In the last 2-3 years we have been a lot about food delivery and cloud-kitchen business in India. But, have we really dig dip into the segment and found that there is still so much of opportunity to cater. As per reports Cloud kitchen market in India is a billion dollar market though globally it is 65 billion dollar which means we contribute less than 2 per cent of the business that is done globally. So, there is still a wide space to be captured. In this interview we will talk about edabba that has become one of the fastest growing cloud-kitchen brand in the eastern region and now it has entered into the Bengaluru market to take a bigger pie of the share. Excerpts from the interview:

What was the whole idea behind ‘edabba’?

Living away from home, in boarding school and college, taught me a lot more about my happy place - food. I loved the experience of building my own meal and picking the type of rice, protein and veggies that went into my burrito, or simply choosing the base, sauce and toppings on my pizza! After returning to India, I found that the individual meal box options available were limited and boring. While we have huge diversity and a wide variety of options, I did not find any customization options, especially in Indian and Chinese cuisines, which are the most consumed cuisines in the nation. Moreover, ordering a good variety of items, just for myself, was not an option due to lavish portion sizes and their hefty prices. This motivated me to establish my own cloud kitchen brand which offers customized meals at an affordable price.

Now that there is a sudden rise in the cloud-kitchen/delivery segment and have seen many brands entering this space. How are you carving a niche for yourself in it?

Currently, we have 6 kitchens in Kolkata and are now one of the top 5 local cloud kitchen enterprises in East India. We provide customers with the best quality and a healthy quantity of food at the most affordable prices. We also provide a vast variety of products with options for everyone to make their combination of meals. Our packaging is done in a way to ensure that the customer can comfortably eat the food combos they have selected. We pay close attention to the quality of each component, from understanding local tastes to creating recipes to fit the customer's palate. The brand has left no stone unturned to ensure fresh, hygienic, delicious and affordable meals to customers through constant innovation, experimentation and quality checks. 

You offer Indian and Chinese bowl meals as options. What is the rise of this segment as we see that research also suggests that meal bowl segment is on rise these days?

Meal bowls as a segment is on the rise because it is convenient and easy to eat out of, allowing people to eat on the go or wherever they are. There is no need to empty out the food in another plate. People can choose their rice and curry of choice to build for a light lunch meal. It is also very cost-effective for a person to eat.

How have you designed the menu keeping the target audience in the mind?

edabba as a brand specializes in individual and customizable meal boxes. The brand appeals to a diverse customer base, including independent individuals, working professionals and students. We’ve designed the menu keeping in mind the diverse tastes of consumers and provide them with affordable meal options that can be customized based on their taste preferences.

What is your view on targeting other cities and what strategy you would follow to enter other markets?

We will be looking at expanding across India in the next 2 years. We are planning to enter metropolitans first so that we can cater to the migrants and people who love their choice of Indian and Chinese meals. We also have a very Calcutta style North Indian and Indian Chinese taste which we know our customers love. In different parts of the country, people do not get the same taste and we want to take it to them there. Our customers have given u the confidence that they will love our food and we cannot wait to take it to them all across.

We see that despite restaurant brands talking about the issues with aggregators most of them are present on these platforms. What is the trap?

The cloud market depends on aggregators because there are only 2 major ones and all the customers prefer to order from there. Customers get to choose from a variety of options on these platforms, they do not want to order on discovery mode from google. These aggregators have also scaled and are able to market to customers better and give customers offers to bring them back to their platform.

What innovation have you introduced to maintain standardization processes in the cloud kitchen industry? 

We are working to utilize better machines for cooking that help us standardize the way we cook our food. We can control and preset the temperature, the timing and the way the food is cooked. We have also standardized the ingredients that we put into our food. Not only will this help our customers receive the same quality food each time, but it will also help them rely on our brand to get exactly what they are looking for!

What technologies you are using to reduce the turn-around time?

We are using some machines that help us cut vegetables and process food in volumes. This helps us be more hygienic and faster. We use POS system features such as auto-accept to ensure no time delay before the order is received. We are also going to start using automated fryers and rice boiling machines for faster cooking.

Also, with meal bowl as a segment there is a growth of Make Your Own Meal or DIY. What have you done in this aspect?

edabba as a chain specializes in individual and customisable meal boxes. We believe in giving customers the option to create their own meals and combinations. Hence we introduced the concept of ‘make your own meals’ that allows customers to choose their own appetizers, mains, accompaniments, desserts and beverages from a large assortment of Indian and Chinese fare based on their taste preferences. 

Also, delivery as a concept has seen a boom in the country. Do you also plan to expand edabba to other delivery locations?

We already have six successful cloud kitchens in Kolkata and three new brands in the pipeline namely Kolkata Local, Indian Kitchen Co. and Red Lantern. We are also expanding to Bangalore with 4 kitchens in the next month. In the subsequent years, the company aspires to become a household name for ordering tasty meals at a reasonable price across the country!

From where do you source the ingredients for your venture?

We source from the best vendors in the market to ensure that they provide us with the best quality ingredients. We purchase everyday so that we can use fresh ingredients. This is procured centrally and distributed across our kitchens on a daily basis.

Do you see any competitor in this segment as East market is still not that penetrated when it comes to online food business?

While every region has their own local players, there are a lot of national brands that will try to make their mark in the East Market. It is not completely penetrated when it comes to the online food business. 

Any comment on Zomato’s 10-minute delivery. Do you also have plans to partner with them?

Zomato's 10-minute delivery is a very interesting concept. It looks difficult to achieve but I think if we follow a hyperlocal delivery focus, we should be able to make the food ready in 5-10 minutes and then it can be delivered in 15-20 minutes. It will definitely push all the players to deliver faster. Given the opportunity, we will also experiment with the same. We always welcome new ideas, even though we understand that they may not always work out. The idea is to make the customer happy, and that is what we are looking to do as well.

What’s your expansion plan entering new cities, region?

We are starting with 4 kitchens in Bangalore next month and will be looking to take this to 10 within the next 3 months. We will then start looking to expand in other metropolitans. We will also explore the franchise model in the near future.