Gurugram-based Kook, a meal kit service, has come to the rescue of all who dread doing the shopping and chopping. I thought of giving it a try. Locally sourced ingredients pre-portioned and hygienically packed with a recipe card reached my doorstep right in time, so that I could cook up something for lunch. I had selected Burmese Khow Suey that had enough ingredients to serve two. And like every recipe on Kook’s menu, the dish could be rustled up in 30 minutes.
The package came with a note that the ingredients could be refrigerated up to 24 hours. Apart from the recipe card, there was a note with a QR code that took me to the video link of the recipe. I used the card, and made my delicious bowl of soupy noodles that tasted as if prepared by a restaurant chef. Arpitta Jerath, 29, had been toying with the idea of starting Kook since July 2020, but actually got down to it in September after figuring out costs, resources, bandwidth, etc., and juggling between her full-time job, as head sales and marketing for a B2B e-commerce platform.
“During the lockdown, I saw that people of diverse age, gender, and city, were cooking more often. So, I started a food page on Instagram where I started sharing recipes, and my revelations across food. On seeing the images, a lot of people commented that they wished they could cook food that looked as good. Some commented that they don’t cook at home because getting ingredients is in itself a pain. All this gave birth to Kook.” Kook was finally launched in November with an investment of Rs 15-20 lakh.
“We pitched it to our friends and family and were very fortunate to bag a bulk order for our DIY Meal kits as Diwali gifts. We had to deliver 350 boxes in three days and that was some struggle. So, we hired people overnight, got some chefs on board and executed the order on time. Those were one of the most memorable days of our journey so far.” Though Jerath is based out of Mumbai, Kook was launched in Delhi because she has lived in Delhi for long and has friends here.
“We have a cloud kitchen in Gurugram with a team of 10, including chefs. We have devised a fail-proof mechanism that allows us to build Kook remotely. All procurement and sourcing is done by them,” says Jerath. Kook usually has a theme around most of their limited edition menus, which include three-course meal kits, apart from appetisers, main course, beverages and desserts that can be ordered separately. “We started off with a festive menu, then launched a winter menu, and now we are working on our next menu where we are recreating some classic dishes with a spin.
Finalising the menu starts with general brainstorming within the team and what our customers would like to cook. A lot of it is data driven. Once a dish is finalised, our chefs come up with a recipe. We test it at multiple stages as a final dish and a meal kit. Then, we get four-five people to test our recipe so we can ensure that the instructions and final output are super standardised. This ensures that there is close to zero margin of error,” adds Jerath.
There are plans to open Kook in Mumbai, Bengaluru and major metros, through a weekend model, and launch co-branded meal kits in collaboration with restaurants. For summer, Kook is looking to add some classic dishes like Lazy burgers, Thin crust pizzas, and Ramen. DIY Meal kits for kids are also on the cards. But Jerath’s first priority is generating brand awareness: “Our product is not the most obvious choice for a lot of people, so customer education plays an important role. For that, we are looking at creative ways of getting people to give our meal kits a shot.”