunj.
In 1992, he gave up his work in the bank and started to focus on his cold store. It was a risk that he took. It should also be noted that by this time, he had earned enough profit to expand his store once to the second floor as well. He knew that there were possibilities but at the same time a big risk as well. Using his financial knowledge that he had acquired so far, he began to invest in more products and more space until it became what it is today. Considering that it has only been 28 years which is not even three decades, it is safe to say that the risk he took paid well.
Present Scenario of Bhatbhateni
In present times, Bhatbhateni is the largest supermarket and departmental store chain in Nepal. On an average day, it is estimated to earn more than Rs. 5.5 crore in all the stores combined. That is equal to 550,000 Us dollars per day. If you consider that the combined area of Bhatbhateni stores is 1 million square feet, this amount comes as no surprise though. These numbers just show how large and big this company is. With this large sum of money each day, this company earns an average of 200 Us dollars million each year. Now with a large amount of income, the tax to be paid is also large as well. Due to this reason, Bhatbhateni is among the biggest taxpayers of Nepal and the biggest taxpayer if you just count the retail stores.
The current company has over 4400 full-time employees across the nation and most of them are women. This may come as a surprise as to why they are so low employed when compared to size. If you think about it, each building can run by less than 10 full-time employees and this justifies the lack of full-time employees. Now it is estimated that the maintenance squad is around one-fourth of the total full-time employees and the part-timers are around the same number as the full-time employees. If you add all these there will be more than 10 thousand employees working in Bhatbhateni at any given time so this is a lot as well.
With more than 150 thousand products you can find virtually anything here. This stands true to the main motto of the company which is to improve the quality of shopping for the customers.
Projects and Contributions.
Now let’s talk about what Bhatbhateni has contributed to the society and the projects that it has invested in. As mentioned earlier, once a company becomes big, it has to invest in projects that contribute to the society to please the public and gain their support. Bhatbhateni has done just that. Talking about projects, this Supermarket Giant has invested in developing the emergency wing of Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj. This has not only saved a lot of lives but also helped the people to get better treatment in general. Along with this Bhatbhateni has also donated to flood victims time and time again. Most notable of them are the donations are given in Dubhekhol (1995) and Sungdel (2003) as well as Khotang. The donations don’t stop here either. An ambulance was donated to Tamu Baudha Sewa Samiti in Khotang Village as well.
Along with this Bhatbhateni has also started a project to reduce plastic bags since September of 2009. This is also the reason why small products are wrapped in paper bags in the Bhatbhateni store and big products are given to you in a fabric bag.
