Mr. Arvind Varchaswi serves as Managing Director, Sri Sri Tattva, an organization committed to seeing a Healthy, Happy, Modern World, through the ancient science of Life and Well-being. Sri Sri Tattva is one of the flagship brands of Quality Ayurveda and FMCG products in India and Worldwide. Arvind is also a “Group Advisor” – International Affairs of Ayush Advisory Group constituted by Pharmaceuticals Export Council of India (PHARMEXCIL). A Body set up by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India with the objective of Export Promotion of Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Ayurveda & Herbal Drug Preparation / Products globally.

Ms. Madhavi Das holds a Master degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Public Policy and Sustainable Development. She has more than twenty five years experience in India’s Civil Service, during which time she has formulated, implemented and led flagship Government schemes in a range fields. As Executive Director of the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority she has been instrumental in developing financial sector regulation. She has also been Secretary General of the Apparel Export Promotion Council and held senior posts in the Ministries of Telecommunications, Textiles and Finance. In her current role as Joint Secretary and CMSO at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, she is directly involved in several policy related issues including large scale training and capacity building of Food Business Operators and social behavioural change through awareness building.

When you relish Italian or European cheese right here in India, you can thank the ‘King Of Cheese’ who has made it all possible. Jehangir Lawyer, Director of Fortune Gourmet has been on a quest to broaden food horizons since 1997, when he started the company with 6 types of Italian cheese.

Today, Fortune Gourmet draws on a large network of national and international suppliers to provide products that go beyond cheese to include high quality meats, seafood and dry goods. From large companies like Zanetti to boutique manufacturers, Fortune Gourmet handpicks the best partners to supply the freshest ingredients to luxury hotels, independent restaurants, airlines and modern retail stores.

At this time, when the Indian palate is constantly evolving and taking to every kind of cuisine, the role of ingredients is becoming more critical. But it wasn’t always like this. At a time when it was hard to switch users from processed to cultured cheese, Jehangir Lawyer would spend days trying to convince restaurants to put the ‘real stuff’ in their food, even if it meant doing the deliveries all by himself.

His determination stemmed from his innate love for food, which he first discovered in the kitchens of his boarding school in Maryland, USA. After being summoned back home to take over his family’s garment business, Lawyer soon discovered that nothing could hold interest better than the food business, which he then dived into.

Recognition for his effort came when he was asked to be on the Board of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to represent food space. When the government eased import restrictions, Fortune Gourmet then added a variety of products to their portfolio including charcuterie, meats, seafood, artisanal pasta and other dry goods.

Today the finest dishes are creations that one can easily access today because of the availability of these premium ingredients. And that’s what fuels Lawyer to push the envelope every single day. He says, “ For me, to give Iberico ham to a chef is like giving Monet some good paint.” Which is perfect for the evolving Indian palate and for those who are waiting, armed with their forks and knives, to enjoy one more masterpiece that comes in from the kitchen.

Mr Vaibhav Mittal, an MBA graduate from the prestigious Babson College in Boston (USA). He has a decade of professional experience in Education Marketing, Luxury Retail, and Extended Enterprise Management. In the last few years, he has worked extensively for the e-commerce divisions of World’s finest and topmost retail companies including Steinway & Sons and Guitar Center in USA.

Parthi Muthukumarasamy is a Senior Trade Commissioner and Counsellor responsible for Agriculture and Food Sector at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi. In his role he facilitates trade between Canada and India in the agriculture sector also works on advancing collaboration between Canadian and Indian Agriculture Universities and Research centres on technology development and knowledge transfer.  Parthi has worked in both private and public sector in the Agriculture domain in both India and Canada and brings wealth of experience in animal husbandry, food processing, food safety and agriculture.

Adam Branson arrived in Mumbai, India in August 2014 to serve as the Senior Agricultural Attaché for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Currently, he is based out of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. Previously, he served as an Ag. Attaché in Mexico City, the FAS Washington Deputy Chief of Staff, an FAS China Desk officer, and as an Ag. Specialist in Beijing. He started with USDA in 2001 and serves as part of a broader team that addresses regulatory and policy issues, conducts economic analysis, and initiates and supervises marketing efforts in support of U.S. food, beverage, and agricultural product exports.

