Venkesh Chicken Center

We are located right across from the Malwani Gajali Hotel here in Vishrantwadi. The shop is on the Baner-Mahalunge Road, so there's always a lot of bikes and cars zooming past outside. It’s a basic meat shop, nothing more. We get the birds in very early in the morning and start the cleaning process before most people are even out of bed. The floor stays wet for most of the day because we’re constantly washing things down with the hose. It’s a messy job, there’s no way around that. We have the big wooden cutting blocks and the digital scales right there in the front. People come in and tell us exactly how they want their pieces cut. Some want it small for curry, others want it in larger pieces for frying. We just do what they ask and weigh it out. It gets extremely busy on Sundays, that's the day everyone in the neighborhood wants chicken for their big family lunch. On those days, there’s usually a bit of a line and a wait. We don’t have much space for people to sit down, so they just stand around the entrance and wait while we finish the cutting. My hands are usually busy from start to finish. We try to keep things moving so no one has to stand too long in the heat. It’s a straightforward business. We sell chicken, we cut it up, and we spend a long time cleaning up the mess at the end of every day.