Fraazo, a Mumbai based consumer agri-tech startup, claims to have perfected their business model to ensure farm to doorstep delivery. Atul Kumar, Co-founder, Fraazo explains the dynamics and intricacies behind the claim.

What is the operating model and business model of Fraazo?

Fraazo is the retail brand of VnF Ideas (branded as “FreshVnF”). It is Mumbai’s leading provider of farm fresh vegetables and fruits. As a consumer Agri-tech startup, our platform acts as a bridge between consumers and farmers. Started as a fresh produce store in the posh locality of Powai, it has been a favorite of our customers serving both from our retail store as well as through the Fraazo App. As on date, Fraazo’s coverage extends to over 200,000 households in Mumbai and Pune.

With an aim to provide Farm fresh nutritious vegetables and fruits to our customers through provision of contactless delivery, we ensure all our deliveries are safe and hygienic to consume and are farm fresh. We procure farm fresh vegetables and fruits from horticultural regions surrounding Mumbai on a daily basis. Fraazo has on-boarded 1000+ farmers across Nasik, Pune, and Satara horticultural belts to ensure availability of quality foods. Fresh harvest is received at our collection centers near farms, undergo a quality check,and are shipped to our warehouse in Mumbai where the sorting, grading, and packing processes are conducted before dispatching to customers. Over 80% of our vegetables and locally grown fruits are sourced from smallholder farms which ensure quality of produce and sustains local livelihoods.

We have developed an in-house system to record harvesting schedules of our partner farms. As a result, we can closely match the supply-demand equation which helps us:

• Endeavor to purchase the entire produce of the farmer to ensure his market linkage is absolute and not partial, though we believe that we shall be able to do this even better as we scale-up;
• Pay a fair price to the farmer, unlike the mandi system where farmers are stranded once their produce reaches the traders;
• Help our farmers monitor and improve the quality of their produce by helping them connect the dots on any issues they might face.

How did digital technologies help Fraazo deliver during the current situation?

Given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, consumers are demanding vegetables and fruits which are fresh and safe to consume. Fraazo is providing these from the convenience of your home through our Fraazo App, available on both Play Store for Android versions and Apple Store for iPhones. Once you download the App, you are requested to enter your location as the platform will check if your area is serviceable. If we are serving a location, the App shows you vegetables available at the nearest Fraazo store for purchase. Every retail center is mapped on the platform to show only available products helping us limit the possible surprises for a customer at the time of delivery. Furthermore, digital payments have helped us to remove challenges related to collecting and reconciling cash transactions, except a few channels which are still partly dependent on cash.

Place an order while you plan your recipe and our delivery partners make sure your bag of healthy and hygienic fresh fruits and vegetables reaches your doorstep within 2 hours.We follow no contact guidelines and our payments are completely electronic which means you are not exposing yourself to unwanted germs and infections. Customers can also order via our website.

What sort of collaboration model did Fraazo have with other platforms?

Fraazo has partnered with all leading hyperlocal apps like Dunzo, Swiggy, and Zomato to expand our footprint and serve quality and hygienic fruits and vegetables to every kitchen.

Due to COVID-19 people fear venturing out of their homes leading to an overall increase in customer demand. Fraazo has come up with various campaigns focusing on hygiene and safety while performing mass delivery across societies. The brand is currently witnessing the highest traction from people in areas like Andheri West and Andheri East in Mumbai along with Margarpatta, Hinjewadi, and Vishal Nagar in Pune and is working round-the-clock to provide high-quality fresh vegetables and fruits within a span of 2-hours; making Fraazo stand apart from its competitors.

Before the lockdown, Fraazo was accepting around 250 orders per day but in this current situation, it is taking 1500+ orders in a day via its online delivery services.

How would you differentiate yourself from other similar hyperlocal delivery platforms?

We take pride in three core USPs of ours – Farm fresh + Hygienic + Express Delivery. How are we different from competitors:

• Farm fresh: Fastest farm to doorstep timing of 18 hours
• Hygienic: All our warehouses follow strict compliance and are regularly sanitised. Our warehouses are FSSAI certified and we are working for ISO certification.
• Express service: 2 Hrs doorstep delivery so you can plan your meals on the go.

Customers are going beyond convenience to understand categories and source their requirements from multiple sources specializing in a certain category. Unlike its competition, Fraazo is a  fresh food first brand. Our entire supply chain structure and processes are driven to serve requirements of the vegetables and fruits categories. We have 120+ SKUs in the fresh vegetables and fruits category and every SKU responds differently to moisture, temperature and handling once harvested at the farm. We pay attention to every SKU to ensure their quality is maintained to serve our customers with a dose of freshness, everyday.

What sort of innovative fulfillment models have you developed?

Fraazo has introduced ‘Society Stores’ to reduce multiple handling and unhygienic treatment of fresh foods by delivering them to your doorstep. We are directly supplying to leading societies and apartment complexes in Powai and Andheri (West), thereby reducing touch points across the supply chain

For a ‘Society Store’, consumers log on to the society-registration link on our website, enter details of their society, and after an internal viability assessment, Fraazo establishes a pop-up store at a time and day of convenience. Customers can also utilize our ‘Pick-up’ feature on the app, wherein the entire process of buying fruits and vegetables – from choosing items to payment can be completed on the Fraazo App – delivering a no-touch experience! The brand ensures Farm to Customer Doorstep Delivery is executed within 18hours, to keep the promise of fresh products to every home.

What is your geographic spread till now?

Fraazo started in 2016 with our first retail store in the posh locality of Powai with a vision to serve customers with premium quality and farm-fresh vegetables and fruits. In early 2019, we launched our online store in chosen catchments across Mumbai and Pune. Fraazo’s catchments extend our coverage to over 200,000 households and we have ~20,000 households on-board. Our subscribers have been growing at a fast clip since the Covid-19 pandemic driven lockdown came into force. Starting with Powai, we have extended presence across suburbs of Andheri (East), Andheri (West), and Goregaon in Mumbai, and Magarpatta, Hinjewadi, and Koregaon Park across Pune. Fraazo is a trusted source of quality and hygienic vegetables and fruits for our customers.

What is the role of technology in Fraazo’s supply chain?

Technology is an integral part of our supply chain. Starting with the Fraazo App, which is a convenience driven platform for ordering fresh foods, to tracking your order, to returns and refunds management, technology has been instrumental in helping us scale up. On the supply and process side, tracking of harvesting schedules of our partner farmers, to geolocation of every lorry transporting goods across our supply chain, to route scheduling for all our deliveries early morning to minimise transportation time and degradation, technology is embedded in our entire supply chain allowing us to keep point-to-point control over our supply chain.

Furthermore, we are working on several analytics possibilities to understand customer purchase patterns and choice of foods across different localities to be able to offer the most desired vegetables and fruits customised to the needs of our customers.

How do you maintain the safety and hygiene standards in your supply and delivery chains?

With the current pandemic going on, we keep the safety and hygiene of our riders as a foremost concern. We conduct regular quality checks, employee screening, storage unit’s sterilization etc. Our riders practice contactless delivery and ensure maximum hygiene by using proper PPE kits and safety equipment.

What are the expansion plans and key focus areas on your roadmap in the next 12-18 months?

Serving 1 million households in the twin cities of Mumbai and Pune in the next 18 – 24 months, deploying technology to improve productivity and customer experience, and providing absolute market linkage to over 10,000 farmers would be our key targets in the coming years. Additionally, embedding point-to-point traceability is on our radar and so is the opportunity to expand our product offering to value added products in the vegetables and fruits space.