Hyd’s women cloud kitchen entrepreneurs cook up success

In a heartwarming trend, women in Hyderabad are reclaiming their kitchens and transforming them into thriving cloud kitchen businesses. These women, often working mothers or homemakers seeking to establish their own identities, are finding immense success in catering to the city's diverse culinary cravings.

The rise of women-owned cloud kitchens in Hyderabad is attributed to their ability to deliver delectable, healthy, affordable, and hygienic home-cooked food. These cloud kitchens have swiftly gained popularity among the city's foodies and gastronomes, who appreciate the unique flavours and personal touch that women entrepreneurs bring to their culinary creations.

“Dedication, hard work, never compromise on quality, and maintaining a relation with my customer has all led to, ‘logo ke dil mein ghar’ (special place in people’s hearts). During Covid, I served 500 healthy tiffin boxes per day. During lockdowns, I introduced ‘jashn-e-dawaat,’ a wedding food combo that was copied by hoteliers,” Founder of Hyderabad’s first cloud kitchen Anjums Kitchen, Naaz Anjum told Bizz Buzz.

A textile engineer by profession, Anjum started food business out of her home kitchen with Rs 80 in her pocket. She crossed 20,000 orders and has stopped counting from then on. With only one cleaner to help, Anjum operates the kitchen all by herself. She sends across 50 to 25 meals per day. She has five delivery boys and auto drivers for delivery, besides Rapido and Ola riders. Her vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals cost Rs 400, including delivery charge. Anjum earns a monthly profit of Rs 1 lakh. “I represented Hyderabad at Isuzu Food Festival held in Mumbai in 2018. My biryani recipe found place in the library of colleges abroad. I take online cooking classes too. Bawarchi in the US has included my recipe in their menu. My recipes cost Rs 5,000 for 10 dishes. Every six months I introduce something new which these big brands and hoteliers copy. I have got offers to expand in Canada, Dubai but, I do not want to work under limitations that constrain corporate-owned kitchens face,” Anjum said.

Another success story of home makers creating a brand and identity in the food business are Telugu sisters Usha Penmatsa (62) and Sita Rajeshwari Datla (65), the founders of cloud kitchen brand, Baanali, traditional Telugu Home Food. Founded during pandemic in 2020, Baanali started on demand of people looking for authentic Telugu home food. A venture that kicked off from the home kitchen at an initial investment of Rs 2 lakh now earns Rs 1.4 crore per year. The completely bootstrapped cloud kitchen has served over 10,000 customers, delivers to the US, UK, Dubai, Singapore and Australia, has 80 per cent of women employed, with 70- 80 per cent of repeat orders and 80-90 SKUs.

Earlier this year, a photograph post capturing an unappetizing cloud kitchen operating in the Silicon Valley of India received strong reaction. In a news report, the founder admitted that the first photo belongs to their multi-brand cloud kitchen but disregarded the claim of it being an unhygienic place.

The void of trust created by certain cloud kitchens is helping womenpreneurs grow in this sector as they bank solely on quality, taste and consumer relation to receive repeat orders. Ayushi Agarwal the founder of Fulka Thali from Jivika’s Kitchen, delivers 10-15 meals in a day. Her breakfast menu costs an average of Rs 90, while that of lunch and dinner is Rs 150. Her profits have soared to 30- 40 per cent from 15 per cent in 2020. “I have designed a North Indian menu with all dishes complimenting phulkas. Whatever I feed to my family and I can eat that is what I feed to my customers. Taste, hygiene, cost are the factors that bring customers back to Fulka Thali. By next year I will be expanding by opening Fulka Thali in Hitec city. Being an entrepreneur is challenging, I am at the learning phase and I will make my journey smoother day by day. The satisfaction I get out of the struggles is when customers appreciate my effort and home-cooked food,” Agarwal said.

According to a report, the cloud kitchen market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 24 per cent to reach Rs 155.2 billion by FY26. In FY22 it was pegged at around Rs 65.35 billion.

P Srilakshmi, an engineer by education, previously owned a franchise joint and is in the process of opening a new restaurant. She founded Siddah’s Kitchen at an investment of Rs 24 lakh. The commercial cloud kitchen is spread across 2,000 sq ft. She witnessed the buzz around cloud kitchens during Covid as online food orders were on the rise. “Cloud kitchens benefit from cut down in rental cost, manpower expense and so on. So we started Siddah’s Kitchen to cater to online deliveries and party orders too. Our authentic Andhra pulao, biryani and non veg starters are in demand. We never compromise on raw material quality and make our own masalas.”