Greenland Agro Foods is a food-tech startup based in Kolkata. Harsh Agarwal, the founder comes from a long lineage of serial entrepreneurs. When asked about why he decided to take the entrepreneurial path he mentioned, “Being an entrepreneur is in my DNA and I have an immense passion for food, so it’s a match made in heaven!”
How did it all start?
Greenland Agro Foods was launched on 1st January 2019. Harsh Agarwal, the founder hails from a tea-background, owning several tea estates and factories since 1997. After pursuing a formal education in tea management from Birla Institute, Kolkata, Harsh was well versed with the art of tea tasting and other verticals of their business at the age of 18.
“I pooled in my savings and was supported by my brother who contributed significantly to launch Greenland Agro Foods. My seed capital was 3 lakh rupees and I bootstrapped it! The early days were tough, and full of doubt and uncertainty, but with my family’s unconditional support I had confidence that I could make it” he tells The Business Press.
“Being a food lover and a tea enthusiast, I decided to build a company with one core value – Quality of product over everything else. This simple motto is passed down to everyone in the organisation from my middle management all the way to my plant workers” he added.
Initially only dealing in Tea, he soon decided to venture into multiple food products in the “super foods” category i.e.- makhana, cashews and other nuts and seeds to just name a few.his market is growing at a phenomenal rate due to consumer awareness and people becoming more health conscious. Greenland Agro Foods products are already promoted all across the length and breadth of the country. Their major B2B sales networks include: Amazon, Udaan, and Zomato.
When asked about the offline distribution network Harsh said
“Currently, we are catering to 3&4 star hotel properties across the country and have collaborations with over 20 channel partners in over 15 cities nationally.We also offer last mile delivery to over 100 retailers & Direct households customers through tie-ups with hyperlocal delivery partners.”
The passion for quality and an innate sense of the food business has made Harsh turn his venture profitable right from year one! Which is truly impressive in itself.
“I attribute my success to my team who is passionate and shares the same relentless hunger for quality. My R&D team works day and night to test new flavour profiles for all our offerings so we stay ahead of the curve .” he told The Business Press
What differentiates Greenland Agro Foods from other food–tech companies?
The specialty of Greenland Agro foods is that it caters to channel partners across the length and breadth of the country with on time supplies and no restrictions on the minimum order quantity. This has helped build trust among all his channel partners. Since Harsh has deep domain knowledge, he himself takes part in quality checks with his team. He says that sourcing the product and only using Grade A quality product without any exceptions is the only way to go.
“Our vision is to be the go-to brand for everyone in the country. Although the current superfood market is big in metros, our goal is to tap the remotest possible place in the country and have our products being offered so we can reach out as a last mile delivery.”
The Road Ahead
In the next few years, Greenland Food Agro sees itself as a major agro-food tech startup. They aspire to become a household health brand with their footprints spread across the international borders. Harsh plans to further cement Greenland Agro Foods in the “super foods” niche and also enter the organic food sector. Harsh aims to increase his product offerings to 120+ SKUs and also increase channel partners by 40 within the next 2 years.
Harsh is also in the development stage of creating a proprietary distribution network that uses big data for restocking and up-selling mechanisms for his vendors.
Greenland Foods is poised to raise their first round of Angel Funding in the coming future but first aims to make their financials & brand equity stronger before raising the funds.
To know more visit – https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=kb6fu081mn62&utm_content=7h3hyea
https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenland-tea
To read more startup stories visit – https://www.thebusinesspress.in/category/startup-stories/