The Curry Fresh Team
Priya Ranjan & Navnita Dass, Founders
While working at Domino’s Pizza HQ for his MBA project, Priya always wondered that why there is no Indian restaurant chain anywhere. He used to get Domino’s pizza for his daughters in Kolkata, India just 2 miles away from their residence. They started with a typical Indian restaurant in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 2009. In 2016, they came across HPP which pushed them to packaged Indian food journey. The switch to packaged food is Navnita’s brainchild and she is instrumental in positioning Curry Fresh as a women empowered global vegan food brand. Curry Fresh can boast of 80% plus women employees in its rank.
Priya holds an MBA from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan (fellow at Tauber Institute of Global Operations) and Navnita holds a Masters in Commerce from Tilkamanjhi Uinversity, India.
Catherine Vieira, CEO
To say Catherine and Curry Fresh were made for each other, won’t be an exaggeration. Of course, Covid connected Priya with Catherine at an online event in Dec 2020 and the rest is history. Catherine brings her 30+ corporate experience to the table with some big names like PepsiCo, P & G. But what impressed most the founders is her belief in our concept and the products and her dedication to take Curry Fresh forward. It helped that she grew up in Connecticut with Indians as neighbors or cook Indian food at home or her kids having Indian friends.
She holds an MBA from Boston College and had completed a Food Executive program at Cornell University.
Angshuman Dutta, Head Chef
After working at various cruise ships like Princess etc, he came to US as a part of an Indian restaurant chain in New York comprising Dhaba,Tadka, Malabar Hills etc. He joined our venture in 2009 and has been able to carry the legacy of our founder chef Late Pandit Panna Lal Sharma, chef to Late Mrs Indira Gandhi, the former Prime minister of India. He could easily be among top 5 Indian chefs in the US.
He holds a diploma in hotel management from SIHM, Kalyani, India.
Elizabeth Lopez,Production Manager
Can you imagine this young, vivacious and the girl next door managing our SQF certified manufacturing facility in Bartow, Florida? Elizabeth carries Curry Fresh on her sleeves literally. Beyond Curry Fresh, she is famous for her home-made tortillas.
She is a HACCP certified professional.
Vikash Jha,Head of Global Expansion
He is a quintessential deal maker. Having worked in Germany for Muehlber AG, done a project in North Dakota, or a course in Energy management at University of Texas, Houston, he knows what people want. He is tasked with the global expansion of Curry Fresh, to bring Indian spices in RTE form at the doorstep of all and sundry.
He is an engineer by training with an MBA from IIM, Ranchi, India.
Kajal Mishra, Head of Asia Pacific operations
We are in food business, and we need to know what people crave for. Who else could be better than Kajal who speaks 9 languages including Japanese? She wears many hats too – from a business executive to an attorney to a CPA – all in one.
She holds an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, India.