Ian Wright CBE is Director-General of The Food & Drink Federation, the voice of UK food and drink manufacturing. FDF is at the heart of the debate on Brexit, Childhood Obesity and the UK’s Industrial Strategy. Before joining FDF in March 2015, Ian was a member of the Diageo executive committee. He has worked for Boots The Chemists and for Pillsbury, Burger King and Mars Confectionery. His career also includes spells in consultancy and politics and he is currently an adviser to The Work Crowd. He was awarded the CBE for political and public service in the August 2015 Dissolution Honours.

Strategic planning -Sustaining profitable operations with focus on budgeting & marketing. Develop SIS

Model in Food retail which resulted in breakeven of store.

Operations – Store opening, Benchmarking & Competitor Analysis, Team building and management,
Analysis of P&L of individual stores and work on strategies to make it profitable.

Category management – National Agreements, Range Rationalization, Brands Introduction, Planograming, OOS
Analysis, Brand Promotion, Sales and Margin tracking, , Develop New Categories.
Promotions- Best in class promotions covering all the important merchandise category & Tracking of the Promotion effectiveness and planning future strategies accordingly.

Specialties: Category Management, Operations, Designing Promotions & Strong Negotiation skills

Experience
Associate Vice President at Nature’s Basket Limited
April 2017 – Present
Heading Buying and Merchandising for Godrej Natures Basket

General Manager at Nature’s Basket Limited
November 2014 – March 2017 (2 years 5 months)
Handling Buying & Merchandising for Godrej Natures Basket

Senior Category Manager (Food Business) at Future Value Retail
June 2010 – October 2014 (4 years 5 months)
Looking after Breakfast Cereals, Noodles, Sauces & other Culinary range, Dairy & Frozen foods Portfolio
nationally. Also resonsible for International business of Future Group

• Invited by SOPEXA India for sourcing mission to France & participated in SIAL Food festival in
Paris
• Invited by SUSTA for sourcing mission to Atlanta & Newyork & participated in Summer food fancy
show which is one of the largest specialty food fair
• Invited by Philippine Trade & Investment centre for VIB Programme of International Food

Exhibition(IFEX) Manila, Philippines
• Invited by AMEC to participate in Alimentaria exhibition held in Barcelona, Spain
• Invited by CIBUS for participating in CIBUS food fair, Parma Italy
• Invited by SISAB to participate in International trade fair of food & beverages held in Lisbon
Portugal
• Participated in ISM, Cologne, Germany which is one of the largest confectionary fair in the world
• Participated In Gulf Food festival(Dubai)& liaison with different companies in introducing their
products in our stores

DGM(Operations) at Indiabulls Retail Services Ltd.
December 2007 – May 2010 (2 years 6 months)
Jan 09- May 2010

• Developed SIS Model in convenience store (5000sqft) and launched the brand “HAPPY STORE” with store
achieving the breakeven.

•• Heading the business for HAPPY STORE
Dec 07 to Dec 08(Mumbai)
Worked as Category Manager for Processed Food & staples
Aligned to CEO – Indiabulls Retail Services Ltd.

Deputy Category Manager, Food Bazaar
July 2004 – November 2007 (3 years 5 months)

• Handled Processed foods category (300 Crores Approx) in Food Bazaar nationally which contributes about
35% of overall Food business.

• Processed food Portfolio includes Beverages, Snacks, Additives & Preservatives, Dairy, Frozen, Ready
to cook, Ready to Eat, Health foods & Baby foods.

Education
National Institute of Agricultural Marketing(NIAM), Jaipur
Post Graduate Diploma in Agri Business Management, Marketing, 2002 – 2004
Haryana Agricultural University
MSc. Ag in Horticulture, Horticulture, 2000 – 2002

The National Award winner for business excellence by IEDRA (Indian Economic Development & Research Association) Members of Gambhir family are traditionally traders and were involved in the import and trading of dry fruits & asafoetida (Hing) much before partition in 1947. Mr. Gaurav Gambhir is the 4th generation in this business. He took pioneering initiative in setting up a factory in Mumbai and get into manufacturing. He is passionate about cooking and loves to experiment with spices.

