Cloud-kitchen player Smart Chef partners with Franchise India, to expand via franchising

With COVID-19 outbreak, the cloud-kitchen and delivery business has seen a boom in the country. Not only top restaurant majors have entered the segment but also many new players ventured into the cloud-kitchen market witnessing a surge in the category.

Seeing the growth opportunity that the segment holds, Delhi-based SMART CHEF has announced their expansion plan via franchising its cloud-kitchen business in association with Franchise India – Asia’s largest franchise solution company.

Cloud kitchens are delivery-only kitchens and the concept of cloud kitchens started as a response to increased demand for high-quality meal delivery and rising rents in city center locations.

Smart Chef LLP is managed by a highly experienced team consisting of entrepreneurs Sagar Arora, Partner, Business Acquisition and Growth and Sahil Arora, Partner, Marketing and Branding. Raminder Bakshi who has consulted popular brands like Chaayos and Bercos is working as a food Consultant to achieve excellent market position through their taste and quality.

With an aim to capitalize on the rising trend and demand for cloud kitchens, Smart Chef is set to expand its access to consumers in the wider regions across the country with initial focus on Delhi and NCR.

"The trend of cloud-kitchens was becoming increasingly popular in pre-Covid times, but its relevance has increased manifold during the pandemic. Also, it's the best way to keep your business afloat while maintaining social-distancing guidelines. With this vision in mind, our team at Smart Chef LLP decided to franchise the affordable and profitable cloud kitchen model of Smart Chef since it requires no physical space to operate from beyond a kitchen and is solely dependent on third party integrations, orders placed on calls, apps and websites for functioning,” shared Sagar Arora.

Smart Chef LLP owns three brands-Dosama, Dimbao and Mr. Pao.

"Franchising in the cloud kitchen area is fruitful because the cloud kitchens need low capital expenditure to enter the restaurant industry,” said Gaurav Marya, Chairman Franchise India Group by adding that the margin in cloud kitchen business is around 50% and fixed expenses are around 2.50-2.75 lakhs per month. "So if the store sale is 10 lakh per month, a franchisee can make around Rs 2.25-2.50 lakhs per month - 22% to 25%. Very clearly, it is a top-line driven business,” he added.

"Smart Chef LLP will provide their franchisees with supply-chain support, training, backend support, financial management, food costing, marketing, collaterals and activations and if required, even talent acquisition as well. Lastly, he added their aim is to reach to 100 -cloud-kitchens, pan India,” added Sahil Arora.

According to a recent research, the global cloud kitchen market size was valued at $43.1billion in 2019, and is estimated to reach $71.4billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 12.0% from 2021 to 2027. Even in India, there’s apickupin food ordering and delivery ecosystem, making the country’s food chains to scale up their business via the "cloud-kitchens" or delivery-only kitchens.