The man who brings fresh organic as well as non-organic vegetables and fruits to Goa is a computer engineer. Edward Mendes, who worked for many multi-nationals in India and abroad, is now providing his customers fresher and cheaper fruits and vegetables. AgroFresh buys the produce directly from farmers thus eliminating middle-men and eventually cutting down on cost. Also, the farmers are paid directly by the company get a better deal than they usually get from middle-men. Mendes also runs an institute of hotel management ‘Reach’ in Navelim.
“I was attending an exhibition three years back in Mumbai and there AgroFresh were looking out for franchises in different states, including Goa. I then did a detailed study for two years and finally I took this business up only in September 2017. We have farms jotted down in various places in India which provide us the fresh organic and non-organic produce. We will go online very soon. However, so far we are using social media platforms to advertise,” said Mendes who runs a master franchisee of AgroFresh in Goa.
The company is planning to launch its customised app very soon and will also ensure that in designated areas and their reach home delivery will soon be starting along with e-carts which will be based on e-rickshaws.
“We do not have a large inventory as we believe in selling fresh and we do have concepts like ‘offer for the day’ etc. We also sell our fruits and vegetables to big malls as they get it from us much cheaper than the market. To keep our inventory fresh we use cold storage which has a temperature regulator,” added Mendes.
When asked about their competitors like Taza Tokri etc, he quipped that, “we do not consider Taza Tokri as our competitor as they procure vegetables and fruits from Belgaum etc. We have more than 200 products which includes vegetables, herbs, fruits, spices, ready to eat, ready to cook and pro-biotics etc while they only deal in vegetables primarily,” said Mendes.
Logistics is also an issue in this business. The produce in Haryana is cheaper than the produce in Nasik which is closer to Goa. “Haryana produces it in a larger scale, specially the organic vegetables and that is why we can get it cheaper. The mode of transportation is also simpler,” added Mendes.
AgroFresh has also recently launched its drive for membership which is at nominal rate and the members get an assured supply for fresh product and it also helps the procurement process from the farmers.
“Whereas people in Goa are not very well aware on what is organic, we want to introduce a movement so that people in Goa are aware of what is organic. We want to educate them how an organic produce is grown and what are the advantages of organic food. We will launch a mass programme soon which will include tours, seminars and workshops for educating people and farmers,” added Mendes.