Arumugham Mahendran is an Indian entrepreneur and the Chairman and Managing Director of Global Consumer Products Private Limited, a ‘‘synthetic startup’’ in the consumer goods sector. He is the former Managing Director of Godrej Consumer Products Limited. [2] Mahendran holds a degree in Bachelors in Commerce from the Loyola College, Chennai, India [3] and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1979. [4] He also completed Advanced Management Programs from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Manish Tiwary is responsible for Amazon’s category management in India. He assumed this responsibility
in May 2016 post a long and fruitful stint with Unilever.
Manish has close to 20 years of experience with Unilever in various sales, marketing and general
management roles. Manish was part of the Unilever (India) Board with specific responsibility for Sales for
South Asia. His last role was as the Managing Director for Unilever (Gulf) managing a cluster of 34
countries in North Africa and Middle East operating from Dubai.
Manish holds a Management degree from Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and a Bachelor’s
degree in Computer science from BITS.

Sunit Saraswat is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1989)/ BIT,
Mesra(1986).
Sunit’s career spans over two and a half decades in Sales and leadership roles across various
industries including FMCG, Office Automation, Energy and Healthcare.
He has held profit centre responsibility for and handled various popular consumer brands such as
Fryums, Kiwi, Brylcreem, Sundrop, Godrej and Pillsbury while working in the FMCG sector.
Sunit’s last few assignments have been in CXO roles. He was the CEO for Innovlite, a pioneering LED
lighting company. He has also been the COO and then the CEO for Viva Sehat Healthcare where he
managed 75 primary healthcare clinics across Hyderabad and Bangalore.
He has been the COO of ZopNow for the last three years, where he has helped scale up the
operations from six to thirty stores across ten cities.

Kabir Gossain is currently Head – Key Customers , Modern Trade with Hindustan Unilever Limited where he has been working since 2005. He has been in leadership positions in Account Management with Modern Trade and Distributive Trade with HUL in the past as also a global role based out of Singapore where he travelled to many countries around the globe. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Lucknow and an engineering graduate from BIT Ranchi. He is an avid traveller and has travelled extensively in India and overseas. Reading is a de-stressor and he can read everything under the sun and current interest is in Vedic Mythology. These days he is a doting father to his six month daughter!

Mohit Khattar is currently the CEO for Graviss Foods Pvt Ltd, the master license holder for Baskin Robbins In India and South Asia.
In his previous stint as CEO and MD for Godrej Natures Basket, he played a key role in shaping and establishing Natures Basket as a differentiated food retail entity and in growing the brand and the business multi-fold during his 8 years with the Godrej group.
In his career spanning over two and half decades, he has been involved with and worked on several other successful programs, initiatives and campaigns with leading brands and organisations including Titan Watches, Reckitt Benckiser, T.I Cycles of India and Subhiksha. He is also a beachhead advisor to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for the Food & beverage industry since July 2016. He is based out of Mumbai.

A highly Result-oriented & hands on Sales and Marketing Professional with Leadership experience of 15 + years across diverse channels & markets in India & Ex India geographies.
As Sales Director at Abbott Nutrition, Vikas is part of India’s Senior Leadership team and responsible for driving Pan India Sales and Profitability across General Trade, Modern Trade & E- commerce channels.
Vikas has been with Abbott Nutrition India for 8 years and responsible for driving unprecedented sales growth for brands like Pediasure, Ensure and Similac across Trade channels.

Sagar Anand N. Kurade is the Chairman & Managing Director of Suman Project Consultants Private Limited. He has played a key role on several Industry platforms including as President of the All India Food Processors Association (AIFPA), President of the Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (I), Delhi and as Executive Member – Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry (CIFTI), The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Mr. Kurade has over 17 years of pedigreed work experience in providing management & industrial consulting services to leading Indian Food & Agri Business Companies as well as several Fortune 100 companies operating in the food processing sector. He has extensive understanding of the Global Food & Agribusiness industry sector and has a widespread network of meaningful relationships with the leadership teams of most large food & agribusiness companies operating in India.
He has extensive hands-on consulting experience in the agri-infrastructure & food processing industry sectors and has considerable & widespread expertise & track record in project planning, project implementation, regulatory advisory, effecting meaningful market tie-ups as well as mergers & acquisitions / transaction advisory
services.
Sagar Anand N. Kurade is the recipient of several marquee awards and commemorations including the “President Medal” from the All India Food Processors Association, Udyog Ratan Award from Institute of Economic Studies and “NCCI Awards of Excellence in Food Processing” from the NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. is an active speaker at events & conferences organized by the Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India as well as leading Industry associations such as AIFPA, CIFTI and FICCI.

