KOCHI: Pothichor with a variety of curries that would put your culinary skills to shame. Salad, that’s more than just a side dish. Breakfast bowls curated with a nutrition aspect. As they sound, these meals are better consumed in the warmth of your homes. Cloud kitchens or ghost kitchens have tapped into our dining spaces with their ‘only-delivery’ service. Such places have no outlets wherein one can dine-in. Rather, they prepare meals in the comfort of a kitchen and collaborate with third-party food aggregators to deliver food.
Saving overhead costs, satisfying each one’s taste buds and transforming the food and beverages industry with tech-driven formulae, cloud kitchens have made their way to Kochi in the past few years. However, has the new market acknowledged these ghost kitchens? Express finds out.
Lajesh Kolath founded the food startup ‘Meal’D’ along with ‘Pothichor’ in 2019. The cloud kitchen-based business model caters to customers who long for home-cooked meals. “Meal’D has its mobile app. Orders are placed to Pothichor via Swiggy and Zomato. Malayalis are usually a retail-oriented crowd so such a business model took time. Also, food quality must be maintained regularly to gain customer trust. From our side, there is also an advantage of running multiple brands. Pothichor comprises lunch plans. Meal’D has more,” says Lajesh. The founder feels that although Kochi hasn’t evolved into a mature market yet, the efficient business model will gain a foothold within a few years.
As opposed to its counterparts in other states and countries, the majority of the cloud kitchens in Kochi seem to turn their gaze to healthy, nutritious food. “There is a severe dearth of healthy food which is the primary reason for lifestyle diseases and people are looking for such options. We wanted to replace our traditional meals with salads. And considering the huge investment costs involved, we decided to start with a cloud kitchen,” says Vinoj Kumar, founder of EatGreen, an online store for salads which ventured into the market in 2019.
“The response here has been encouraging. However, customer interaction is the primary challenge. In a cloud kitchen segment, the customer isn’t privy to how food is prepped. Our food is a sensitive product so we ensure that the team focuses extra on the preparation and hygiene,” he continues. Vinoj feels a cloud kitchen is the best model for feasibility. “Considering the economic environment and the high real estate cost, such kitchens are the future. They also have the support of food aggregators,” he says.
With the exclusion of overhead maintenance cost, cloud kitchens can focus entirely on food production. “When the service aspect is taken off, it is a lot easier to maintain quality. Simultaneously, you need to provide affordable options. And market them accordingly. We conduct seminars on nutrition at gyms and social events. We also offer customised plans to corporates,” says Jayashanker Warrier, co-founder of AfterBurn Nutrition. Jayashanker and his friend Santosh Swaminathan began operating the cloud kitchen from an apartment in 2019. After an enormous response, they’ve restarted the venture with better infrastructure, moving into a commercial space.
The question of legitimacy
“Cloud kitchens are highly likely to affect dine-in services. Restaurants offer other services such as toilets, rooms for freshening up for travellers on the go. So when the current industry dips, such issues may crop up,” says Azeez Moosa, president, Kerala Hotel & Restaurant Association (KHRA). Azeez also pointed out that several cloud kitchens are likely to operate from non-commercial spaces. “They may not necessarily have the required trade licences. The matter has to be seriously looked into. Cloud kitchens along with ‘thattukadas’ could disrupt the restaurant sector. As much as we’re aware that e-commerce is the way forward, it could be a setback for several restauranteurs,” he adds.
The key lies in marketing
According to Karthik Murali, founder of Eat Kochi Eat, there are sufficient cloud kitchens in Kochi but only a few perform well. “Dining styles have changed, people prefer ordering in. But, in the current era, brand loyalty has decreased. This is because people are willing to experiment. There are lesser chances of a loyal customer base. With cloud kitchens, this is tougher as they do not have dine-in services thereby lessening the chances of customer interaction. In such situations, marketing goes a long way in maintaining brand recall through various initiatives. Food entrepreneurs are still figuring the cloud kitchen model here,” he says.