Debashish Mukherjee Email & Phone Number

India

Key Result Areas❖ Responsible for sales and margin of vendor partners (food) for various formats like Smart Superstore, Smart Bazaar, Smart Point.❖ Regional category introduction in namkeen, mithai, bakery, dry fruits to complete the store assortment.❖ Responsible for increasing the footprint (scale up) of business across formats.❖ Work closely with the vendor to increase the bill penetration.❖ Strategic planning of the food areas in the store to ensure maximum exposure… Show more Key Result Areas❖ Responsible for sales and margin of vendor partners (food) for various formats like Smart Superstore, Smart Bazaar, Smart Point.❖ Regional category introduction in namkeen, mithai, bakery, dry fruits to complete the store assortment.❖ Responsible for increasing the footprint (scale up) of business across formats.❖ Work closely with the vendor to increase the bill penetration.❖ Strategic planning of the food areas in the store to ensure maximum exposure and create impulse.❖ Work in tandem with vendors to ensure that the product is retail-friendly.❖ Drive sales along with the vendor partners to ensure mutual profitability. Highlights❖ Conceptualized the Regional Food business through the shop-in-shop route for Reliance Smart and Smart Bazaar stores. Developed a replicable model keeping the regional complexities in view. ❖ Recruited over 500 vendor partners over the last 2 years operating over 1150 counters in 850 large format and small format stores. Currently opening over 100 new counters monthly. ❖ Curated a range of namkeen/ mithai/ bakery/ dry fruits to cater to the regional demands of the catchment. ❖ Currently the business is delivering a return psf of Rs 500 psf.❖ Smooth vendor lifecycle management – from onboarding, ensuring profitability, collection of dues, and separation – when required. ❖ Special projects – “Chai Nasta @ 9”, working with women self-help groups, specially-abled group, and tribal craftsmen to help them get retail-friendly. Show less

Mumbai Area, India

Highlights❖ Built the concept of regional namkeen and packed sweets for retail stores. This involved anticipating a latent demand for modern households, which involved changing consumer behavior.❖ Convinced hypermarket leadership to create a live format to build freshness and experience. Set up 15 live kitchens within 3 years, which was recognized as a brand salience driver that led to incremental walk-ins to the hypermarket. ❖ Integrated the process of operating companies – GCKL… Show more Highlights❖ Built the concept of regional namkeen and packed sweets for retail stores. This involved anticipating a latent demand for modern households, which involved changing consumer behavior.❖ Convinced hypermarket leadership to create a live format to build freshness and experience. Set up 15 live kitchens within 3 years, which was recognized as a brand salience driver that led to incremental walk-ins to the hypermarket. ❖ Integrated the process of operating companies – GCKL and FRL into one dynamic unit which led to better buying efficiencies leading to a 3% reduction in food cost and 5% dump reduction at the front end. It also led to better forecasting and a fill rate increase from 82% to 91%, with a 22% reduction in delivery cost. ❖ Formed a core research team with respective vendors on product research ahead of launching new regional variants, packing innovation like MAP in juices and mithai and skin pack in fresh chilled non-veg to increase shelf life and product stability to make the products more adaptable to temperature variations or move from chilled to ambient to increase penetration, especially in B and C towns. ❖ Built focus on value-for-money assortments that democratized seemingly aspirational product lines like meals in a bowl, cupcakes, and donuts.❖ Conceptualized a 30-day execution of the innovative ‘Food Gully’ concept to drive footfalls and increase stickiness. Given the success of the pilot, the concept was replicated across 30 stores in 3 months and was driven by the Chairman’s office. Show less