Mr. S. Swaminathan, Head – Industry Engagement, GS1 India, has been engaged in driving adoption of global standards and best practices in India, which facilitate universal identification, track & trace, recalls management, and information exchange between trading partners across Industry sectors.
Mr. Swaminathan has over 25 years of experience across Automatic Data Capture Industry, software products and services sector in varied responsibilities which include channel development, supply chain management, sales/marketing and project management for domestic and international markets.
Prior to joining GS1 India in 2010, Mr. Swaminathan was the Country Manager, Japan and South East Asia with Newgen Software Technologies Ltd and Country Manager, South Asia with PSC Inc., USA.
Mr. Swaminathan is an Engineering graduate in Computer Science from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and an alumnus of Indian Institute of Foreign trade.

I am Chaitanya kumar Lingamallu, Co-founder & CMD of the chocolate room (India) Pvt. Ltd. I have more than 10 years of experience in this F&B Industry, we are running more than 200+ chocolate cafes across pan India. I studied Bachelor of engineering in the field of electronics and communications engineering, I completed my master of information technology in Australia.

Ashwini is a Brand & Innovation Marketing expert and chapter President of Confederation of Women
Entrepreneurs of India. She has 14 years of deep FMCG marketing experience across categories of
Processed Food, Personal Care and in the Lifestyle categories of Hospitality and Fashion.
Ashwini’s expertise is rooted in the fields of Concept Design and Brand Strategy. Over a period of
years, she has honed her core strengths in identifying consumer need gaps and insights, crafting
relevant product or brand strategies, and bringing business ideas to life in the market.
She has anchored 7 successful brand launches and created about 25 business building campaigns
across ATL and BTL.
Her specialty lies in having worked on brands across the Retail Pyramid, from very Rural Mass brands
to Very Premium Personal Care and Lifestyle brands in India. She has a very nuanced understanding of
the consumer insights, expectations and communication across the value chain in the Indian Market.
A start up expert, Ashwini has vast experience in identifying disruptive market opportunities, working
on new product launches, developing business models, communication and go to market strategies.

An Innovator passionately focused on the intersection of creativity, brand and business strategy. Experience
in driving innovation practice and outcomes as a leader within an entrepreneurial company. Proven ability
to collaborate with all levels of an organization and inspire vision, direction and action around new business
initiatives. Highly skilled in marketing, brand strategy, innovation process and methodology, creative problem
solving, and team consensus building.

Richa Arora, in her current role as COO of the Consumer Products Business at Tata Chemicals Ltd, is
leading the transformation of the unit to a player of significance in the wider foods industry, while continuing
to strengthen the core salt business.
A result oriented leader, with a passion for making nutrition intrinsic to food, Richa has 30 years of wide
ranging experience spanning Business operations, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Communications.
She has worked across many industries & cultures, and also in highly competitive & challenging
environments (foods, consumer durables etc.)
Prior to Tata Chemicals, Richa had set up Five by Six Consulting – a boutique strategic marketing
consulting firm, advising companies like McCain Foods, Britannia and Wipro (Consumer). Before Five by
Six, Richa worked as Head of Marketing & Innovation at Britannia, and in leadership positions at Balsara
and FCB-Ulka.
Currently serving on the CII National Committee on Nutrition 2017-18 CII, Richa is also part of National
Committee FMCG 2017-18 & the CII Maharashtra Forum on Agriculture & Food Processing.
Besides Business, Richa is passionate about photography, which is more than a casual hobby: She has
had solo & group exhibitions in India in the last 6-7 years, including the India Art Fair.
Richa is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and a Chevening scholar from the London School of Economics.

18 years of industry experience in FMCG & Consumer Industry, across Trade Functions, in various Customer Development & Export functions with specialization in Modern Trade & Account Management with organizations like Hindustan Unilever, Pidilite Industries & currently with Abbott Nutrition International, India as Head of Modern Trade, Institution & E Commerce.

An IIM K alumnus with the background of Mechanical Engineering and Post Graduate Diploma in Materials Management, with more than two decades of experience in F.M.C.G, Pulp and Fibre, Spices, Fruits and Vegetables .Prior to the kick-off of Eten Craft Holdings Pvt Ltd, He was working as a Division Head of Synthite Industries –World’s largest Spices and oleoresin Manufacturer.

