Velocity Announces ₹200 Cr Fund To Support Restaurants, Cloud Kitchens Selling on Food Delivery Platforms

• Velocity announces ₹200 Cr fund to fuel the growth of restaurants and cloud kitchens selling on food aggregator platforms
• Velocity aims to empower F&B brands by providing fast, scalable, and flexible financing solutions tailored to their growth needs.

Velocity, India’s leading cash-flow based financing platform, has earmarked 200 Cr in 2025 to support and accelerate growth in the restaurant and cloud kitchen ecosystem across India.

The fund is specifically designed to address the unique challenges faced by F&B brands and help them grow. F&B brands often struggle to secure financing from traditional sources like banks and NBFCs. Recognizing this gap, Velocity offers cash-flow based financing, enabling restaurants and cloud kitchens to effectively manage capital expenditure, working capital, open new outlets, purchase equipment, and launch sub-brands under existing ones without impacting operational profits.

Velocity founders — Saurav Swaroop, Abhiroop Medhekar (in the middle), Atul Khichariya

India’s food delivery and dining-out market is projected to nearly double, growing from ₹5.5 trillion to ₹9 trillion by 2030, according to a report by Swiggy and Bain & Company. This surge is driven by rising disposable incomes, evolving consumer preferences, and the expanding reach of food aggregator platforms. Velocity’s fund is perfectly aligned with this growth and has placed a strong focus on empowering new-age restaurants and cloud kitchen brands, particularly those operating via food aggregator platforms like Zomato and Swiggy.

Commenting on the fund launch, Atul Khichariya, Co-Founder and COO, Velocity said, “The growing appetite of Indian consumers for diverse culinary experiences, combined with the convenience of online food delivery, is driving remarkable growth in the F&B sector. This shift is also fueling a premiumization trend, as consumers increasingly seek high-quality food and beverage options, reflecting their willingness to spend and indulge in unique dining experiences. Velocity’s cash-flow based financing model ensures that F&B brands can scale seamlessly while maintaining financial flexibility.”

Since 2020, Velocity has funded several notable F&B brands such as IDC Kitchen, Smoor, Daily Sushi, Brahma Brew Works, Milano Ice cream, Imperio, Amore Gelato, Jamie's Pizza, and Babas Chicken. These businesses utilized the funds to expand operations, strengthen supply chains, and enhance marketing efforts.

Elaborating on Velocity’s role in shaping IDC Kitchen’s growth story, Abhishek Manikchand Baldota, Director - IDC Kitchen, said, “ Velocity has been instrumental in the growth of our business and has become an invaluable partner in our journey to success. The beauty of Velocity's financing lies in its true sense of partnership. We felt like we had gained a financial partner genuinely invested in our success. With Velocity's support, we have been able to accelerate our expansion plans, invest in inventory, and scale our marketing efforts”

Daily Sushi, Minseong Seok (Co-founder. Left), Hyungtaek Lim (Co-Founder. Right) 

Minseong Seok, Founder of Daily Sushi, added “The partnership with Velocity went beyond providing funds. They ensured independence and transparency through the right integration of technology and support from a dedicated team.”

India’s F&B industry is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by the convergence of quick commerce, cloud kitchens, and ultra-fast delivery models. Platforms like Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and Blinkit have introduced 10-minute delivery services such as Zepto Cafe, Bolt, and Bistro. Bigbasket and Magicpin are also preparing to enter this space, while emerging players like Swish and Zing are also gaining traction. This shift to ultra-fast delivery is redefining convenience for consumers, pushing F&B brands to adapt swiftly. Moreover, initiatives like the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) are enabling F&B brands to extend their reach beyond traditional marketplaces, unlocking new revenue streams in India’s evolving food delivery ecosystem.

To stay competitive, F&B brands are embracing technologies to better understand consumer behavior, standardize processes and are investing in automation and machinery. As India’s F&B sector evolves rapidly, Velocity’s ₹200 crore fund is designed to support new-age innovators in the space. By offering fast, scalable, and flexible financing solutions, Velocity enables F&B brands to seize emerging market opportunities, scale operations, and meet increasing consumer demand.

