Rebel Foods is experimenting with offline food court in Mumbai 

Cloud kitchen unicorn Rebel Foods is experimenting with an offline food court on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, as it explores an omnichannel model for its cloud kitchen business which includes brands like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Ovenstory Pizza, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl, SLAY Coffee, Sweet Truth, Wendy’s and more.

“In terms of physical footprint, we have opened one outlet in Mumbai Pune expressway, but I will not call it a traditional outlet. There are nine brands being made available there and customers can order online before reaching the location. So as soon as you enter, your food is ready. So I will not think of physical in a traditional sense at all. It is about being present wherever our customers are,” Ankur Sharma, co-founder of Rebel Foods told BusinessLine.

The company has been running this pilot for almost six months and will take a call on further expansion after reviewing the learnings of this pilot. Sharma clarifies that these outlets will not resemble traditional restaurant businesses. 

Rebel Foods differentiates itself in the crowded cloud kitchen space with its full-stack business model. The company has built a full-stack business, from supply chain to kitchen infrastructure, to delivery infrastructure and technology stack (Rebel OS). 

“I think that it’s a different ballgame altogether If you are doing a business full-stack compared to doing bits and parts of it. The problem in the cloud kitchen space is multiple and we provide multiple layers of those services, which we have developed on our own,” Sharma added. 

Rebel Foods has developed its full-stack technology - Rebel OS - through which it helps multiple brands to launch and scale-up. Through the Rebel Launcher, powered by Rebel OS, the company said it has launched over 25 brands. Across Rebel Foods’ 370 odd kitchens, it has a delivery fleet of more than 2000 people. The company’s delivery fleet includes a mix of payroll and contractual employees. Commenting on the competitive landscape, Sharma said, “personally I believe that the cloud kitchen market will converge in the next year or two, because right now there are too many broken pieces.”

Rebel Foods currently has a presence in approximately 70 cities and operates more than 4000 internet restaurants. On a global scale, the company has 45 odd brands under its umbrella, including partner brands and 450 odd kitchens across multiple geographies. It is  active across 20 odd railway stations today and wants to take that number to almost 100 in the next few months.

Rebel Foods currently operates across ten countries, including India, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah), the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Bangladesh. 

IPO plans

Regarding the company’s IPO plans, Sharma said that IPO is a journey and will not happen overnight. “We are working towards an IPO that but we are still some distance away from it, maybe another 18 to 24 months depending on the market and company conditions.  For us, it is important to ensure our business grows in a profitable manner and IPO would be an outcome of that,” he added. 

In terms of profitability, Rebel Foods is not profitable at the corporate level, but all its kitchens are profitable.  “Our unit-level profitability has been increasing, we have covered quite a bit of distance in that journey in the last 12 months. Hopefully, we would soon be company level profitable, which will also make the business more lucrative for markets,” said Sharma.

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