• Leading India& largest homegrown or Indian Multinational Company and the most popular brand Rasna is a mammoth task, and no one knows this better than Mr. Piruz Khambatta,Chairman and Managing Director of Rasna Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Khambatta has come a long way over two decades, when he first got involved with the company at the age of eighteen. His association with Rasna Pvt. Ltd. as Chairman and Managing Director dates back to the year 1997 after he took over the helm of affairs.
• Rasna has braved competition from giants like International Best Foods, Unilever, Coca Cola, Rallis and a host of smaller players. Yet it has been able to display a rock steady market growth and has gained a significant market share.
• Currently enjoying 93% of the pie, Rasna has left its competitors far behind. In the year 2013, the brand Rasna moved ahead with a Trust of millions of consumers in India and was ranked as No 4 in the cold beverages category making it No 1 Indian Brand.
• Overall Rasna was ranked as No 17 leaving behind well known MNC brands. Rasna has the distinction of being the largest manufacturers of soft drink concentrates making billions of glasses with it product portfolio comprising of Instant Drinks, Sports Drinks, low sugar drinks, Soft Drink Concentrates in dual form – Powder & Liquid, Fruit Jams, Fruit Cordial, Fruit Syrups,ethnic basket including Curry in a Hurry, Pickles, Curry Paste, Instant Curry Mix Powder, Chutneys, Syrups, breakfast snacks, Juice nectar,Juices, Ice Tea, Shake Mixes, Glucose, Jal jeera, Aampanna, Gharka Nimbupani, etc.etc.
• With exports to 40 countries with 9 factories, 5 sales offices, 35 depots, 2500 stockists, 900 sales people. Rasna is available in 1.8 billion retail outlets. Rasna is one of the most prominent FMCG brand in the country with 100% recall. On the corporate level too Mr. Khambatta is actively involved in industry affairs through various associations.
• He was President of All India Food Processors& Association, was Chairman of CII Gujarat Council for 2003-04 and has been re-elected for the year 2004-05 as well. He was the Chairman CII National Committee on Food Processing for three consecutive years starting from the year 2005 to 2008. He is Chairman CII Task Force on Processed Food Outsourcing. He is Deputy Chairman of CII Western Region . In addition to that he is active in National & Western Regional committee and Council of CII, and has steered many events and functions as Chairman in CII. he is also Member of high-level Ministry-Industry Consultative Committee(MICC) constituted by Ministry of Food Processing Industries  to give advice on issue to do with food processing to various government committees for the growth of food processing as well as legal issues on compliance of food safety.
• He is Chairman FMCG Task force, CII Western Region. Trustee Of Areez Khambatta Benevolent Trust, Involved In Setting Up A Higher Education Institute In Collaboration With University Of North Texas  Located At Denton , MEMBER MICA-EDC ADVISORY COUNCIL ,Member & Food Processing Education Council& constituted by National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) and Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT).
• Director, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. Mr. Khambatta has been appointed as Ambassador of ‘Make in India’ initiative by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India. He has best form of entrepreneurship in brand equity, distribution, marketing, new product developments, international operations, etc.. Because of him only Rasna has got various awards like Rasna has also received the Consumer Award for the year 2007 and 2006.
• Rasna has got prestigious SUPERIOR TASTE AWARD 2008 instituted by THE INTERNATIONAL TASTE AND QUALITY INSTITUTE, BELGIUM at the hands of Shri Subodh Kant Sahai Hon. Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, in the august presence of Mr. Christian De Bauw. of iTQi for its new product Rasna Fruit Plus which is world’s fastest dissolving powder, ITQI Belgium superior taste award 2008,Monde Selection Quality award 2012, Most promising brand of the year 2014-15 (Soft Drinks)Food & Beverage Sector Asia.
• Rasna has also got prestigious MONDE SELECTION QUALITY AWARD 2012 by Monde International Quality Institute. Most preferred Brand 2003&2004, consumer world award 2014.
• Mr. Khambatta has a Bachelors Degree in Biochemistry and a Bachelors degree in Law and attended several Management courses at Wharton School, Philadelphia, IIM Calcutta etc.

Variety is synonymous to Tushar Malkani. His extensive list of achievements is the result of years of experience in various domains of the food industry. From Food Preparation to Menu creation, from event planning to Club F&B operations, from Sanitation to Preparation of Reports – Tushar Malkani has honed his skills as Executive and Personal Chef, Consultant, Food Stylist and Photographer.
He has associated with several top hotels in Mumbai and other Indian cities. Tushar is also an Executive Chef for Khar Gymkhana and has guided several brands help improve their reach, create innovative menus and enhance food safety in their premises.
He is also presently shooting for YouTube shows at Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Khazana. Along with this, he has a sharp eye for different activities that happen behind the cooking platform. He is a member of several National and International Food Associations, like Israel MasterChef Association, Indian Federation and Association of Chef Societies, Brand Ambassador of Chef’s Institute – Kolhapur and many others.