About Velocity:

Velocity is India’s leading cash flow-based financing platform for new-age businesses, focused on democratizing access to working capital for this traditionally underserved sector. Founded in 2020 by Abhiroop Medhekar, Atul Khichariya, and Saurav Swaroop, Velocity leverages these digital-first businesses’ abundant data and robust online cash flows to offer innovative financing solutions.Through partnerships with 26 ecosystem players, including four of the largest marketplaces, Velocity provides non-dilutive debt financing to E-commerce founders.

Since its inception, Velocity has disbursed over ₹1000 crores, enabling over 1,200 digital-first businesses, to overcome working capital challenges. The Bengaluru based fintech has raised $30 million in equity funding led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. Its portfolio includes many of India’s fastest-growing D2C brands like Soulflower, Chumbak, and Off Duty to name a few.

For more information, please visit: https://www.velocity.in/

Restaurants Pivot To Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Model, POSist Plays Technology Enabler with Online Ordering System

POSist, a leading cloud-based restaurant technology platform, serving over 8,000 restaurants in 20 countries, introduces Online Ordering System for restaurants and cloud kitchens to enable Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) channel through the in-house website and mobile app for ordering food.

[caption id="attachment_151853" align="aligncenter" width="661"] Online Ordering Website of Suzette Gourmet[/caption]

Online D2C channels such as websites, social media and messaging platforms allow restaurateurs to set up their own digital storefront, customize the guest experience, manage online orders, and open new revenue streams in addition to third-party networks, ultimately enabling them to adapt to the new normal of dining.

POSist Online Ordering Features

Three-fold jump in food ordering during April - June 2020

During the lockdown phase, approximately 8,000 restaurants and cloud kitchens using POSist registered an almost 3X increase in food deliveries between April to June 2020 as compared to the previous year. The average order value also jumped by 2X from the pre-COVID level. Based on these metrics, it is evident that Takeaway and Home Delivery have become major sources of revenue for the restaurant industry amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

[caption id="attachment_151855" align="alignleft" width="324"] Team Suzette Gourmet (left to right) Jérémie Sabbagh, Antonia Achache and Pierre Labail[/caption]

Restaurants Pivoting to D2C Amid COVID-19

Given the reduced footfall and social distancing norms, profit margins have taken a hit in the restaurant industry. As a result, many restaurants have either completely moved or started their deliveries. To scale the delivery business, it is imperative for restaurants to make their online experiences even more extraordinary as compared to the dine-in restaurants.

Opening new revenue streams

Restaurants can make use of the online ordering software by integrating with the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and third-party apps such as loyalty programs, mobile wallets, and cloud telephony among other services to drive more revenue. In addition to already existing food aggregator channels, having an in-house website helps in brand building and amplifies the revenue opportunities. Its a win-win situation for both restaurants and customers.

Echoing these thoughts, Sumit Gulati, Founder, Spice Market Kitchen & Bar, and promoter of Delhi-based cloud kitchens Call Chotu and Nayi Dilli Ke Paranthe said, "Restaurants must continue to strengthen integrations and build an omnichannel presence. Now is the time when brands must invest in all possible channels to reach customers. Food aggregator platforms continue to be the most popular medium for consumers at large, however, selling directly to the consumer with owned platforms like Website and WhatsApp is emerging as a more attractive and cost-effective channel. We have witnessed a 70% jump in orders from WhatsApp since the lockdown started in March. COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to be where the customer is, that's right inside their smartphone screens."

Improved guest experience

The restaurant business thrives on the relationship with the guests, and having a website gives a restauranteur the advantage of gathering important customer information, order patterns, and insights to their likes and dislikes which can be used to create better engagement. Additionally, POSist provides a range of customizable layouts for restaurants to give a personalized experience to their guests by showing them designer menus with photos and rich content.

Easy order management

Once the POSist Online Ordering page is created, any new changes and updates in menus, business hours, or business information will automatically sync with the central POS system. The admin managing the tool can easily manage online orders and processes from acceptance to delivery.

Known for its healthy, organic menu, Suzette, one of the most popular bakeries in Mumbai, houses all of the brands- Kitchen Garden, Suzette, Suzette Bakery, and Kitchen Garden Deli-on its online platform Suzette.in (Powered by POSist). Pierre Labail, Co-Owner, Suzette Gourmet said, "Consumer brands like ours are expected to focus on creating value and building trust. Last month we fully moved all four of our brands to our in-house website to manage direct delivery. Having our own channel gave us a complete view of customers, and took complete ownership of deliveries. POSist's online ordering works seamlessly with the POS system, maintaining and updating the website is like a breeze."

