Pick N Serve is a new player in India with two new banana brands launched for supplying Gulf markets. Managing director Subrata Mondal spoke with www.freshfruitportal.com about leaving his steady fruit sector job to set up his own entrepreneurial operation.

"During my previous roles I was noticing gaps in the Gulf market and I left the companies I was working for to start my own venture. It's been 2.5 months and I am not looking back," Mondal says.

"I want to make a difference in the fresh produce industry in India and the only way I can do that properly is through my own business.

"Primarily I am working with bananas since India is the largest producer of bananas in the world - it's obvious to source bananas from a range of banana producers here in India. The bonus is that bananas are available all year round."

The importance of branded bananas

Mondal has created the brands PickFresh and IndoFresh and has begun an export campaign to Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Dubai, sending between 10-15 containers per week.

However, with a large network of banana growers harvesting throughout the year, Mondal says he can seriously ramp up volumes if demand is there.

"The Gulf markets are the best for Indian bananas in comparison to traditional supply sources like the Philippines and Ecuador because I can get my bananas to these destinations within four to 12 days transit time.

"I don't believe that any other country can send such good quality bananas across so quickly to that market. I wanted to launch branded bananas because having a brand is extremely important as it means high quality fruit with a name people can recognize, and elsewhere in India bananas exports are neglible so I am taking advantage of that.

"Considering the short time since starting Pick N Serve, we are doing very well. Finding huge gaps in the market and without any other visible players, we could launch our two bananas brands. The response has been overwhelming and I'd like to increase export volumes drastically to around 200-300 metric tons (MT) per week."

Field packing banana technique

The Pick N Serve operations team is headed up by Pankaj Patil who is using a technique where bananas are harvested, sorted, graded, washed and packed in the field, making the fruit less susceptible to bruising on the outer skin which can become visible after ripening.

"This is an innovative concept that we have adopted and it's working well in terms of improving the quality of our bananas.

"I see us as a first mover in India in terms of using the field packing concept and it has really given us an advantage and I want to continue to innovate in India and expand the contract farming model we have adopted."

Mondal says Pick N Serve will eventually diversify its branded fruit basket and explore other global markets.

"It is still early days but I want to expand as quickly as possible without letting anything slip. For now, I want to increase banana volumes to the Gulf markets, but in time I'll be looking at European markets and increasing our brands to include pomegranates, mangoes, grapes and watermelons all under the umbrella of PickFresh and IndoFresh."

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