The rise of the Cloud kitchens across India

As the hospitality industry struggles to survive the pandemic, the past year has seen a spurt of cloud kitchens across India, serving everything from simple home cooking to luxury dinners

Even as the pandemic forces restaurants to close down their dining areas, more and more kitchens are firing up for business. As you scroll through Swiggy and Zomato apps, you will notice new brands emerge every month, many of which are delivery-only. This is because the pandemic has triggered the rise of cloud kitchens, also known as dark kitchens or ghost restaurants. These are delivery-only outfits, which do not offer dine-in. They rely only on online orders, usually placed through online food aggregators. As restaurants remain shut for dining, hotels and restaurants are pivoting to takeaway to stay open, and retain staff. However, for a restaurant that has been designed for dine-in, profits from takeaway will never be enough to break even. Those in the business of food will agree that starting a new restaurant has always been a glamorous ambition. However, as many have learnt, cloud kitchens are easier to launch and keep running, thanks to low entry costs, low capital expenditure and lower rents. Hence these are becoming a more democratic market space where a new start up can potentially compete with the biggest players in the business. And brands like SLAY coffee, Keventers, Penang, Burger king only go to prove it.