Back2Basics – Go Organic to live longer!

Who are they

Back2basics was started in the year 2011 by Mr. Madhusudhan. Back2basics supplies produces to many reputed grocery chains, retailers, organic stores and gated communities in Bangalore and is also exported to organic chains / retailers in many parts of the world.

The Intention behind the birth

Mr. Madhusudhan, had earlier been in the advertising and marketing field for over two decades until one day he stopped to re-evaluate his own fast-paced lifestyle and food habits after a health scare. Vey soon he realized that though Bangaloreans have access to many different varieties of fruits and vegetables, very few are actually buying fresh produce grown using natural, sustainable methods, directly from the farmer. After personally witnessing his local vegetable vendor washing carrots using sewage water, he decided to make a change. Then back2basics took birth.

Back2Basics Founders and their Designations

Madhusudhan

Madhusudhan (51) – Chief farmer & Founder is an IIM-B alumnus and an advertising and marketing veteran. Though he is not from an agricultural background, with his little botany knowledge he started a beginning on a 30 ft * 40 ft plot.for the past five years, Madhu has been managing back2basics’ B2B operations with cultivated land of over 180 acres.

Bhairavi Madhusudhan

Bhairavi Madhusudhan (22) – Idea Cultivator is an alumnus from Wharton School of Business and the first Indian girl holding Dual-degree in Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business program. Bhairavi recently launched back2basics’ B2C operations and enjoys growing, eating and selling chemical-free, natural, healthy food.

Grow, Grew and Grown

They have experienced a 100% growth in B2C initiative in  two months. For the phenomenal response in just 90 days since the launch, prompted them to start delivery throughout Bangalore.

Myth and Reality               

• 9% of consumers don’t know or even bother the source of the F&V that they buy & consume because of its low ticket size and the high frequency of repetitive purchase.
• Organic stores in India do not have control over consistency in quality, color, texture & finish. And simply cook a story about the veggies to attract customers.

Primary Mission and Vision

Promote a healthy lifestyle by educating the consumer and their families through experience, on the benefits of organic farm fresh produce. The goal is to create a “going organic” a way of life and bringing in the “trust” factor for organic products, simply by inviting the consumers to the experiential farm to experience how and what they do, which no other producer/aggregator/retailer can do today.

Back2Basics Farm

What is an experiential farm?

Our experiential farm is the first of its kind in India. A 3.5 acre farm is purely set aside for consumers to visit. Once they are at the farm, they can see the high-quality organic production for themselves. Consumers will learn about the inputs they use and our chemical-free production techniques and can even pick their produce to take home! In addition to representative samples of most of the produce, consumers should be prepared to see some amazing varieties of fruits, vegetables and greens, most of which have never been seen in India before!

How do they cultivate

A self funded start- up currently cultivating in almost two hundred acres that they control and manage the entire supply chain, from seed to harvest to grading/sorting/packing and last-mile fulfilment around Bengaluru. Back2basics has attracted  many landowners and farmers for reasonable price because of the enrichment and maintenance.

In the B2C initiative, they sell the produce on e-commerce site and make sure that the morning harvest reaches out the customers by evening, as fresh as picking up from their own kitchen garden.

• The harvest starts at 1:30 AM in each of the farms and only harvest based on confirmed orders to minimize wastage.
• Once the produce is harvested, it is loaded in trucks and taken to the hub.
• At the hub, all items undergo two stages of quality control. Once it is graded, cleaned and sorted, it is segregated by order for clients (both B2B and B2C).
• They only use bio-degradable and Eco-friendly materials for all packaging. Once the items are packed, the trucks leave for delivery.
• Right from seed to sapling to tree to harvest to QC and fulfillment, entire process is managed in-house.
• Concentrating on customer satisfaction is the main motto. The produce can be returned if the customer is not satisfied.

Back2Basics Farm

Comma and not a Full stop

In a short period of time, they are looking forward to streamline the operations and logistics for both B2B and B2C businesses to make  the process more efficient. Whereas the long term goal is to acquire more lands to meet the growing demand for the produce. By applying several management techniques to improve current agricultural practices, back2basics is a unique blend of ancient wisdom and modern science.