Sea To Home: Theres Nothing Fishy About It
Mathew Joseph decided to follow a road seldom taken when he decided to move on from his seafood export business and sell fish in India-online. Sea to Home is a unique online fish market catering to the people of Delhi, Trivandrum and Kochi, with its office at Panampilly Nagar, Kochi. This online market offers marine, shell and backwater fish and frozen products. The focus being on the freshness and quality of the fish, they are not treated with any chemicals and ice is the only preservative used.
After 25 years in the seafood export industry dealing with the export of frozen and canned seafood in container ships, Mathew Joseph yearned for a change and started his Atelier Company 12 years ago. This time, he exported fresh seafood products to countries in the Gulf region, Singapore etc. via air. This ensured the quality of the products. However, the difficulty in keeping up with the flight schedules, the depreciating value of the Indian rupee against the dollar and the spiking purchasing power of Indians made him shift his focus to the Indian market.
Around 8 months ago, he started his online portal for selling fish, partnering with his sisters-in-law, Priya Solomon and Tessy John, where anyone could order fish of their choice online and getit delivered to their doorsteps. It was difficult setting up the portal and turning it into a usable form. If it were a book-selling site, we would have had tons of examples to follow. But here, we had to start from scratch and it is very user-friendly now, says Mathew.
A major part of the fish sold in the markets of Kerala is from other states and are often treated with chlorine, ammonia, formalin etc. to preserve them. Even the top names in the hotel business buy these fish and serve them to the people. But wepersonally buy these fish from the country-boats of Kerala. This ensures freshness and quality. On no account do we compromise on our quality, he adds.
A customer, impressed by the superior and immaculate packing and the care with which the fish were delivered once remarked, If the fish were alive, we wouldve saluted you. With around 1000 odd deliveries per day with the majority of them to Delhi, Mathew is exalted by the progress his portal is making. Each day, we build our customer base, with the old, regular ones bringing in new ones, who become regular as soon as they get their first delivery, he says.
If the order is placed before 3 pm, it is processed during the night and loaded into the next days aircraft leaving for the customers city, and if the order is placed after 3 pm, the processing is done the next day and delivered the day after. The prices, apart from the shipping charges, are below the supermarket rates, truly living up to the companys reputation of being people-friendly.
Expansion plans are underway with servic. es soon to be available in Bangalore also Sea to Home also plans to come out with its range of food-related items such as curry powders soon. Asked if hes wary of any similar ventures cropping up, Mathew says, Let them start. It would be good for the people. Its always good to have more players in the field.
After 25 years in the seafood export industry dealing with the export of frozen and canned seafood in container ships, Mathew Joseph yearned for a change and started his Atelier Company 12 years ago. This time, he exported fresh seafood products to countries in the Gulf region, Singapore etc. via air. This ensured the quality of the products. However, the difficulty in keeping up with the flight schedules, the depreciating value of the Indian rupee against the dollar and the spiking purchasing power of Indians made him shift his focus to the Indian market.
Around 8 months ago, he started his online portal for selling fish, partnering with his sisters-in-law, Priya Solomon and Tessy John, where anyone could order fish of their choice online and getit delivered to their doorsteps. It was difficult setting up the portal and turning it into a usable form. If it were a book-selling site, we would have had tons of examples to follow. But here, we had to start from scratch and it is very user-friendly now, says Mathew.
A major part of the fish sold in the markets of Kerala is from other states and are often treated with chlorine, ammonia, formalin etc. to preserve them. Even the top names in the hotel business buy these fish and serve them to the people. But wepersonally buy these fish from the country-boats of Kerala. This ensures freshness and quality. On no account do we compromise on our quality, he adds.
A customer, impressed by the superior and immaculate packing and the care with which the fish were delivered once remarked, If the fish were alive, we wouldve saluted you. With around 1000 odd deliveries per day with the majority of them to Delhi, Mathew is exalted by the progress his portal is making. Each day, we build our customer base, with the old, regular ones bringing in new ones, who become regular as soon as they get their first delivery, he says.
If the order is placed before 3 pm, it is processed during the night and loaded into the next days aircraft leaving for the customers city, and if the order is placed after 3 pm, the processing is done the next day and delivered the day after. The prices, apart from the shipping charges, are below the supermarket rates, truly living up to the companys reputation of being people-friendly.
Expansion plans are underway with servic. es soon to be available in Bangalore also Sea to Home also plans to come out with its range of food-related items such as curry powders soon. Asked if hes wary of any similar ventures cropping up, Mathew says, Let them start. It would be good for the people. Its always good to have more players in the field.