The American author Ann Wigmore has asserted, “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” Whatever we intake in form of food must be clean and fresh. In the present times, people have become more conscious about their health and overall well-being. That is one of the major reasons, the health and nutrition sector is booming with every passing day. The CEO Story team has been well-known for featuring numerous business ventures that are s in the domain of the health and nutrition sector. And here again, we got a marvelous opportunity to have an interesting and joyful session with the leadership team of Nutrifresh, a leading name in the business world engaged in facilitating clean and fresh agro products to people. The Co-founder and CEO of the company, Sanket Mehta shared numerous unknown facts about the company and the respective realm. He also spilled a plethora of valuable nuggets for the upcoming business enthusiasts. We truly hope and desire that this fascinating read will surely add some value to the lives of our global readers and will inspire them to break their barriers and chase their dreams.
TCS: Please introduce our readers to your company and its inception story.
Sanket: Nutrifresh has created and developed high-end standards that get accepted across the globe, and we as a company export fresh produce to Singapore and the UAE, which makes us a global brand in agro producers. The complete 10 Acre setup of Hydroponic of the company is based on IoT and is automated and precise. We do nutrigation dosing and RO pumping from a single location that is strategically located. Currently, Nutrifresh has reached out to 15000+ households in Mumbai and Pune and is on a spree of expansion. Currently, Nutrifresh is running in 3 Modes of Sales – B2C (Farm to Direct Consumers), B2B (Farm to other Small Farm Growers or Aggregators), and Modern Trade. Also, the Consumers can directly order fresh veggies from Company’s Proprietary owned Website & App itself. It is also one of the leading Vendors for Swiggy Instamart, Zomato Hyper pure, Big Basket, Nature’s Basket, KissanKonnect, Groffers, Amazon Fresh, Reliance Fresh, and McDonald’s.
Every household in Tier I, II & III cities utilizes Fresh and Hygienic Produce at one or the other point of time. Due to its Controlled Environment and Precision Farming, dependency on monsoon is substantially reduced. Due to staggered and controlled production, demand and supply of the product can be controlled and regulated. Prices and availability of the vegetables will be consistent throughout. Therefore, Hydroponics Farming has dual benefits for customers as well as farmers side. As far as the potential of Hydroponic fruits and vegetables is concerned, we are still ahead of the time. However, the day is not far when people will understand the importance of fresh and nutritious food in their daily lives. Due to the high set up cost in Hydroponic farming, the cost of Produce is still high. At Nutrifresh, there is the minimum or no hand touching of the vegetables, and once packed at the farm, these veggies are opened at the consumer’s place only.
Moreover, if we talk about the journey, Nutrifresh was launched with the idea to provide healthy, pesticide free, and residue rree rood products to various consumers on a large scale. The best thing available in the market was organic produce. The deeper knowledge of organic produce leads us to believe that is the produce Organic? And that’s when we came across Hydroponic Farming. It is more controlled, Precised, and traceable. Not to mention, unsolicited consultants make the project seem far than viable. However, with economics of scale, healthy, fresh, and nutrient-rich exotic fruits and vegetables will be within everybody’s reach.
TCS: When we talk about the differentiating factors, what are the elements that separate you from your competitors?
Sanket: At Nutrifresh Hydroponic farm, we use a controlled atmosphere with the help of polyhouses and insect net. We use RO purified water and most importantly soilless farming. The entire supply chain from farm to fork is less than 24 hours and minimal or no touch. The entire post harvest practices is done by Nutrifresh team, and it is not outsourced. Due to these reasons, Nutrifresh has been able to achieve superior quality and freshness. Besides, Hydroponic farming will also help in establishing regular and steady income for farmers. These types of cultivations help in upscaling per unit production up to 10 times, utilize 90% less water, and the entire production is pesticide free. Nutrifresh makes use of nutrient-rich water, which is RO purified to help plants grow to enable entire produce to be freshly harvested and delivered to households within 24 hours of its harvest. The entire produce is harvested, sorted, and packed at a world-class facility at India’s state-of-the-art and biggest hydroponic project and shipped to Mumbai and Pune.
To date, Nutrifresh has been able to serve only 0.0002% of the entire population of Mumbai and Pune. Our 10 Acre facility is only able to satisfy 0.001% of the entire population of Mumbai/Pune. Out of the total Hydrophonic Produce sold in Mumbai / Pune, Nutrifresh has a market share of only 15%. Nutrifresh would like to expand itself in the current location and serve Mumbai / Pune dual city. We would like to expand ourselves to 200+ Acres of Polyhouse in terms of growing and occupying up to 60% of the Market Share. With 200+ Acres of Controlled Environment Growing and Hydroponically Grown Produce, we will be able to serve 10% of the Population of Mumbai / Pune. Post this, we will target various dual cities across India.
TCS: What are your insights on technology adoption, and how does it help you with your business?
Sanket: Team Nutrifresh boosts fully dedicated, imbibed with the latest technology, encrypted with global GAP (Good Agriculture Practices) and sustainably growing practices Hydroponic farms at David, Purandhar, Pune. The site is strategically located just 5 km away from Mumbai – Banglore Highway, 30 Km from Pune Market Yard, and 175 km away from Mumbai. It is hemmed in by Dewadi Dam and nestled on the foothills of Sahayadris. Technology and Agriculture go hand in hand. One cannot be imbibed on another. Therefore, Nutrifresh believes in inculcating technology advancement with Agriculture age-old techniques. Technology advancements like making the entire system run on IoT, therefore, human intervention is reduced, and thus we get optimum output. However, Nutrifresh also understands the importance of natural resources, which can be used easily thus bypassing the use of extreme technology. Instead of using artificial lights instead of sunlight is going to be a costly affair, and the final product will not be sold at a higher price since it is made from artificial sun light. Therefore, Nutrifresh is committed to imbibing good & relevant technology for its future farms and constantly innovating for the same.