Bhavik Rathod heads UberEATs in India. He was formerly GM, South & West, Uber Rides Business and has been with Uber since the start of Uber India operations in Bangalore in August 2013. After successfully setting up the rides business, Bhavik will now focus on growing UberEATS business in India.
Prior to Uber, Bhavik founded a startup called EmployeeSocial, a company that delivered web based solutions to run social recognitions and manage employee rewards. Prior to that, he worked at Ernst & Young as a manager in the Performance Improvement practice and was responsible for founding a part of the practice in India.
Bhavik holds an MBA from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA and a BE in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Mahesh Kanchan is the Vice President – Marketing at Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd. Under the leadership of
Mahesh, CIPL has become the fastest growing alcobev company in India. Tuborg has moved to a # 2
position and is the # 1 International beer brand in India. The company has moved to a 18% share in 2017
& has outpaced industry growth..
Before this, Mahesh had a 4 year stint with Hershey India as the Vice President Sales & Marketing. Under
Mahesh’s leadership brands like Nutrine, Hersheys Syrup, Sofit Soyamilk, Jumpin Juices registered
strong growths. Mahesh was instrumental in developing & executing up the new ‘Route to Market’
strategy and launching brands like Jolly Rancher & Ice Breakers in India.
Mahesh also had a decade long stint with Unilever in India (Hindustan Unilever Ltd.) handling various
assignments across Sales and Marketing. Mahesh handled iconic brands like Knorr, Kissan, Huggies,
Blue Band, Astra, Flora and the list continues. He has been a part of the Spreads & Dressings Category
Leadership Team for Unilever – Asia AMET and has been instrument in the development of the HUL
India Foods Strategy.
Mahesh completed his MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in 1997

Disrupting supply chain for HoReCa at Adurcup. His focus is on developing innovative solutions to supply chain problems in this industry. Kushang is a product developer by instinct as implementing solutions in real life helps him realize the difficulty of the problem. He lives by the mantra of “Try hard enough ,so that you succeed”.

Chef Sanjay Agrawal is the person behind the success of the Salad chef, nation’s first fresh-
tossed salad concept, established in 1993. Chef Sanjay Agrawal is the Founder, Partner &
Executive Chef at Salad chef.
His venture Salad chef has been extensively covered by print media since it’s opening in
1993, e.g. TIMES OF INDIA, HINDUSTAN TIMES, OUTLOOK, THE PIONEER, BBC GOODFOOD, NAVBHARAT
TIMES etc.
After his successful venture Salad chef, He Launch & successfully running the WORLD
CUISINE (catering Company), a catering Company Specialized in World Cuisine providing
Specialized foreign Food Counter to the Most Big Commercial catering company & Hotel
&Resorts in Delhi . As Founder Director & Chef, established in 1999
Chef Sanjay Agrawal started his career in the hospitality industry with with Taj Palace New Delhi
(1986) after completion his culinary Studies from IHM Jaipur. At Taj Palace he worked for
various designations & Kitchens after leaving Taj He Founded salad chef (1993) and also
worked at sunset house, George Town Grand Cayman (Caribbean) as chef the Party (1996-
1997) during work at sunset house, George Town Grand Cayman came across Caribbean
Cuisine and American classic cuisine and Introduced Few dishes at Salad chef.
Chef Sanjay has spent lot of time in training and cooking & able to build his European cooking
skills Chef Sanjay expertise lies in planning & setting up of process & procedures for new
openings of salad chef & other restaurants as consultants as we as in standardization of recipes
for the bulk and fast food chain supply. During worked at salad chef learnt and developed may
skill like accountancy, proficiency in food cost control, purchase, Innovation of products/recipes
Chef Sanjay and salad chef has been associated with Indian Culinary Forum, North India
since 2000, sponsored few workshops (2000) and always participated as food partner in
Chef Award Dinner. Presently handling responsibility of a Joint Secretary in Indian
Culinary Forum, North India

I am hospitality professional, I am doing which I always want to do. I have over 20 years of
experience in this field. I have gained business of commerce degree from Punjab University. I gained
Post graduation diploma in hotel management from Meridian hotel school Sydney Australia. Then I
achieved business management diploma from Pacific college of technology Sydney as well. I have
got chance of working in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sudan, Egypt, South Africa, UAE,
Uganda and India. I have learnt deep F&B understanding while working for many domestic and
international brands like TGIF, CHILI’S, Nando’s and Barcelos. Business development, brand
strategy, Operations, start up, Supply chain and team building are my core competence. Currently I
am managing Barcelos as Business head in India.

