Lockdown or not, you'll love to get some koora from FreshCura's veggie trucks in Hyderabad

Hyderabad-based FreshCura promises to bring fresh fruits and veggies right to your doorstep via their super modern truck. So are you ready to avail truckloads of freshness via this start-up? Check it!

FreshCura truck | (Pic: FreshCura)

Friends for over ten years, Manish Srinivas and Rahul Reddy have been bouncing ideas off each other about the fruits and vegetables sector for years now. It's not streamlined, there is a gap between farmers and consumers, and the farmers don't get what they deserve — in all these problems, the duo saw an opportunity for solutions. "But then again, there were a lot of players in the market already, so we needed to think of something different," says Rahul. That's when, in 2018, the Hyderabad-based friends-turned-business partners launched FreshCura (Kura as in vegetable in Telugu, get it?). The first step was approaching farmers from Vantimamidi, Shamshabad and Chevella. It was the duo's constant follow-ups that convinced the farmers that agreeing to a partnership might be fruitful to them. The guarantee that the farmers will be paid upfront for the most part also helped matters. Then, in February 2019, when they had over 50 farmers on board, they launched their temperature-controlled FreshCura truck. Now, if the image of a rusty old truck popped up in your head, erase it immediately because their truck is super cool.

Manish Srinivas and Rahul Reddy | (Pic: FreshCura)

But wait, why didn't they simply go down the e-commerce route? "After conducting extensive market research, one of the inferences we had drawn was that people still like to touch, feel and pick their own vegetables before buying, so we thought the truck option would be better," says the 26-year-old. After a lot of research, they found Germany-based Renewables Academy AG (RENAC) to customise their truck, which has an 80 square feet walk-in space, shelves for 65 varieties of fruits, vegetables and other products they offer, and can accommodate six people comfortably at a time. The truck has been to several apartment complexes, like Aditya Heights, Aditya Imperial Heights, Begonia Homes and many more, in Financial District and the surrounding areas. To be more environment-friendly, they offer only banana leaf packaging and promote the concept of Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB).

Manish has pursued his MBA in Supply Chain Management from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research

But the trucks are just the beginning. They have also secured 120 square feet spots at Miyapur Metro Station and HITEC Metro Station to sell vegetables out of. And, "we will also be launching an app where you can pre-order fruits and vegetables and just pick it up from our outlet instead of waiting in line," says the alumnus of the University of Illinois, USA, who pursued a Master's of Business Management from there. They will soon be retailing products like pizza base, pav, burger bun, focaccia, pickles, podis, cut fruits and more, and are already in talks with people who make them at home. Though currently, their operations have come to a standstill because their godown is in Bharat Nagar, which has been declared a containment zone, they are waiting for metros to open so that they can begin their journey afresh.