Many IIT grads quitting high-profile jobs to start
their own cos in the $48-billion food sector
MUMBAI:
Prasoon Gupta, Manish Goyal, Badal Goel — all graduates from the Indian
Institutes of Technology, all with high-paying corporate jobs. Then they gave
it all up to get into the food business, setting up individual ventures that
form part of the burgeoning $48 billion food service business in India. In
February, IIT Roorkee graduate Gupta quit his five-year-old venture
Tech Buddy Consulting and founded a new eating concept in Delhi that caters to more than 300 people daily. Sattviko is inspired by the sattvik way of life that emphasises purity and serves cuisine from India and across the world, such as Mexican, Italian and American that conforms to its rules, such as no onions or garlic. Gupta has roped in a chef formerly with the Taj Group who's constantly dreaming up new dishes for the menu.
"While the initial investment in setting the company, its assets and hiring people is high, we are looking at becoming a Rs 100-crore chain within the next two years of operations," said Gupta.
The two Sattviko outlets in Delhi generate daily overall business of Rs 35,000, he said. The company is in talks with venture capitalists to raise Rs 15-20 crore which will be utilised for domestic and overseas expansion in Dubai, the US and the UK in the next six months.
FRSH, based in the capital and started by an alumnus of IIT Delhi, serves corporate clients in Gurgaon looking for healthy food — fresh salads, sandwiches and health juices.
"Right now, FRSH serves corporate offices in Gurgaon and later we will start the service even for metro stations, schools and apartment complexes as we are targeting high density areas," said founder Badal Goel.
The company has so far invested almost Rs 50 lakh in setting up a centralised kitchen, besides technology and manpower. Several tech grads from the IITs and other reputed schools have, in the last few months, been attracted to the food business and started their own outlets and sites.
"It has demonstrated the potential to become a sunrise sector and has seen interest from private equity firms as well," said Ankur Bisen, vice-president, retail, Technopak Advisors. According to Technopak, the food service market is projected to grow to $92 billion by 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 10%. These IIT graduates are bringing technical expertise and systems from previous corporate jobs to the food business. All these entrepreneurs have set up centralised kitchens to maintain quality and eliminate wastage.
Last November, IIT Bombay graduate Manish Goyal quit a management consulting job and founded Foodies Compass, an online platform that solves the 'what to eat?' dilemma.
Tech Buddy Consulting and founded a new eating concept in Delhi that caters to more than 300 people daily. Sattviko is inspired by the sattvik way of life that emphasises purity and serves cuisine from India and across the world, such as Mexican, Italian and American that conforms to its rules, such as no onions or garlic. Gupta has roped in a chef formerly with the Taj Group who's constantly dreaming up new dishes for the menu.
"While the initial investment in setting the company, its assets and hiring people is high, we are looking at becoming a Rs 100-crore chain within the next two years of operations," said Gupta.
The two Sattviko outlets in Delhi generate daily overall business of Rs 35,000, he said. The company is in talks with venture capitalists to raise Rs 15-20 crore which will be utilised for domestic and overseas expansion in Dubai, the US and the UK in the next six months.
FRSH, based in the capital and started by an alumnus of IIT Delhi, serves corporate clients in Gurgaon looking for healthy food — fresh salads, sandwiches and health juices.
"Right now, FRSH serves corporate offices in Gurgaon and later we will start the service even for metro stations, schools and apartment complexes as we are targeting high density areas," said founder Badal Goel.
The company has so far invested almost Rs 50 lakh in setting up a centralised kitchen, besides technology and manpower. Several tech grads from the IITs and other reputed schools have, in the last few months, been attracted to the food business and started their own outlets and sites.
"It has demonstrated the potential to become a sunrise sector and has seen interest from private equity firms as well," said Ankur Bisen, vice-president, retail, Technopak Advisors. According to Technopak, the food service market is projected to grow to $92 billion by 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 10%. These IIT graduates are bringing technical expertise and systems from previous corporate jobs to the food business. All these entrepreneurs have set up centralised kitchens to maintain quality and eliminate wastage.
Last November, IIT Bombay graduate Manish Goyal quit a management consulting job and founded Foodies Compass, an online platform that solves the 'what to eat?' dilemma.
"As a backpacker and traveller, there was always this problem of what to order due to lack of visual and credible sources. So, we introduced this website and app where people can see visuals of food before they order," said Goyal. Foodies Compass, which provides pictorial menus of more than 150 restaurants in Gurgaon, plans to expand to Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad in the next one year.
There are scores of others who have made food their business. Pushpinder Singh, who has a masters in computer science from BITS Pilani and a BTech from IIT, has launched Travelkhana, which delivers food to railway passengers and has funding from Google India head Rajan Anandan. Chaayos, an NCRbased chai cafe which serves more than 25 varieties of tea, competes with established coffee outlets.
"There is a high demand for chai and because our products are priced lower, we see higher footfall and revenue than other major coffee chains like CCD (Cafe Coffee Day), Barista, etc," said Nitin Saluja, founder of Chaayos. An IIT Bombay graduate, Saluja opened Chaayos in 2012 after discovering a passion for tea. Several private equity firms and venture capitalists have pumped money into the food business, although their experience in the sector has been mixed.
The Indian Angel Network, a large group of angel investors, has invested in Poncho, a Mumbai-headquartered quick service restaurant (QSR) chain that serves Mexican food. Sequoia Capital has invested in the Punebased fast-food company Faaso's, which serves wraps. Helion Ventures and Footprint Ventures have invested in Mast Kalandar, a chain that serves north Indian vegetarian food. According to Bisen of Technopak, given that Indians are traveling widely and exposure to global cuisines is increasing, the food business is set to expand.
By Divya Sathyanarayanan, ET140729
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