Mumbai, 6th April 2022: IMAGES Group honored India’s leading food & grocery retail innovators and pioneers as IMAGES Food & Grocery Retail Icons of India, powered by Coca-Cola in a glittering ceremony which was held under the aegis of India Food Forum on April 5, 2022 at the Westin Hotel, Mumbai.
Food and grocery is India’s largest consumption category and accounts for 2/3rd of India’s total retail sector size. As a retail category, food & grocery retailers have perhaps the most frequent and intimate connections with millions of Indian households. Over the past few decades, some visionaries and entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to helm remarkable innovations in how food & grocery products are retailed and how customer experience in household basics can be elevated.
IMAGES Food & Grocery Retail Icons of India, Powered by Coca-Cola recognized the pioneering roles played by these leaders who’ve transformed India’s food & grocery retail formats and experiences.
“IMAGES The Food & Grocery Retail Icons of India is an acknowledgment of both national and regional chains — from across the length and breadth of the country — who’ve displayed tremendous grit, innovation and growth stories in one of the most challenging — and low-margin — categories of retail. Their successes need special mention and their stories need to be told to inspire thousands of other entrepreneurs in this category,” says Bhavesh Pitroda, Director & CEO, IMAGES Group.
Included among the luminaries that were honoured at the ceremony: Aastha Almast, Founder, The NEW Shop; Arvind Mediratta, MD & CEO, METRO Cash & Carry India; Bharat Patel, Co-founder,Patel Retail (R Mart); Biyas Roy, ED, Arambagh Foodmart; Damodar Mall, CEO, Reliance Retail; Devendra Chawla, CEO & MD, Spencer’s Retail; Jagan Mohan Rao, MD, Vijetha Supermarkets, Hyderabad; K Radhakrishnan, Co-founder, starquik.com, Tata Fiora Online; Kirit Maganlal, Founder & CEO, Magsons Group; Kunaal Kumar, MD, Modern Bazaar; Manish Sabnis, Chief Business Officer, Reliance Retail; Mohit Kampani, Deputy MD & CEO, More Retail; Rahul Raj Prasad & Karan Raj Prasad, Co-founders & Directors, 9to10 – The ultimate Grocery Store chain; Rajesh Francis, MD, MagSon Retail & Distribution; Sandeep Agarwal, MD, Ratnadeep Retail; Sanjay Modi, Co-founder, Dhiraj Sons SuperMarkets; Shrenik Ghodawat, MD, Star LocalMart; Sunil Sanklecha, Founder & MD, Nuts ‘n’ Spices; Suresh Mittal, Founder, Rajmandir Hypermarkets and Vipin Bhandari, CEO & MD, SPAR India.
Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards presented by Coca-Cola and supported by Inorbit Malls and Infiniti Mall awarded India’s most prestigious accolades to the food retailers to acknowledge the growing successes of modern food and grocery retailers, and their crucial role in the evolution of effective marketing and distribution of food and grocery brands in the country.
Below are the categories on the basis food retailers were awarded:
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Innovation of the Year: Retail, Display & Presentation: FreshPik
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Innovation of the Year: Operational Areas / Formats: Bigbasket – Innovation in Self-Billing Store and In & Out – Innovation in Customer Acquisition & Service
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Innovation of the Year: Technology Implementation: SPAR: SPAR Ginie
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year: Growth and Expansion: SMART Superstore
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Store Launch of the Year: FreshPik, Jio World Drive, Mumbai
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Brand Retailer Partnership of the Year: Godrej Consumer Products and SMART Superstore
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year: Retail Re-Imagined: Magson; In & Out and Le Marche
IMAGES Most Admired Neighbourhood Grocery Chain of the Year: Reliance Fresh
IMAGES Most Admired Convenience Store of the Year: 24SEVEN
IMAGES Most Admired Big Box Retailer of the Year: Smart Superstore
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year: Fresh Signature
IMAGES Most Admired Speciality Store of the Year: AJFAN Dates and Nuts
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year – South: Ratnadeep Supermarket
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year (Less than 5 stores) – South: Loyal World Market
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year – North: Needs Supermarket
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year (Less than 5 stores) – North: Dragon Supermarket, Leh
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year – East: Anand Super Bazaar
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year (Less than 5 stores) – East: Metto Supermarket, Cuttack
IMAGES Most Admired Supermarket Chain of the Year – West: Osia Hypermarket
IMAGES Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year (Less than 5 stores) – West: Dorabjee’s, Pune
IMAGES Most Admired Gourmet Food Retailer of the Year – National: Foodhall
IMAGES Most Admired Gourmet Food Retailer of the Year – North: Le Marche
IMAGES Most Admired Gourmet Food Retailer of the Year – South: Amma Naana, Chennai
IMAGES Most Admired Gourmet Food Retailer of the Year – West: Freshpik, Mumbai
ABOUT INDIA FOOD FORUM
India Food Forum was formed in the year 2007 with support from MOFPI, the Govt of India, and leading Indian and global trade bodies to take up a series of support initiatives for the Indian Food Business.
The sole purpose of the India Food Forum is to connect all stakeholders of Food and Grocery, HoReCa and India Food Retail Tech businesses with their respective potential partners for profitable growth, collectively work towards new category development, increase consumption, share global practices and ultimately serve customers.
India Food Forum membership entitlements include round the year privilege access to the forum’s various knowledge platforms, networking, promotion, web page/ micro portal, social media connect and lot more. The knowledge platforms include print & online content, research, and the annual congregations with conferences, Master-Classes, Workshops, Exhibition & Awards. Forum membership provides its members with instant access to a broad network of top-level decision-makers and business owners across the broad spectrum of the Indian food, FMCG & HoReCa industry; truly a remarkable business tool.
At every mega congregation of India Food Forum, the country’s finest minds in food research, creation, distribution marketing, and retailing gather to showcase emerging innovations, trends, and developments, in the business of food in India.
ABOUT IMAGES GROUP
Established in 1992, IMAGES Group is India’s most prolific and influential disseminator of retail intelligence. Recognised by Indian and international retail communities through its B2B Magazines, Conferences, Exhibitions, Research Reports and Web Portals, the IMAGES Group is the largest retail intelligence organization in South Asia and the Middle East, whose multiple products and services function as catalysts for the profitable growth of modern retail through knowledge platform leadership. The Group’s knowledge platforms include print and online reportage, research studies, and major annual business events with Conferences, Master-Classes, and Workshops serving multiple verticals/segments/operations of retail. The mega-industry events include India Food Forum, India Fashion Forum and the Middle East Retail Forum.