Cook-it-yourself kits gain steam among urban food lovers

BENGALURU: A new rung of food-tech companies is finding their way into urban households, providing cook-it-yourself kits to those with a penchant for tossing up their own meals.

Companies such as Chefkraft, Chef Sutra, InnerChef, CookBoxes, Cook Gourmet, ForMyBelly and Being Chef, to name a few, have sprung up in less than a year as an extension of the evolving food sector. The country houses 16 such companies, according to data from startup analytics company Tracxn!.

While none of them has been institutionally funded, they are gaining steam with food connoisseurs -- mostly young working couples pressed for time or home-makers wanting to cook for their families.

They sell meal kits with recipe instructions across Indian, oriental, Mexican, Italian and other exotic international cuisines, with an average cooking time of 15-20 minutes. Prices range from Rs 100 to Rs 800 per kit.

"The key driver for this segment is the consumer’s desire to be involved in the actual preparation of food but avoid the drudgery of preparation involved in cutting and chopping, etc.

In addition, there’s the excitement of making exotic, non-everyday food and serving it," said Kanwal Singh, founder of Fireside Ventures, a family office investing in early-stage consumer companies.

Bengaluru-based Chefkraft, launched by Le Cordon Bleu chef Xerxes B. with two friends last November, sells meal kits across four broad categories – salads, appetizers, casual dining (less intricate, faster and easier to cook) and mains, with 50 per cent comprising pan-Asian cuisine. "We have an inventory of 35 items at a time and refresh it with two-three items every 10 days," said Xerxes.

These companies have come up along with the rise of Internet-first restaurants, those playing on a pure delivery model, selling ready-to-eat food options and compete with each other on convenience and quick deliveries.

Daman Singh Kohli, cofounder of Gurgaon-based Cook Gourmet, believes cook-it-yourself companies are playing on the shortcomings of ready-to-eat food-tech companies. "Internet-first restaurants are playing the game on fences—no one is focusing on the product, there is little innovation in food in India," he said.

The company started commercial operations in January and has a customer repeat rate of 55-60per cent per week. Cook Gourmet has six items on its menu refreshed weekly and sells across the National Capital Region.

Rajesh Sawhney, founder of InnerChef, said its customers buy meal kits a couple of times a week on average from its menu of 20 dishes.

Companies prepare kits at a central kitchen from where orders are packed and shipped at specific time slots, given that these are planned purchases.

While the obvious selling point is fresh food, the key task is the procurement of fresh produce every day from credible channels. "There’s no hiding anything in this model as you’re sending pre-cut vegetables and ingredients that are not masked in any way," Xerxes said.

"Sourcing exotic ingredients for gourmet dishes is a challenge as you don’t get them in one place and need to stock up," said Rachita Arora, founder of Chef Sutra in Bengaluru that launched last November with a menu inventory of 170 dishes.

While Arora sources vegetables directly from farmers and poultry and meat from butchers, Xerxes said Chefkraft has tied up with pesticide-free farmer FirstAgro for 75 per cent of its vegetables and Godrej and Venky’s for non-vegetarian produce.



Entrepreneurs and experts are more bullish about the scalability of this model than the ready-to-eat segment, which Kohli of Cook Gourmet says will be limited to tier-1 cities, with high population density. "Moreover, cooked food can’t travel long distances and if there are not enough customers in a locality you can’t deliver," he said.

Singh of Fireside Venture said this model does not have the pressure of delivery. "Ensuring that food reaches in a short window of time isn’t such an important requirement. The trick again has to be to build a lot of stickiness with the customers by giving them new choices and rotating the menu regularly," Singh said.

InnerChef’s Sawhney has chosen to tackle this with a ready-to-eat product -- a combination of salads, panini and juices -- for the office market. "We are evolving into a full food platform," he said, adding that it will launch more product lines soon.

"Current offerings in the market are highly priced (which could also be a function of volumes) so that could be another challenge," Singh said. "The rough comparison can be more to the cost of cooking your own food at home rather than the cost per person for eating out."

Still at infancy, awareness on the concept is something companies are focussing on through promotional events such as workshops and events at corporate offices and apartment complexes, apart from social media.

Kohli said Cook Gourmet has found a good response from kitty parties hosted by women. Arora has opened her platform to homemakers to list their recipes and to vendors selling cooking related paraphernalia – aprons, chef hats and knives, among others.

"Weber is our grilling partner - all their products are listed on our site. We are in talks with appliance and crockery brands, too," Arora said.