The Times of India (Financial Times) covered Farm2Kitchen on 22nd September 2011.

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FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 Business Street 03
No ceiling on
Now, Order Veggies For non-farm lands
your Kitchen on a Click THE Haryana State Assembly has removed the ceiling on land
ownership by a person or entity in the case of non-agricultural
land in urban and industrial zones. This will bring relief to private
developers who won't have to float different firms to acquire
patches of land for building apartments or townships in the state,
something they were forced to do surreptitiously until now.
The state revenue department had issued an ordinance on simi-
On portal Farm2Kitchen Gurgaon residents can order groceries and pay cash on delivery lar lines a fortnight ago, removing the ceiling on non-agricultural
holdings;but, now,with the law passed even by the state assembly,
any uncertainty over the future course of events has been dis-
pelled. With this single stroke, the Haryana Government has put
MANSI TEWARI Chrome web store. market. For example with our ‘Auto an end to all uncertainties on housing, industrial and infrastruc-
GURGAON Farm2Kitchen’s revenue comes Delivery’ you can you can order your ture projects,which have come up in the past 36 years.The new
from online sale of organic food and frequently needed grocery at one go law will be retrospectively applied,from 1975. Until now,the max-
N OT only is growing your own
virtual farm on Facebook pos-
sible, but also ordering your
veggies through the social network-
ing site has been made possible for
fresh farm produce. “Customers are
open to buying online these days.
When it comes to online shopping,
the experience itself is the driving
factor most of the times. No one
and relax for months!”
“We cater to the specific needs of
the people like we offer special deliv-
eries for pregnant women and in-
fants, certified organic food, special
imum land holding allowed in Haryana ranged between 7.5 and
18 hectares.
Revenue department officials said that the developments in all
urban centres of Haryana including Gurgaon,Faridabad and
Panchkula have happened on land blocks, which were earlier
the Gurgaon residents by wants to spend time in malls & stores food for people with special needs meant for agricultural purposes.The state's land ceiling laws were
Farm2Kitchen. and given the challenges like time e.g. a diabetic person,” said Mrs formulated when the state was an agrarian society.But now things
Seema Dholi the brain behind constraints, traffic, odd working Dholi. have changed with hectic residential and commercial develop-
Farm2Kitchen, an online grocery hours etc., people nowadays prefer As for the pricing the products are ments taking place in parts of the state that fall under the National
shopping portal where the residents shopping online from the comforts of slightly competitive. “Our price dif- Capital Region.
of Gurgaon can order their groceries ference varies from 5 to15 percent Recently, a division bench comprising Justice Jasbir Singh and
and pay cash on delivery was opened (more) than the market rates. At Justice R K Garg of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ques-
early this year for public. The idea for Pricing of the products on times, we even sell at less than the tioned the manner in which companies in Haryana were mush-
such a portal clicked for the fashion market price! You can get veggies at rooming and the way a number of companies are incorporated by
trader turned entrepreneur when the online grocery portal lower prices in the market but then a single company to buy land from owners. The bench had ob-
she was expecting her first child and are slightly competitive. quality comes with a price.” said Mrs served that this trend indicated a design to defeat provisions of the
had difficulty getting quality farm The price difference varies Dholi. Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, or the tax statute.
produce. “By combining technology In addition to offering a safer, The court also told the state that before granting licence to any
with business strategy, from 5 to15 percent (more) more pleasant shopping environ- of private companies, the state needed to see whether it had itself
Farm2Kitchen simplifies life for those than the market rates. At ment, Farm2Kitchen.com also offers not violated the act. It also observed that the "corporate veil needs
who do not enjoy grocery shopping a comprehensive inventory of to be lifted" so as to know "the real operator".