"The restaurant industry is taking constructive steps to embrace new ways of doing business such as pivoting to cloud kitchens, opting for digital technologies, and investing in high-quality hygiene. Working with over 8,000 restaurants, we realized that brands urgently need to own their online experience to be able to connect with customers the same way they used to do offline in the pre-COVID days. POSist online ordering allows restaurant operators to set up their own digital storefront, customize the guest experience, manage orders, ultimately be able to ready the business for the future," said Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO, POSist Technologies.

POSist can be used by restaurants of all formats and sizes including, Fine-Dine Restaurants, Casual Dining Restaurants, QSRs, Hotel Restaurants, Food Courts, Bar & Breweries, and Cloud or Dark Kitchens. The company works with some of the leading brands across the world including Lite Bite Foods, Taco Bell, Jamie's Italian, UK based Millie's Cookies, Suzette Gourmet, Spice Market, Olive Bar & Kitchen among others.

About POSist Technologies

Launched in 2012, POSist is a leading cloud-based restaurant technology platform suited for restaurants of all sizes. POSist offers scalable, reliable, and easy to use point-of-sale technology, enabling businesses to automate operations, integrate with aggregators, delight guests, and grow their revenue.

Headquartered in New Delhi, POSist has over 100 employees with offices in Dubai, Mexico, New York, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. POSist is trusted by over 8,000 restaurants in 20 countries and 100 cities worldwide.

POSist offers comprehensive integrations with over 100+ platforms to enable the effortless functioning of restaurants of all sizes and formats. The suite of integrations includes Accounting Software, Online-ordering Platforms, Digital Wallets, Cloud Telephony Software, Table Reservation platforms, Loyalty Programs, and Delivery Integration with top online food aggregators, globally.

For more information, please visit www.posist.com.

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Cloud Kitchen and Restaurant Technology Platform POSist to Empower Businesses with Digital Ordering and Industry-first Digital Postpaid Dining Experience

POSist, a leading cloud-based restaurant technology platform serving over 8,000 restaurants in 20 countries, today announced the release of its new technology stack. It features Digital Ordering and Industry-First Digital Postpaid Dining to help accelerate technology adoption in restaurants. The technology stack will assist restaurateurs to minimize physical interactions between patrons and the servers in a dine-in setup. The company has also announced a COVID-19 Waiver Package for the official period of the lockdown and an additional extension of product subscription for the equivalent number of days to its customers.

A COVID-19 Waiver To Support The Community

[caption id="attachment_146099" align="alignleft" width="369"] Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO, POSist Technologies[/caption]

"At POSist we truly believe in keeping our restaurant community at the core of everything we do. We understand the next three months will be very crucial for restaurant owners and would require them to operate with minimum CAPEX. As a technology partner, we strive to support our community in the best of our capacity. To do our bit, we are waiving the product subscription fee for 75 days with effect from March 15, 2020, to May 31, 2020. This waiver will be in the form of a direct discount. Additionally, we will be offering an extension of the software license for the same duration of days to the customers who have already purchased our product by paying upfront for the full year," said Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO, POSist Technologies.

Commenting on the product release, Ashish added, "When we started working on the tech stack, we took into account the feedback received from our customers across regions. From the collective feedback, it was evident that the restaurant industry cannot be contactless, however, by using technology interventions at the right touchpoint, we can at least put 'less contact' in practice. That became the core essence of what we are releasing today as our technology suite for the new normal."

POSist QR Code Reader

[caption id="attachment_146100" align="aligncenter" width="701"] Digital Ordering Using QR Code[/caption]

Using POSists dashboard, restaurants will have an option to generate QR code assigned to a particular table number. This QR code will be on display, on the respective table, where the guest will be seated. Once the guest is ready to order, all they have to do is scan the QR code, enter their mobile number and the menu will appear on their mobile browser through which they can select the items and place the order in a seamless way.

