Shan Kadavil of FreshToHome makes perfect catch
Researching for an interview with FreshtoHome CEO and Co-Founder Shahnawaz Kadavil is a bit like preparing for a story on actor Shah Rukh Khan. What does one ask someone when nearly every aspect of their professional success has been covered by the media? So, we talked about fishing, a childhood interest. Kadavil, the 45-year-old chief operating officer and co-founder of the Bengaluru-based omnichannel grocery platform FreshToHome, frequently goes line fishing for tuna: “The bigger, the tastier.” Fat content, he says, determines the flavour. He takes off on a boat with fishermen, about 13 nautical miles into the Arabian Sea. To understand the waters, his companions study the stars. FreshToHome sources catch from about 3,000 fishermen across 300 harbours in coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other states. While fish is central to their business, poultry, mutton play a significant role too. Kadavil, a software engineer, was drawn to this field when his personal supply of fresh fish was threatened by the closure of the Kerala-based Sea To Home, the e-commerce platform he would source from. …