In an industry where logistical hurdles and high investment often deter new entrants, Speed Kitchen is claiming to simplify the food business landscape. With its innovative platform, the brand claims to help food startups bypass the typical challenges of securing real estate, negotiating with landlords, obtaining licensing, and managing operational spaces. In conversation with BrandWagon Online, Paurav Rastogi and Shamin Kapoor, co-founders, Speed Kitchen, discuss their unique business model, growth strategy, and the company’s mission to organise the food services space in India.
By offering a streamlined, all-in-one solution, Speed Kitchen claims to enable brands to focus on growing their businesses without the burdens of physical infrastructure. “We identified this gap and came up with the idea of Speed Kitchen where we provide this on a single platform, allowing brands to bypass all these hurdles and focus on building their business,” Rastogi said.
The company’s revenue from operations for FY23 stood at Rs 10.85 crore, with a profit of Rs 1.11 crore, according to data accessed from Tofler. Financial data for FY24 is not yet available.
Speed Kitchen’s appearance on Shark Tank India Season 4 helped solidify its position in the food tech space, according to the company. While initial offers were turned down, the founders’ ethical approach and vision eventually caught the attention of investors, leading to a Rs 2 crore offer for a 6% equity stake from Ritesh Agarwal, Azhar Iqubal, and Kunal Bahl. “We received a lot of invaluable insights from the Sharks, and what we appreciated the most was when Kunal Bahl explained how it’s hard to run a business which is not sexy, but doing the hard things right and with all you have is where the real growth lies,’” Kapoor commented. This deal marked a pivotal moment in the company’s journey, the founders noted.
According to the founders, Speed Kitchen operates on a minimum guarantee and revenue share model. “The revenue share model has slabs and the percentage is inversely proportional to the revenue of the brands. With time we introduced capping on our revenue share, creating a ceiling on the brand’s costs and ensuring long-term relationships/synergies with brands,” Kapoor noted. With this model, Speed Kitchen claims to guarantee affordability for its partner brands, providing them with more predictable costs as they scale.
Upon being asked about the company’s plan to expand into other market, “This space is very unorganised, and it is the mission of Speed Kitchen to organise this unorganised space. But in order to do so, we need to define and identify the right way to communicate and educate everyone about how to achieve this,” Rastogi added. As the company expands, it focuses on deeper penetration in its current cities—Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai—while planning to enter Hyderabad and Chandigarh within the next 3-6 months, Kapoor added.
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