Wi-Fi Based Ordering

The feature allows consumers to place an order from their phones by simply connecting to the restaurant's Wi-Fi at the property. Such Wi-Fi ordering makes the process much faster and secure as it is hosted on the restaurants network without any dependency on the customer's mobile network. This feature can also work in offline mode in case of slower internet speed at the restaurant.

Industry-First Digital Postpaid Dining

In a dine-in environment, customers often repeat orders or make new ones for different courses. With the postpaid dining feature, guests can easily do that without the hassle of paying upfront every time a new order is placed. Once the repeat order is placed, the waiter will approach the table maintaining the prescribed social distance to confirm the order. On confirmation, the waiter shoots the order to KDS (Kitchen Display System) where the chef will receive a notification to start the preparation process. The guest can continue to reorder without any interruption just like they have been doing in the pre-COVID world.

Digital Bill & Payments

Bill settlement can be done without physically touching any bill book or receipt. Once the guest is through with the meal, they can request the bill directly from their mobile. The waiter assigned to the table will receive the notification and raise the bill. The same will appear on the customer's phone along with the payment gateway for online payment or cash option. On making the payment, the receipt is automatically generated on the phone and a digital copy will be sent to the customer on WhatsApp and via SMS.

No Additional Burden On Restaurants

In these difficult times, the last thing restaurants want is to take any hit to their revenues in the name of digital ordering or payment assistance. As a technology enabler, POSist will be available to restaurants without any additional burden on transaction charges. POSist will offer an open platform for restaurateurs to choose the payment processor and the fee they negotiate with them.

POSist can be used by restaurants of all formats and sizes including, Fine-Dine Restaurants, Casual Dining Restaurants, QSRs, Hotel Restaurants, Food Courts, Bar & Breweries, and Cloud or Dark Kitchens. The company works with some of the leading brands across the world including Taco Bell, Jamie's Italian, UK based Millie's Cookies, Olive Bar & Kitchen among others.

POSist is integrated with all the leading payment gateways such as Paytm, MobiKwik, PayU, PhonePe, EzeTap, CCAvenue, and VeriPay. The POS software also works with Amazon Pay, Paytm, and DotPe to facilitate digital ordering through their QR code reader.

About POSist Technologies

Launched in 2012, POSist is a leading cloud-based restaurant technology platform suited for restaurants of all sizes. POSist offers scalable, reliable, and easy to use point-of-sale technology, enabling businesses to automate operations, integrate with aggregators, delight guests, and grow their revenue.

Headquartered in New Delhi, POSist has 100 employees, with offices in Dubai, Mexico, New York, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. POSist is trusted by over 8,000 restaurants in 20 countries and 100 cities worldwide.

POSist offers comprehensive integrations with over 70 platforms to enable the effortless functioning of restaurants of all sizes and formats. The suite of integrations includes Accounting Software, Online-ordering Platforms, Digital Wallets, Cloud Telephony Software, Table Reservation platforms, Loyalty Programs, and Delivery Integration with top online food aggregators, globally.

For more information, please visit www.posist.com.

Ministry of Tourism releases Dineout’s White Paper on Guidelines for restaurants post-COVID

In addition to its fatal effects on human lives & livelihoods, the COVID-19 outbreak has instilled fear in several industries including restaurants, hotels & aviation. As governments & public health agencies stress upon the importance of social distancing as a way to ‘flatten the curve’ over time, India’s largest dining out and restaurant tech platform, Dineout has unveiled a first-of-its-kind whitepaper with guidelines  and best practices for the F&B industry restaurant industry in a post-COVID F&B industry. world.

The whitepaper lists down restoration guidelines for the restaurant industry on staff management, staff health & safety, restaurant space sanitisation, food safety, social distancing, inventory management, and measures for takeaway & delivery business models. It addresses key actionable points to successfully operate in a contactless manner, keeping the safety of both diners and staff members under consideration.

The white paper was released by the Additional Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Ms. Rupinder Brar. She recognised the merits of Contactless Dining as a confidence-building measure to bring back diners,  and reiterated the importance of following the recommended practices when it comes to restaurant operations. This is to ensure that restaurants are safe spaces for diners as well as staff members.

Ms. Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India said, “ In the past, humanity stands witness to the opportunities created out of the challenges people have faced. And this is another one from them, a situation which we are facing all over the world. As rightly said by Dineout, technology can always be used in a big way in such situations. I am glad to see through your initiative that technology can be used to create a safe environment for everyone, and hence re-assuring that basic protocols while dining out are in place.”