Under the brand name of SOULFULL, he has brought back traditional grains like millets to the modern Indian consumer in a form that is relevant for the 21’st century. The company was formed in 2011.
Post his Mechanical Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Prashant successfully setup distribution and retail business units in India under the Kottaram Group umbrella. He is armed with an MBA from Babson College and experience with international firms like Limited brands and Information Resources Inc. ; where he was a Director supporting the Marketing Strategies team at Safeway Supermarkets out of their California headquarters till 2009.

Big Basket team was earlier set up India’s first e-commerce site FabMart.com in 1999, and then established the Fabmall-Trinethra chain of more than 200 grocery supermarket stores in southern India. They founded BigBasket in December 2011 as an India’s largest online supermarket with a presence in over 25 cities in India. Let’s read the story of the company and the man behind it – Hari Menon! Hari Menon was the Cofounder, CEO and Head of Merchandising at Bigbasket.com.

Childhood and Education
Hari was born in 1963. Hari was born into a middle-class family that lived in Bandra, Mumbai, and was always taught to lead a live that gave him a settled live, a stable job, etc… It was the urge to experiment that pushed him to try out something new.

Hari is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and is married to ‘Shanti Menon’ – principal of ‘The Deen’s
Academy’ (Bangalore). She is also the daughter of ‘E Shreedharan’, the man behind the
Delhi Metro. Personally, he considers himself to be a Music enthusiast, and also wishes to
play in a band someday. He is also an avid cricket fan and a member of the ‘Karnataka
Cricket Association’ as well.

The Spark
Hari Menon, co founder and CEO of Big Basket started his career with ORG Systems and worked with TVS Electronics, Wipro InfoTech and Integrated Data Systems. His wide exposure in these companies and subsequently in the education & training space in Manipal over the last few years has placed Hari in a unique position to guide India Skills in making an impactful contribution to the skills development sector in India. Before his entry into the education sector, Hari co-founded Fabmall – a pioneer in internet and grocery retail, wherein he handled a gamut of responsibilities including strategic business planning, raising venture capital, building organizational capabilities and creating a strong IT platform for the retail business. Prior to Fabmall, Hari headed Programme Management at Planetasia.com wherein he oversaw large scale project deliveries involving a wide team of software developers, business analysts, web designers& web writers. Then he co founded Bigbasket in December 2011 in Bangalore by a team of five – V S Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari.

What Is Big Basket?
Bigbasket is founded and operated by ‘Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd.’ It has more than 14000 products and over 1000 brands listed on their catalogue – BigBasket is known as the India’s largest online food and grocery store. It offers a wide range of options in every category to provide you with the best quality products at the lowest prices which include – fresh Rice and Dal, Fruits and Vegetables, Spices and Seasonings, Packaged products, Beverages, Personal care products, Meats, and many more items.

While, BigBasket is an online based company and does not have any brick and mortar stores. It is very simple to order as you need to visit bigbasket.com and choose the products you wish to purchase then add the items to your Shopping Basket and the Big Basket team offer 4 slots per day. Finally chose a convenient payment option (Cash, Sodexo, Credit Card) then products would be delivered to your house.

Currently they are widespread across the locations like Mumbai, Delhi, Mysore, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Vijayawada-Guntur, Pune, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, etc…

The Growth
It all began in 1999. Hari Menon along with five of his friends – VS Sudhakar, Vipul Parekh ,Abhinay Choudhari and V S Ramesh launched their online retail website called ‘Fabmart’.

Even though they did manage to get some traction but since their idea was way ahead of its time, they could not shake the masses. And to worsen the whole deal, the dotcom bubble burst happened.

That is when they decided to put the online business on the backseat and focused all the energies on ‘Fabmall’, their physical retail chain of grocery stores. They also merged this chain with another grocery retail chain called – ‘Trinethra’.

Anyway, in a matter of seven years, they expanded their business to 200 stores across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Around the same time, they also decided to sell-off the business to Aditya Birla Group.