and those who are pressed for time to times, they even sell at Organic Food. “We have also taken The recent legislation is also seen as a pro-development act by
shop,” she said. less than the market price steps to offset our carbon footprint by the state considering that the housing demand is likely to go up in
The portal that was opened with using eco friendly vehicles to do all of the NCR in the next few years. Recently, the state had also brought
just six to seven customers and has “We have our own team members are mostly perishable storing them our customers' shipping and delivery. changes in the minimum requirement of land for constructing a
now registered over 200 regular cus- their home,” as she learnt from her who procure best vegetables and fruits though is smartly managed. “At All our deliveries are delivered to multistorey complex to facilitate the small players to be a part of
tomers. The marketing strategy used own past experience. from the market as we are very seri- Farm2Kitchen we use the ware- customers’ doorsteps with the help of the development. "Where is the land left? How can you have very
by the smart entrepreneur was to use Since people generally prefer pick- ous about the quality. If we do tie up house model for assembling our or- electric bikes and all our deliveries high norms that none can meet? So, changes have been made to
the social networking sites effectively ing the best out of the lot when they with any vendor in the future, we will ders. We have a company operated are delivered in environment friend- bring greater transparency and this has been done keeping in mind
to her advantage. Mrs Dholi said, go grocery shopping, how do you en- first train the vendor about the quality central distribution warehouse to ly bags,” said the environment con- the ground situation. Earlier, developers were doing the same
“Farm2Kitchen shop on Facebook is sure the best quality online? “We needs of veggies as per Farm2Kitchen store, pick and pack the groceries as scious entrepreneur. thing in some guise or the other. The government has brought
becoming quite popular with the procure all our fresh farm produce standards,” she explained. ordered by the shopper’s for delivery. Fram2Kitchen soon plans to ex- transparency," says Shiv Bhatia, media adviser to the chief minis-
working class in Gurgaon as they are directly from farmer’s market at The owner claims that it is the su- This model reduces overhead costs, pand its network pan India. Mrs Dholi ter of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
connected to their friends most of the Khandsa in Gurgaon. Up to 80% of perior quality and prompt service generates the lowest-fees possible to said, “We are working on a model to The state revenue department had issued an ordinance on simi-
times on social networks like our produce is grown locally around that is getting them customers regu- customers, and is the most efficient,” take Farm2Kitchen nationwide - lar lines, removing the ceiling on non-agricultural holdings; but,
Facebook during their working NCR; the rest is sourced nationally or larly, Mrs Dholi feels the target for explained the owner who currently starting with delivery of Organic Food now, with the law passed even by the state assembly, any uncer-
hours. In fact we are the first e-Com internationally. For organic products, the company is to establish them- has six people working for her. in major cities across India.” “We tainty over the future course of events has been dispelled. With
dealing in farm produce in India to we have tied up with a Jaipur based selves in the local market. “From The portal also has some unique might also add new products, includ- this stroke, the Haryana Government has put an end to all uncer-
offer shopping on social network.” organization and they provide us the September 1, 2011 onwards we will features which Dholi claims that no ing packaged ready to eat organic food tainties on housing, industrial and infrastructure projects, which
The company also promotes the needed inventory and all our organic be delivering across all the areas of other portal provides for. “We have in our selection. Some other cate- have come up in the past 36 years. The new law will be applied,
freshly grown vegetables on Twitter food is certified as per International Gurgaon city. The only exclusion will taken the chore out of getting fresh gories which we are thinking to in- from 1975. Until now, the maximum land holding in Haryana
and ForSquare for marketing. For Standards – USDA, EU and INDIA be Palam Vihar and Old Gurgaon vegetables & fruits by ensuring that clude are dairy products and kitchen- ranged between 7.5 and 18 hectares.
regular customers there is a NOP,” said Mrs Dholi on the quality area due to logistics challenges.” our delivery service matches the con- ware in the future,” she added. OUR BUREAU
‘Farm2Kitchen App’ in Google of the products sold online. Since the items sold on the portal venience and flexibility of a super- mansi.tewari@timesgroup.com
Timely Delivery a Major Challenge
Continued from Page 1 as almost every day one new service provider enters the Gurgaon and so will be the employees. So, demand
market. To stay in business, no company can afford to will never decrease for our services,” he said, adding
Sandeep Rai of Sav Tiffin Services, which provides tiffin cut corners by compromising on quality. “I supply the that the mantra for venturing into this business is qual-
services to companies like Sapient, Alcatel and same food to the employees in the company that my ity food and timely delivery.