Summary of recommended practices for the restaurant industry in a post COVID world-

A detailed version is available in the whitepaper.

Staff Management: 

• 
  

  Advisory For Staff- Staff should wash hands with soap every hour. Temperature checks for staff entering the restaurant premises must be a mandate.

  
  

Staff Health & Safety:

• 
  

  Let Your Unwell Staff Rest - As per Govt guidelines, staff members who are sick should be given paid leave and advised to stay at home.

  
  

In-Restaurant Operation

• 
  

  Modified Seating Plan - Space management and overall interiors must be ‘Social distancing’ themed. Maintain at least a two meter gap between tables. Limit party size at tables and booth setting could be a marvelous add on.

  
  

Kitchen Operations:

• 
  

  No Entry For Un-sanitised Material & Staff - Make sure every staff and material is sanitised before entering the kitchen area.

  
  

Delivery and Pick-up Orders-

• 
  

  Enable “No Touch” Deliveries - Encourage diners to opt for the ‘contactless delivery’ option. Notify diners via text message or phone call when their order is about to arrive.

  
  

Contactless Dining-

Many restaurateurs are looking at contactless dining to remove nonessential human interaction and continue to safeguard both diners and staff interest. Diners are skeptical about stepping out and wary about touching un-sanitised surfaces. They want to avoid touching things like currency notes, which goes through multiple hand exchanges. To counter that, restaurants need to build trust and habits that reassures anxious diners.

There are a multitude of touchpoints with a diner that restaurateurs are looking to modify and facilitate with the introduction of technology. These can be simple actions like booking a table, pre-ordering meals, takeaway, digital ordering, digital payment, etc. Priority for diners will shift and restaurants are planning accordingly.

Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO - Dineout said, “As the world negotiates the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our interaction with the outside world will reorient in both the short and long term for the sake of personal hygiene and public health. These post-COVID sensibilities are likely to have an enduring impact in how the country’s food & beverages industry is expected to operate, and the ‘Reinventing The Wheel: Dining Out In A Post-COVID Era’ whitepaper is our way to help Indian restaurateurs comprehend and adapt to this ‘new normal’ and the rapidly evolving demands of Indian diners. As a leading restaurant tech platform, we aspire to empower restaurateurs with our tech innovations to help fight this crisis, and reassure them that the human desire for good food & good time with loved ones will never go out of vogue.”

Dineout has recently unveiled the country’s first end-to-end ‘contactless dining suite’ to help restaurants operate in a post-COVID-19 world. The brand will also provide Restaurant  Safety Kits to help maintain hygiene and is facilitating hygiene certification for restaurants through a licensed lab to ensure all microbiological tests are in place before restaurants restart post the lockdown. Diners can see the certified restaurants on the Dineout App with their audit rating. This will help diners make an informed decision and be assured of the safety and hygiene standards, which will help regain consumer confidence in a post-COVID world.

Whitepaper link: https://bit.ly/3bXiHy6

About Dineout

Dineout is India’s largest dining out and restaurant tech solutions platform in B2C and B2B front with inresto, processing more than 100M diners and $900M worth of transactions for its partner restaurants across its network of 50,000 restaurants in 20 cities, providing a collective savings of more than $100M on restaurant bills annually. Founded in 2012 by Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor, Dineout is the easiest way to discover the best restaurants in the city, save time & hassle by booking a table in advance, get discounts, enjoy 1+1 privileges on Food, Drink & Buffets through Gourmet Passport, as well as earn cashback on every restaurant bill payment via Dineout Pay.

With Launch of Menus In 21 Cities, Jugnoo Takes A Big Leap In Restaurant Aggregation

Hyperlocal startup, Jugnoo has launched its restaurant aggregator vertical Menus in 21 cities. Within 4 months of its launch, the app-based service that enables customers to order food from restaurants in the city has been expanded into 21 cities across India and has enrolled over 5000 merchants including prominent brands like Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway, Burger King and Domino’s.

