How Avani Davda Is Changing The Game Of Food And Beverages Industry

Avani Davda is a commerce genius changing the game of the food and beverages industry. She is currently a Board member at Curefoods, a cloud kitchen startup where she was appointed in December 2023. Davda possesses a distinguished career of over 20 years, where she was associated with several prestigious organisations like Tata, Godrej, Mahindra, and more. Avani Davda is best known for her role as the first Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks India, becoming the youngest CEO of a Tata Group company. 

Her prowess in the board rooms of top organisations in India serves as an example of outstanding leadership and determination to succeed, irrespective of gender or age. 

Who Is Avani Davda?

Avani Davda grew up in Mumbai and achieved a degree from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics. She then pursued a Master's in Business Administration from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. In 2002, Davda set foot in the business world, with her appointment to the esteemed Tata Administrative Services (TAS).

She was mentored at the Tata group's Bombay House in other companies as well, including The Indian Hotels Company (Taj Hotels) and Infiniti Retail Ltd. In 2011, she was handpicked into a leadership role when Tatas partnered with Starbucks in 2011. Davda worked on the project right from scratch at Starbucks' headquarters in Seattle before the café chain opened its first store in India in October 2012.

When Davda was 33 years old, she became the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a Tata company. In a 2013 interview with Business Standard, she said, "Age is not an issue in a group in which leadership nuances are changing. Youngsters like us love it when we are given responsibilities with a fair degree of freedom." She held the honourable position till December 2015 when she resigned from the Tata Group.

Davda then joined Godrej Limited in 2016, as the Managing Director of their supermarket venture, Godrej Nature's Basket Ltd. Later, she worked as the Independent Director of Mahindra Logistics and the Strategic Advisor for Bain Advisory Network, according to her LinkedIn profile. Now, it has been two months since she joined Curefoods, a startup launched in 2020.