Capgemini, has been into the business for three years family eats at home,” says Monica Arora of Pankaj Tiffin mamta.sharma@timesgroup.com
now. “I started with supplying 10 tiffin three years back Services. “The entire business is dependent on quality.
in Sapient where I used to sell corporate mobile phone Small companies or big, all employees look forward to
cards,” says Mr Rai. “During my interactions with the home-made food and that is my strength,” she adds.
employees I came to know that they were looking for Most tiffin providers in the city with less number of
good-quality home-made food at reasonable prices. It clients run their business from their houses. Mr Vohra
was then that I decided to venture into the business,” of Tulip, however, is of the view that while people
he said. At present, Mr Rai delivers 300 tiffin, at Rs 50 have started these services from homes and is provid-
each with a menu that includes four chappatis, rice, dal, ing food at cheaper rates than them, they won’t be able
vegetable, sweet dish, salad and pickle. to sustain the business for long. “There is a market for
However, the service is not just about providing a everyone but if they are working with the company
simple meal of pulses, vegetables and chappatis. they should understand that it is not as easy as it
seems. If you don’t have a passion and planning, one
cannot sustain business. A lot of planning and man-
agement goes into it to make sure that the
food reaches on time everyday, be it traffic
jams, rains or high water.”
Rightly so. Bharat Sindhu had to stop his
tiffin services as he could not cope up with
delivery issues such as traffic and timing.
“There is so much traffic in Gurgaon that
the delivery boys used to get late and obvi-
ously, the employees would be annoyed.
When they used to go a bit early, employees
use to crib that khana thanda ho gaya (the
food got cold). Also taking out payment
from some companies was a pain, so I decid-
ed to close the services.”
However, there are others like 26-year
“Health of an employee is an important part of our old Rishi Arora of True Kitchen, who thinks
service,” says Mr Rai. “The population that has come to that the business holds immense potential.
Gurgaon over the years is very conscious about what Mr Arora started his tiffin services delivering
they are eating.” Mr Vohra of Tulip echoes Mr Rai’s two tiffins four-five months back and is to-
sentiment: “They want to know about the oil that is day delivering 125 to several offices that in-
being used and prefer food that is non-fried and have a cludes Dhoot Group. “I started the business
higher nutritional content. We take care of all these as- with a logic that there was not much initial
pects and even mention the nutritional content and investment and I could start it from home
the number of calories a dish contains in the buffet.” with the help of my sister and mother.
In spite of high demand, the competition is immense Companies will continue to come up in
India a Strong Contender
Continued from Page 1
Biba Apparels raised $4 million from Future
Ventures in April. Ludhiana-based apparel re-
With Europe and America facing anaemic tailer Monte Carlo is looking to raise about .
growth, private equity players investing in re- 300 crore through a mix of PE placement and
tail are now looking for the opportunity in Asia. public issue.
“India is a strong contender to be the next fash- In 2008, Genesis Colors had raised . 110
ion capital of the world as fashion conscious crore from three investors––Sequoia Capital
consumers are not shying away from spending Fund, Mayfield Fund and Silicon Valley Bank.
money on high-end quality products,” said Inditex Group of Spain, one of the worlds
Pradeep Hirani, chairman, Kimaya Fashions. largest fashion distributors, is gearing up to
With disposable income going up in the metros promote Massimo Dutti stores in India
and mini metros, a larger chunk of the monthly through a joint venture with Trent, the retail-
expenditure now goes into clothing. That apart, ing arm of the Tata Group. Emails sent to both
consumers are moving away from the un- the groups remained unanswered but a person
branded market to a more organised branded with direct knowledge of the development
segment with designer wear brands offering as- said the company plans to open at least three-
pirational value as well. four stores in the first year of operations.
“Fund managers have realised the immense Massimo Dutti offers collections from easy-go-
potential of investing at this stage, as they ing casual wear to high-end fashion across 542
know this industry will only expand and that stores in 50 countries, while Trent owns and
too at a fast pace,” Hirani added. manages a number of retail chains in India, in-
PE firms are focusing on a host of niche sec- cluding Westside, one of India’s largest and
tors such as beauty, wellness and fitness as fastestgrowing chain of lifestyle retail stores
India’s domestic consumption expands rapidly. and Star Bazaar, a hypermarket chain. “The
Among PE deals sealed in the luxury fashion rise in disposable incomes has led to increased
wear segment Franklin Templeton Private demand for luxury goods amongst affluent
Equity Strategy in July acquired a 20% stake Indians, said Harshendu Bindal, President at
Kimaya Fashions for about . 60 crore while Franklin Templeton.
RNI NO 57252/93, Published by K.C. Jain for & on behalf of the Owners Times Publishing House Ltd. at Times House, No 7,
Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, New Delhi – 110103 and printed by him at The Times of India Press 13 and 15/1, Site IV, Industrial
Area, Sahibabad (U.P.). Consulting Editor: Shivendra Kumar Singh. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission of the Publishers is prohibited.
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