Commenting on the development, Samar Singla, Founder and CEO of Jugnoo said, “We already have a good customer base in Tier II and Tier III cities due to our Rides vertical. As we are adding more offerings to our platform, it is enabling us to grow really fast. With Menus, we are witnessing a steady week-on-week growth of 20% and plan to add around 1000 new merchants every week. Currently servicing over 2000 orders per day, the venture is a big boon for local merchants who are high on quality but don’t get enough visibility. Menus is helping them scale their business and fulfil their delivery requirements.”

Founded in November 2014, Jugnoo offers a range of services like rides, ready to eat meals, restaurant food delivery, grocery and B2B delivery. Headquartered in Chandigarh, the company is currently rendering its services in 40 cities of India and trending at 50,000 daily transactions. It has over 15,000 autos empanelled under the brand at present.

With this expansion, Jugnoo claims that it has become the only platform to offer this kind of service in Tier II and Tier III cities like Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Vadodara, Indore and Bhopal. Further, as Jugnoo is utilising the logistics network of its B2B vertical for its restaurant food delivery segment, it is able to facilitate home delivery option for merchants who don’t have transportation means to do that. For customers, the service is not only convenient but also more economical as they can avail huge discounts while placing orders via Jugnoo app.

“We keep coming up with a lot of festival campaigns that enable people living in metros to send gifts to their friends and relatives in smaller cities. Unlike other restaurant aggregators, who hire third-party delivery partners, we ensure quick and convenient delivery through our own B2B logistics service.” Samar added.

Jugnoo’s Menus service is currently available in Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Noida, Bhopal, Vadodara, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota, Surat, Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Nashik, Ludhiana, Pune, Madurai and Nagpur. The platform targets to enrol a whopping 6,000 merchants and expand its reach to 60-80 cities by end of this year.

Restaurants, Food Tech Cos and The Cloud Kitchen in India

In the business world, one needs to keep reinventing themselves in order to remain relevant and maintain their position in the market. A similar thing is happening currently in the India's online food delivery space. Two of the most famous names in the Indian Online Delivery space, Zomato and Swiggy have now taken the "cloud kitchen" route to capture interest of the foodie population of the country. Since the concept takes the risk out of trying new places, the concept has a potential of gaining huge success in India's self-confessed foodie population.

What is Cloud Kitchen?

In simple words, a Cloud Kitchen is a delivery-only kitchen, which can be easily set up without too much infrastructure or operational costs. The concept allows for a greater variety of food being available to the customers for delivery.

The reason that the concept of Cloud Kitchen is gaining such popularity is because they do not have any facility other than providing food, hence their entire focus remains on their food preparation and its quality. They just function as a production unit with a space for the preparation of food. Since the food can be ordered online, hence, the considered got its name cloud kitchen.

Why Cloud Kitchen?

The cutthroat competition prevalent in the restaurant industry, along with the decreasing margins has resulted in shutting down of a number of restaurants as they are unable to cover their costs and sustain. Over the last couple of years, it has also been observed that the fast-paced lives that human being live nowadays has resulted in a drastic decrease in the number of dine-in customers. At the same time, the numbers
of home delivery orders have increased significantly.

The swelling of the number of delivery orders has led to various offline restaurants ditching their traditional setup and moving towards cloud kitchen operations.

Cloud kitchen restaurants work towards maximising their number of orders per day, by focusing solely on mass production of food and decreasing the overall production and packaging time. Many of the restaurants are now seriously considering to automate some of the preliminary aspects of food production in order to save them some precious time.

The Bowl Company By Swiggy

It was in late 2015 that Bengaluru-based food delivery startup Swiggy announced that it will be opening kitchens in areas where its partner restaurants lack a physical presence but are most likely to have a high numbers of customers.

It was finally in January, 2017 that the Online food aggregator launched its cloud kitchen called 'The Bowl Company' in select areas in Bengaluru.

As of now, it is offering a limited menu in Bengaluru's Koramangala from its cloud kitchen model. For this, it has joined hands with some of the popular restaurants in a joint venture to offer a selection where the restaurant does not have a physical presence.

According to Swiggy, with cloud kitchens they aim to extend the food tech and delivery continuum by creating a platform where multiple brands can work from a single kitchen (external or Swiggy) to meet consumer demands in certain pockets of the city. The company is looking forward to scaling up the pilot programme in due course.

