Former Walmart India COO Arvind Mediratta has officially launched FreshTerra, a fresh, wholesome and gourmet food retail brand owned by Elixiir Foods, marking his entry into the food retail space. The company is targeting 100 stores for its two-month-old grocery venture as it prepares to raise fresh capital and expand beyond the National Capital Region. According to reports from Mint, the company plans to operate 12-15 stores in the region by FY28, after which it will plan for 100 stores over the longer term. Mediratta emphasized that the company is not looking to build another premium supermarket chain, stating they want to create a food retail business that can scale nationally and eventually access public markets. The company has built a customer base of more than 5,000 shoppers, supported by repeat purchases and growing adoption of its private-label portfolio.
FreshTerra, operated by Elixiir Foods, received ₹72 crore ($9 million) in seed funding from investors led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Incubate Fund Asia in July. As reported by Mint, the company is targeting an initial public offering for the business in about five years, giving it a relatively short window to move from two stores today to a larger retail network. Each store requires approximately ₹2 crore of investment, apart from rentals and other expenses, with the company expecting an outlet to reach operational break-even in roughly a year. The company's average order value is nearly twice that of app-only grocery platforms, reflecting the depth and breadth of its food-first offering.
The company has officially opened its first store in Gurugram, with plans to open its third outlet in Noida's Sector 50 in November. According to Mint, FreshTerra is evaluating locations in other parts of the NCR before expanding to Chandigarh, Punjab and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. The company started e-commerce operations in August and online sales now account for 20-25% of total sales. In its early days, about 60% of sales came from private label products, with the brand deliberately keeping out regular FMCG shelf products. Products such as ghee, cold-pressed oils, Khapli atta, dry fruits, nuts, and snacks have emerged among the strongest-performing categories.
FreshTerra's omnichannel approach combines physical retail with its own digital platform, giving the company a wider catchment without building separate dark-store networks. As reported by Mint, customers who shopped only offline made about 1.6 purchases a month, compared with 2.6 for online-only customers, but omnichannel customers shopped 6.1 times a month and spent substantially more. The company fulfills online orders from its physical outlets, with the first outlet being about 3,800 sq. ft and the other about 2,700 sq. ft, focusing on standalone, ground-floor stores with emphasis on neighbourhood catchments. Freshly milled atta, cold-pressed oils, and freshly ground spices are among the products available through the omnichannel format.
India's organized retail market is expected to become a $600 billion-plus opportunity by 2030, accounting for more than 35% of the country's overall retail market, according to Redseer. Modern trade is expected to grow at about 20% annually, twice the pace of traditional retail, according to KPMG. However, the modern retail sector is under pressure, with Modern Bazaar, one of the NCR's oldest premium grocery retailers, reducing its store count to 12 from 27 as the rapid rise of quick commerce forces a rethink in the size, location and economics of physical retailing. FreshTerra's cluster-based retail network is supported by a farm-to-store sourcing model and technology-enabled supply chain, with insights from the first store guiding future expansion.
