Something fishy

In a city where people still prefer to go to the fisherfolk to buy fish, 38-year-old Sangram Sawant has other ideas. He is the founder of Pescafresh, a branded fish company that competes with the 60,000-odd Koli women in Mumbai. Sawant has gradually gained 20,000 clients, who regularly buy the fish that he sells.

While working for Great Northern Products Ltd., a seafood distribution company in Boston, United States, Sawant created a business plan to launch a service in India that would retail fresh seafood. The idea was to create a brand focussing on freshness and customer service.
"There is a huge vacuum in this space and I felt the need to start a fish company after returning to India," says Sawant. What initially started as a venture on a shoestring budget in central Mumbai is now delivering fresh seafood to over 20,000 households in Mumbai with 'shop-in-shop' retail outlets in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Sawant's business approach has been thought out carefully. He explains, "We focus on quality and keep standard operating procedures in mind before we dispatch the catch to the store or to the consumer. We may sell our fish at a premium rate but we do so because we take these factors into consideration."
Pescafresh sells 50 variants of fish at any given point of time. They focus on fresh water fish as much as seafood. "We import salmon from Norway and Scotland, which is in great demand," adds Sawant.

While he is confident of staying in the industry, Sawant admits that the competition is tough. "We haven't advertised our product and focus primarily on word of mouth. However, what the fisherfolk claim is a particular brand could be something else and we have also spent time educating our clients on the various types of fish and cuts available. We're confident that we will dominate the market," he signs off.