Zomato Infrastructure Services (ZIS)

ZIS is basically a kitchen infrastructure service where the Gurugram-based online restaurant discovery and food ordering company will be working with its current restaurant business owners to expand their business to more locations without incurring any fixed cost.

The infrastructure services are basically delivery only food courts in locations slightly off the premium locations. These locations are selected based on Zomato data. According to Zomato, a majority of these locations are densely populated mid-income areas in large cities, and second tier cities in India.

ZIS will allow users to select dishes from multiple brands to build a single food order. For example, how about a samosa with burger? Sounds delicious interesting, right?

The pilot kitchen is in Dwarka will start cooking in the first/second week of March. After this, Zomato doesn't plan to have another location for another 2-3 months. But once it has learnt the business model’s nuances, and reasonably knows how to bypass Murphy’s law, they will expand to 5 locations very soon.

Swiggy v/s Zomato

Zomato has made it clear that it will not be cooking food by itself in these kitchens unlike Swiggy because they want to help their customers (restaurateurs) and not compete with them. Zomato will be providing the necessary infrastructure to restaurants to make it easy for its customers to set up a delivery business.

While ZIS will provide the real estate, build the kitchen and supply all the equipment for its customers to just ‘walk in’ and start their business in matter of a few hours. The Bowl Company, on the other hand, is a joint venture by Swiggy with popular restaurants to offer a selection where the restaurant does not have a physical presence. The Swiggy platform facilitates lead generation, payment and delivery of orders for its partner restaurants.

[Top Featured Image - Shutterstock]

Restaurants, Food Tech Cos and The Cloud Kitchen in India

In the business world, one needs to keep reinventing themselves in order to remain relevant and maintain their position in the market. A similar thing is happening currently in the India's online food delivery space. Two of the most famous names in the Indian Online Delivery space, Zomato and Swiggy have now taken the "cloud kitchen" route to capture interest of the foodie population of the country. Since the concept takes the risk out of trying new places, the concept has a potential of gaining huge success in India's self-confessed foodie population.

What is Cloud Kitchen?

In simple words, a Cloud Kitchen is a delivery-only kitchen, which can be easily set up without too much infrastructure or operational costs. The concept allows for a greater variety of food being available to the customers for delivery.

The reason that the concept of Cloud Kitchen is gaining such popularity is because they do not have any facility other than providing food, hence their entire focus remains on their food preparation and its quality. They just function as a production unit with a space for the preparation of food. Since the food can be ordered online, hence, the considered got its name cloud kitchen.

Why Cloud Kitchen?

The cutthroat competition prevalent in the restaurant industry, along with the decreasing margins has resulted in shutting down of a number of restaurants as they are unable to cover their costs and sustain. Over the last couple of years, it has also been observed that the fast-paced lives that human being live nowadays has resulted in a drastic decrease in the number of dine-in customers. At the same time, the numbers
of home delivery orders have increased significantly.

The swelling of the number of delivery orders has led to various offline restaurants ditching their traditional setup and moving towards cloud kitchen operations.

Cloud kitchen restaurants work towards maximising their number of orders per day, by focusing solely on mass production of food and decreasing the overall production and packaging time. Many of the restaurants are now seriously considering to automate some of the preliminary aspects of food production in order to save them some precious time.

The Bowl Company By Swiggy

It was in late 2015 that Bengaluru-based food delivery startup Swiggy announced that it will be opening kitchens in areas where its partner restaurants lack a physical presence but are most likely to have a high numbers of customers.

It was finally in January, 2017 that the Online food aggregator launched its cloud kitchen called 'The Bowl Company' in select areas in Bengaluru.

As of now, it is offering a limited menu in Bengaluru's Koramangala from its cloud kitchen model. For this, it has joined hands with some of the popular restaurants in a joint venture to offer a selection where the restaurant does not have a physical presence.

According to Swiggy, with cloud kitchens they aim to extend the food tech and delivery continuum by creating a platform where multiple brands can work from a single kitchen (external or Swiggy) to meet consumer demands in certain pockets of the city. The company is looking forward to scaling up the pilot programme in due course.

Zomato Infrastructure Services (ZIS)

ZIS is basically a kitchen infrastructure service where the Gurugram-based online restaurant discovery and food ordering company will be working with its current restaurant business owners to expand their business to more locations without incurring any fixed cost.

