What’s for lunch?

Did you know that Delhi’s iconic food joint Karim’s which is most popular for its Mughal delicacies was established in the mid-19th century by Haji Karimuddin, son of Mohammed Aziz, a cook in the royal court of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. This dine-in and takeaway continues to thrive in Delhi’s Khan Market – one of the most expensive real estate parcels in the world. 

But where you have Karim’s you also have Behrouz Biryani – no royal ancestry here just the grit of new-age entrepreneurs at play in their cloud kitchen! 

India is reportedly home to over 3500 cloud kitchens and with more players entering the segment, the cloud kitchen model is undergoing changes and variations.

Image Credit: Economic Times

While the cloud kitchen market is projected to further grow, media reports have also revealed that several players are also pulling out from the market. Most recently, food delivery giant Swiggy sold its cloud-kitchen business as it focuses on profitability. 

However, the potential of the market and the evolving business landscape continues to draw investor attention. According to Statista Data, the revenue generated by the online food delivery market in India is expected to reach $34.68 billion this year. The numbers are further expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.88% projecting a market volume of $71.63 billion by 2027.

While cloud kitchens have a lot of advantages to offer and look like profitable ventures unless the gaps in the online brand play and backend supply chain is sorted out, the businesses can bleed.

These problems can be solved by tech players such as Mumbai-based Ghost Kitchens, a profitability enabler platform for restaurants, cloud kitchens and third party food delivery aggregators. Ghost Kitchens helps restaurants and cloud kitchens earn an incremental revenue by plugging in food brands into kitchen setups. 

As newer and innovative models are being introduced, this model of utilizing existing kitchen space to increase profitability has been scaling fast in the US with players such as Denver-based Next Bite and Orlando-based Virtual Dining Concept disrupting the market and having raised over $200 M between them.

For the end consumer, getting ourselves some delicious food has become much easier. Amid many options from traditional hotels, restaurants to kitchens on the clouds, what is your go-to choice?

(Featured image: Unsplash)