They are just a year old, but are already making an impact in the busy food delivery startup sector. Started by three IIM graduates—Darshan Subhash, Eraj Hassan and Nikhil Karanjkar —in March 2015, Bengaluru-based Cookaroo is one-of-a-kind food delivery system.
Conteptualised on the lines of OYO Rooms’ business model in the budget accommodation space, they do not invest in their own kitchens. They work with under-utilised commercial kitchens in restaurants and hotels. This saves them a lot of expenses.
According to the founders, Cookaroo’s USP is to identify such kitchens in premium restaurants and then work with them to efficiently utilise their kitchen capacity and provide good quality convenient food. The passion to do something on their own and to address a consumer challenge drove them to set up Cookaroo.
Earlier stints of CEO Subhash, 26, helped him understand the market dynamics better, which in turn benefitted his decision-making at Cookaroo. “We standardise consumer experience by utilising excess capacity in the market.”
Subhash explains, “Fine dining commercial kitchens in Bengaluru have a low capacity utilisation rate of 20-40 per cent on weekdays but go up to 70-100 per cent on weekends.” Of the other two founding members, both 27, Hassan is the COO while Karanjkar is the VP of operations. Entrepreneurship always intrigued Hassan; he chose to walk out of IIM Indore campus placements and followed his dream. Karanjkar handles logistics and packaging.
Cookaroo’s target segment is mostly bachelors, working professionals and double-income nuclear families. Subhash says, “These people want a trustworthy brand, delivering food at their doorstep on a daily basis. We started in Central Business District of Bengaluru and the response was tremendous.”
Things were not all rosy when they started. Convincing commercial kitchen owners was tough, they say. “Our initial two partner kitchens took two weeks of convincing before they decided to try us. After a month, we clinched our first contract. We get requests from the best of brands to other startups like us.”
He adds, “Before a deal, we thoroughly check on the hygiene, food quality and required licences. It follows a food tasting session and a week’s workshop in which partner kitchen staff is trained on cooking and packaging. Our focus is Indian cuisine, but we occasionally provide Chinese and Continental.” In March, Cookaroo raised angel funding for expansion and technology improvement. The CEO adds, “In May, we launched operations in Hyderbad. We process close to 200 orders per day and have 15 kitchens across the city. We plan to expand to Sarjapur, Kammanahalli and Bellandur.”
In April, they shortlisted a few agencies from where they could source manpower to distribute Cookaroo coupons at signals in Bengaluru. They came up with the idea of employing transgenders for the campaign and pay them as regular staff.
The coupons had a strong message about transgenders in the front and a code at the back. Everytime people ordered Cookaroo meal through this code, 20 per cent of the order value would go into the upliftment of transgenders.
“People lauded our efforts on the social media. More than anything else, we were overwhelmed by the response we received from them.”