The infrastructure services are basically delivery only food courts in locations slightly off the premium locations. These locations are selected based on Zomato data. According to Zomato, a majority of these locations are densely populated mid-income areas in large cities, and second tier cities in India.

ZIS will allow users to select dishes from multiple brands to build a single food order. For example, how about a samosa with burger? Sounds delicious interesting, right?

The pilot kitchen is in Dwarka will start cooking in the first/second week of March. After this, Zomato doesn't plan to have another location for another 2-3 months. But once it has learnt the business model’s nuances, and reasonably knows how to bypass Murphy’s law, they will expand to 5 locations very soon.

Swiggy v/s Zomato

Zomato has made it clear that it will not be cooking food by itself in these kitchens unlike Swiggy because they want to help their customers (restaurateurs) and not compete with them. Zomato will be providing the necessary infrastructure to restaurants to make it easy for its customers to set up a delivery business.

While ZIS will provide the real estate, build the kitchen and supply all the equipment for its customers to just ‘walk in’ and start their business in matter of a few hours. The Bowl Company, on the other hand, is a joint venture by Swiggy with popular restaurants to offer a selection where the restaurant does not have a physical presence. The Swiggy platform facilitates lead generation, payment and delivery of orders for its partner restaurants.

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Urbanrestro - India’s First Online Banquet Booking Platform

Urbanrestro is India's first online banquet booking platform. Their services make sure that the customers can organize their events and functions with ease, without having to worry about the costs and the venue specifications - all taken care by the team at Urbanrestro.

Their banquet experts negotiate with the banquets and then provide the customers with the best negotiated rates with respect to their venue requirements. A banquet comparison tool is present on their website which makes sure, that the clients can compare the venues and pick the one which best suits their requirements, thus making sure that party or event organization is made easy for their clients.



Also, they will help you find the most amazing of restaurants and eatery spots as per your requirements. Various offers like Happy Hours, Wine tasting workshop, Food festivals, DJ Nights, Ladies night will also be guaranteed to the customers at the best prices across several Bars and Lounges. Founded in Mumbai in 2012, the company now has their services in Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Urbanrestro also have an android app for its services.

[caption id="attachment_97383" align="alignleft" width="238" class=" "] Shriti, Founder of Urbanestro[/caption]

Shriti Chajed, who is the founder of this company, completed her engineering from SGSITS and MBA from S.P Jain Dubai-Singapore. She had a work experience in technical and marketing fields for over 5 years before taking up the idea of Urbanrestro. She says "I juggled with multiple business ideas at different phases in life. As an engineering student, I wanted to open an Ice- Gola stall, which later changed to a theme based restaurants for couples and finally moulded to an online venture dealing with upscale banquets &restaurants. I was an active member in planning events and parties for the organizations I have worked for. Always having to set up the place and the menu which my colleagues would enjoy, that’s when I realized that planning parties is a tedious task, especially setting up the right venue with the budgets allocated. Hence, the idea of Urbanrestro.com originated."

They have partnered with various organizations as a result of their marketing tie-ups. The main aim of the strategic tie-ups is to increase the benefits provided to our customer base, providing them with benefits from various food and beverage brands. They also have several B2B tie-ups to leverage their leads process.

Mumbai-based online startup Urbanrestro.com has team of 18 members and is supported by Harsh Baid, Shriti's husband, who also happens to be an investor cum advisory in the company. It was with his seed-capital of Rs. 25 lacs that the company was started.

Pooja, Senior marketing manager says "Our future expansion plans consist of expanding to new cities, increasing the services provided and improving features on the website to help the client/customers with their banquet selection and subsequent booking in a better manner. We plan to expand to Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai in the near future and offer services of destination wedding as well as room bookings for weddings and conferences."

Shriti adds "Initial days were intriguing. I mean, just imagine if you are the first restaurant we are approaching and we have nothing to show you. I still remember we got our first restaurant signed up after 10 long and extensive meetings and there has been no looking back since then. Another challenge was finding the right people for the venture who can adapt to the changing business scenarios and competitions. So yes, the journey till now has been tough, but exciting."

'Always improvise and move ahead' is the mind-set of the team members. They are always taking all the steps in working towards their dream of revolutionizing the way people book venues for their events. We wish them all the luck they need in making such events for their customers more memorable.