Essar Advisory welcomes Saikat Sarkar as the new Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Greens Private Limited, a company that is part of Essar Agrotech which is focussed on the agrotech sector. Mr Sarkar takes over from Mr Praveen Nagamalla who informed the Board of his intention to leave the organisation for personal reasons.
Mr Sarkar will be spearheading Fresh Greens’ transformation from being a grocery retailer to becoming a premium food brand. He will drive the investment strategy and play a key role in providing strategic direction to Fresh Greens.
Saikat is a food & beverage specialist with 23 years of experience, in which he has played the diverse roles of a hotelier, entrepreneur and retailer. In these roles, he has managed multiple categories, like FMCG, Fresh Food, Bakery, Dairy, and Chilled & Frozen retail products. Starting his career in the Hospitality sector with the Taj Group and The Kenilworth, he made his foray into retail with Spencer’s Retail. Prior to joining Essar, Saikat was Chief – Small Format Stores Channel Sales, and Business Head – Nilgiri’s Stores, at Future Group. Saikat is a graduate from Calcutta University and has done his major in hospitality management from IAM, Calcutta, with CTHCM, United Kingdom.
“After establishing our presence in the fresh fruits & vegetables segment, diversifying into the premium foods category was a natural call. Saikat’s diverse experience in the F&B industry makes him eminently qualified to lead Fresh Greens into this promising segment, and enable a transformation” said Mr Prashant Ruia, Director of Essar Capital.
“I am really excited about beginning a new innings at Fresh Greens. It is almost like leading a start-up venture with the backing of the Essar Group, which has a stellar track record of incubating and nurturing some of India’s most valuable businesses. What more can one ask for?” said Mr Sarkar on his appointment.
Fresh Greens, among the few asset-light new age businesses that Essar is investing in, is embarking on a journey to build a premium food brand—starting with Fresh Fruits & Vegetables (by sourcing from meticulously selected Farmer Partners), and eventually catering to wider kitchen/home food needs, including products like dry fruits & tree nuts, grains & seeds, plant based food & beverages and snacks. Its goal is to supply fresh, safe and traceable products that are produced in an ethical and sustainable manner, and contribute towards reducing the carbon footprint.
Fresh Greens currently supplies fresh produce (both whole, as well as processed & packed), according to specifications, to all major retail & HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant & Café) partners like Amazon, Spar, Future Retail, Swiggy, Nilgiri’s, More, and so on. Currently active in the city of Bangalore, Fresh Greens plans to expand to Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Kochi.