That is when they thought of getting back to their original idea online grocery store. As their discussion deepened with serial entrepreneur Krishnan Ganesh, they concluded to go ahead with it. The idea was collectively seeded by serial entrepreneurs and angel investors Krishnan and Meena Ganesh. And finally in December 2011, they launched BigBasket.com!

Soon after the launch, they also received their first funding of $10 Mn from ChrysCapital co- founder Raj Kondur and Ascent Capital. He had earlier invested $4 Mn in Fabmart as well.

According to Hari, the first six to nine months were the most challenging ones. Since they had already faced the heat once with Fabmart, the pressure was even more. The biggest challenge for them was to create and maintain a building capacity to meet customer demand.

This was even more commendable, since they were barely advertising about the brand and mainly relied on word of mouth. As per their stats, more than 45 % of their customers came through references.

By the next one year, they had already expanded to Hyderabad and Mumbai, and were alsoplanning to further increase their services in Delhi, Chennai Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata
as well.
BigBasket also roped in Bollywood actor – ‘Shah Rukh Khan’ as their brand ambassador, foran undisclosed sum; following which, they also launched a high volume television, digital and
print media campaign as well.

BigBasket team along with Hari menon has effectively managed to attain and maintain their
success by using various strategies which mainly surround three important factors:
Unmatchable Customer Service (in all aspects)
A large variety of products
An constant innovation using technology

Now the grocery business in India is mainly divided into two types i.e. Planned Purchase and Top-up Purchase. When BigBasket started their operations, it adopted the ‘just-in- time model’ – wherein not only perishable good but every item was brought against an order. In other words, they were purchased-to- order. In this model, the delivery boy directly picks up the item from the vendor, and directly delivers it to the customer. They still use this model for quite-a- few items like Bakery items, Pet food, Small household appliances, etc. which are not feasible to store.

Over the period of time, as their business grew, they moved on to an ‘inventory model’ (for most of its products), and BigBasket now buys products directly from suppliers like – HUL, P&G, farmers, mills, etc and then stocks these in warehouses. BigBasket then adds a margin to the purchased price of the product before selling them.

They have a completely automated process of initial inventory stocking and post its completion, re-ordering! The company uses analytics to predict their weekly demand, with the help of which they optimize their logistics and supply volumes to drive better margins.

This ‘Single-point stocking’ greatly helps the company to strictly manage the shrinkage and rejection of products, and also helps them to invest the saved money in advertising as well.

More recently, BigBasket has been seen adopting a hyper local strategy, wherein, it has partnered with more than 1,800 neighborhood grocery stores across India to deliver goods in under an hour.

Awards
Icon Award for Entrepreneurship
Owler 2017 Top Rated CEO Award
AWS Mobility Awards 2017
Retail and eCommerce app of the year

He has close to 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry and has been leading Abbott Nutrition business in India since 2012. The company has a dedicated nutrition R&D centre and an established state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Jhagadia, Gujarat. Under his able leadership, Abbott Nutrition strengthened its Toddler, Infant, Specialised and Healthy Ageing product portfolio, thereby, scaling the business to 3X in six years. His commitment to drive the science behind the products and make them relevant in the market to meet the evolving needs of the consumers is one of the key growth driver for the organisation. Over the years, Amal has worn many hats holding leadership positions across Marketing, Sales, Strategic Planning, Business Development & Licensing and Country Operations. His previous assignment has been with AstraZeneca, Philippines as Country President. He has also been associated with Novartis in India and subsequently in Asia Pacific Markets for eleven years. Amal has a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) degree from UDCT Mumbai and Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.

Uday drives Trade & Profitability for the company while managing Grocery Buying , Space Range Display
and Marketing.
He has a rich experience of more than two decades in the FMCG & modern retail industry, playing an
active role in the evolution of category management at STAR. He has worked with JL Morison, Fabmart
& Big Bazar, prior to joining Tata Group in 2004.
Uday holds a Masters in Management Studies from KJ Somaiya Institute of Management (Mumbai).

Saugata joined Marico Ltd in January 2004 as head of Marketing. In 2007 he was elevated to become the CEO of the company&s India business. Prior to joining Marico, Saugata was Chief of Marketing and Group Sales at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. Saugata started his career with Cadbury& where he spent 9 years in various roles in Sales and Marketing in India and the United Kingdom. . Saugata has 20 years of experience primarily in the FMCG sector. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and is an alumnus from IIM Bangalore.