Mumbai Area, India

❖ Led the Fresh Food operations for various formats which include Big Bazaar, Big Bazaar GenNext, Easy Day, Nilgiris, Heritage, WH Smith, Food World. ❖ Identified locations within upcoming stores and planned assortments as per catchment and format. Led the team in finalizing assortment, layout, visual merchandise, manpower plan and operationalization of the outlet. This led to the creation of a range of In-store Food Services outlets delivering quick value-for-money snacks and… Show more ❖ Led the Fresh Food operations for various formats which include Big Bazaar, Big Bazaar GenNext, Easy Day, Nilgiris, Heritage, WH Smith, Food World. ❖ Identified locations within upcoming stores and planned assortments as per catchment and format. Led the team in finalizing assortment, layout, visual merchandise, manpower plan and operationalization of the outlet. This led to the creation of a range of In-store Food Services outlets delivering quick value-for-money snacks and meals.❖ Developed and executed a healthy food strategy under the in-house brand “Soo Fresh”, building on the trend of Indian consumers seeking healthy snacking.Highlights❖ Incubation & development of the “New Age” model of Food Services. The model brought together live elements with regional fresh specialties to create a unique food experience. ❖ Introduction and successful rollout of the fresh non-vegetarian category – Convinced the management with a business case for the non-vegetarian category being a basket completer and thus got this category adequate focus. Currently driving over 100 fresh non-veg stores in small & large formats under ‘Non-Veg Market’.❖ Innovation in the kid snack/ tiffin category with a larger play on less preservatives and more nutritional value. ❖ Introduced in-store label declaration printers which were instrumental in reducing the inventory of labels and made the process flexible, enabling the introduction of new products far easier. Show less

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Key Result Areas❖ Conceptualized and rolled out a multi-cuisine food court format called Chowpatty, unique to modern trade in India. The model was very successful in ensuring footfall in higher floors, in large ‘Family Centre’ stores.❖ Recruited and executed a portfolio of over 150 shop-in-shop (SIS) with popular brands in the city, especially in non-cluster cities. Besides being a profitable filler for the company, the SIS model ensured that the outlet got an entrepreneurial focus.… Show more Key Result Areas❖ Conceptualized and rolled out a multi-cuisine food court format called Chowpatty, unique to modern trade in India. The model was very successful in ensuring footfall in higher floors, in large ‘Family Centre’ stores.❖ Recruited and executed a portfolio of over 150 shop-in-shop (SIS) with popular brands in the city, especially in non-cluster cities. Besides being a profitable filler for the company, the SIS model ensured that the outlet got an entrepreneurial focus. ❖ Recruited and facilitated an agency for yearly audit of vendors.❖ Identified and finalized raw material vendors – to ensure price advantage. Defined the optimum pack size and delivery unit with the vendors to ensure control and minimize wastage.Highlights❖ Set-up the Central Bakery Format, which defined the “fresh bakery space in the store” in the top 6 cities – Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. ❖ Instrumental in a national tie-up with the NECC to finalize regional vendors for eggs. A tie-up was also done with a national vendor for mashed paper packing for eggs to eliminate damages. ❖ Rolled out “Freshly Baked” and “Fresh For you” brands for Bakery and mainline fresh food categories, respectively. Show less

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Key Result Areas❖ Led the expansion of the brand outlets pan India for “The Yellow Chilly”—casual Indian and Chinese diner, “Grain of Salt” – Contemporary dining with Indian and World Cuisine, “Khazana” International brand of restaurant with Indian and Mughlai cuisine. ❖ Closely monitored restaurant functioning and reviewed P&L with franchise owners.❖ Designed customized menus and organized food festivals for all outlets of Yellow Chilli, Ivory and Khazana… Show more Key Result Areas❖ Led the expansion of the brand outlets pan India for “The Yellow Chilly”—casual Indian and Chinese diner, “Grain of Salt” – Contemporary dining with Indian and World Cuisine, “Khazana” International brand of restaurant with Indian and Mughlai cuisine. ❖ Closely monitored restaurant functioning and reviewed P&L with franchise owners.❖ Designed customized menus and organized food festivals for all outlets of Yellow Chilli, Ivory and Khazana. Highlights❖ Successfully set up a series of restaurants in Amby Valley, Sahara Lake City, Lonavala.❖ Supervised episodes of food shows on TV with celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor❖ Instrumental in the development and launch of a series of pickles and blended spices under the brand name “Khazana” ❖ Undertook a project of on-site development of innovative “chocolate mithai’s”, at Cadbury’s India Limited Show less