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FreshToHome is an India-based company that delivers fresh meat and fish to consumers across India and the Middle East. The company was founded in 2015 by Shan Kadavil and Mathew Joseph. FreshToHome operates in 160 Middle Eastern cities, 154 of which are in India. It plans to expand operations into Saudi Arabia and Oman. It is also looking for opportunities to break into the United States and Europe. FreshToHome primarily operates through its online delivery service but also operates a small number of retail stores in Bengaluru. Approximately thirty stores are standing as of March 2023. FreshToHome plans to open 100 to 250 more stores by 2024. As of March 2023, FreshToHome has over 130 million users.
FreshToHome originated from SeaToHome, which was founded by Mathew Joseph in 2012. It was the first online fish marketplace in India and the first online fresh fish market in the world. Joseph shut down the site in 2014 after having difficulty keeping it running with heavy web traffic. It was at this point that Shan Kadavil, a customer of SeaToHome, contacted Joseph to learn what happened to the company. The two met to discuss the challenges Joseph faced running the company and decided to reboot the business together in 2015, renaming it FreshToHome. The name was changed to reflect the company's desire to expand its offerings to a wider variety of categories, especially fresh foods. FreshToHome launched in August 2015 in the cities of Bengaluru and Kochi.
FreshToHome operates as a conduit for fishermen and farmers to sell their products, cutting out the middlemen who are typically involved in the sales process. This allows the sellers to receive more money and consumers to receive fresher products. Fishermen and farmers electronically auction their products through FreshToHome's patented artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology, called Commodities Exchange. Products reach the end consumer within twenty-four to thirty-six hours of sourcing. After a product is uploaded onto the platform and receives a winning bid, it is picked up, cold-packed, and transported through the supply chain to its respective hub.
FreshToHome began by selling fish and meat. It now offers other products like batter, chutney, and ready-to-cook offerings. The company states that 99 percent of its sales come from fish and meat. FreshToHome operates a second app, FreshToHome Daily, that offers produce, dairy, and various grocery essentials for delivery. FreshToHome produces approximately 25,000 tonnes of seafood annually, 10,000 of which is generated through contract fish farming. The company also engages in vertical integration for poultry farming. It sources mutton through its partners. FreshToHome sources its products from about 4,000 farmers and 3,000 fishermen.
FreshToHome's poultry products are free of growth promoters, such as hormones and antibiotics. All fish are free of chemical preservatives that are commonly found in India's fish, like ammonia, chlorine, and formalin. The company provides chemical-free and antibiotic-free certification for all batches of products. Additionally, all of its meat products are halal-certified. FreshToHome ensures the quality and freshness of its products by providing an end-to-end cold chain and performing over 120 quality control checks to screen for additives and chemicals. Its cold chain is temperature controlled between 0–4°C through the use of Internet of Things (IoT)-based inbuilt sensors in its trucks. Cloud-based monitors track a shipment's movement from pickup to delivery.
FreshToHome's primary app sells fish, meat products, eggs, and ready-made products like batter. These sales make up 90 percent of the company's revenue, with the other 10 percent coming from FreshToHome Daily. FreshToHome's retail stores only carry meat and fish products, but the company plans to eventually incorporate its produce offerings into stores.
FreshToHome Daily, or FTH Daily, was launched in December 2020. FTH Daily sells milk, fruits, vegetables, and daily essentials that FreshToHome doesn't carry. Deliveries are made daily by 7:30 a.m. Delivery is free and has no minimum order. FTH Daily is available in the cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. Over two million orders are delivered every month.
In February 2023, FreshToHome announced plans to integrate the FreshToHome and FreshToHome Daily apps, thus combining all product offerings into the FreshToHome app. The integration is expected to be completed by February 2024.
