Director – Banana Sourcing & Procurement

Fresh Platter | Greater Bengaluru Area | Extensive Travel

Fresh Platter is looking for a highly driven, hands-on and commercially sharp banana sourcing leader to take end-to-end responsibility for our banana procurement operations.

This is not a general procurement role. We are looking for someone with deep, practical experience in the banana industry who already understands the crop, sourcing regions, farmers, markets, quality parameters, seasonality and on-ground realities.

We will initially focus heavily on Yelakki/Elaichi, while the role will ultimately cover Yelakki, Robusta/Cavendish, Red Banana and Nendran.

What You Will Own

- Take complete responsibility for banana sourcing and procurement across regions.
- Ensure the required quantity, quality and maturity are available at the right price and at the right time.
- Build a sourcing network capable of reliably meeting our existing customer commitments as well as new requirements as the business grows.
- Personally identify and develop new farms, farmers, aggregators, traders, harvesting teams and sourcing locations.
- Continuously identify alternate and lesser-known banana-growing pockets that can offer advantages in pricing, quality, seasonality or availability.
- Maintain a robust understanding of crop availability, harvest schedules, seasonal movements, market arrivals and price trends across sourcing regions.
- Travel extensively to farms and banana-growing regions and remain closely involved with sourcing operations on the ground.
- Manage the existing sourcing team on a day-to-day basis, setting clear responsibilities, targets and accountability.
- Identify gaps in the team and recruit/add resources at critical positions as the sourcing network expands.
- Effectively manage both white-collar employees and field/blue-collar workforce, including harvesting and handling teams.
- Establish strong quality controls beginning at the farm and ensure that only material meeting Fresh Platter's specifications is procured.
- Improve harvesting, handling,



loading, transportation and other processes to minimize post-harvest losses, damage and rejection.
- Negotiate commercially while balancing price, quality, quantity and supply reliability.
- Develop alternate sources so that the company is not excessively dependent on any individual farmer, vendor, intermediary or sourcing region.
- Anticipate supply shortages and seasonal transitions and take proactive action rather than reacting after supply becomes unavailable.
- Work closely with Sales, Operations and Management to translate upcoming demand into sourcing plans.
- Continuously present and implement new ideas to streamline sourcing, improve productivity, reduce costs and strengthen supply reliability.

Must-Have Experience
- Minimum 10 years of substantial, hands-on experience specifically in commercial banana sourcing and procurement. Applications without this experience will not be considered.
- Deep practical knowledge of banana cultivation, harvesting, maturity assessment, quality evaluation, seasonality, production cycles and sourcing.
- Strong hands-on experience sourcing Yelakki/Elaichi bananas across multiple producing regions.
- Strong knowledge of major banana-growing and harvesting regions and the ability to identify alternate and emerging sourcing locations.
- Proven experience independently managing banana procurement covering quantity, quality, pricing and timely availability.
- Experience developing new sourcing regions and supplier networks, rather than merely purchasing from an existing vendor base.
- Proven experience managing sourcing/procurement teams.




- Experience managing both managerial/office employees and field/blue-collar workers.
- Strong commercial negotiation skills.
- Willingness to travel extensively and spend significant time at farms and sourcing locations.

Language RequirementsThe ability to communicate directly with farmers and field teams is extremely important for this role.
- Must be able to communicate effectively with farmers in at least two of Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.
- Ability to speak Kannada, Telugu and Tamil is strongly preferred.
- Must have sufficient English proficiency to independently write professional emails, reports and business communication.
- Working knowledge of Hindi is preferred for communication with field and blue-collar workers.

Preferred Experience
- Commercial sourcing experience with Robusta/Cavendish, Red Banana and Nendran, in addition to Yelakki.
- An established network of farmers, aggregators, traders, harvesting teams and other participants in the banana ecosystem.
- Experience managing significant banana procurement volumes.
- Demonstrated experience reducing post-harvest losses, rejection and handling damage.
- Experience managing procurement through crop shortages, seasonal transitions and sharp market-price movements.

What Success in This Role MeansThe Director – Banana Sourcing & Procurement will ultimately be accountable for four outcomes: Quality. Quantity. Price. Reliability.

Fresh Platter should have the bananas it requires, at the required specifications, when they are required — while continuously improving sourcing economics and reducing post-harvest losses.

We are looking for someone who already knows the banana business, knows where the crop is, understands how sourcing markets work, can build solid field teams and takes personal ownership of ensuring supply commitments are met.

Location: Greater Bengaluru Area

Travel: Extensive travel across banana-growing regions is an integral part of the role. Candidates currently based elsewhere should be willing to relocate to Bengaluru.

📌 Director – Banana Sourcing & Procurement (Bengaluru)
🏢 Fresh Platter
📍 Bengaluru