In an increasingly urban lifestyle with a paucity of time, finding competent cooks and handling daily kitchen intricacies can be challenging. This is what Vaibhav and Aman Gupta, friends since first year (2012) of college at IIT Kharagpur wanted to solve with ChefKart, a venture that they conceptualised in March 2020.
“We identified a significant gap in the industry that ran in an antiquated and unprofessional manner. ChefKart aimed to revolutionise this by placing chefs directly in consumer kitchens, influencing household buying decisions and professionalising the sector,” says Vaibhav, 29.
Vaibhav says the aim is to bridge the gap between delicious food and a healthy lifestyle. “Central to our mission is also the liberation of women from kitchen duties, enabling them to pursue other aspirations. This aligns perfectly with the evolving consumer landscape that seeks convenience, data-driven choices, and empowering household dynamics,” says Vaibhav, the co-founder of the company.
Vaibhav says ChefKart’s uniqueness stems from its blend of technology for consumers and cook partners. ChefKart has secured investments to the tune of Rs 27 crore from prominent individuals like Deepinder Goyal, Kunal Shah, Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal and has backing from ventures like Blume Ventures and Pravega Ventures.
What’s cooking:
Chefkart has a variety of services like subscription and on-demand for various use-cases. “The chefs are equipped to prepare multi-cuisine food-from Chinese, Continental, Mexican to Japanese. You name it and they have it,” says Vaibhav.
Chefkart, while competing with platforms like COOX and Broomees, as well as traditional catering services, sets itself apart through superior technology and a strong community of chefs. “By focusing on continuous innovation, we ensure our competitive edge in the market, particularly against indirect competitors like Zomato and Swiggy,” says Vaibhav.
He is, however, quick to add that despite being competitors, platforms like Broomees and COOX share a similar mission and he values their contributions in shaping the sector. “We view them less as competitors, but more as valuable allies,” says Vaibhav.
As part of its technology strategy, the company is focused on developing systems to gather data on daily consumer eating habits, although this capability is still in progress. ChefKart plans to use this upcoming data repository to gain insights for better serving its consumer base and refining its offerings. Currently operating in NCR, Bangalore, and Mumbai, ChefKart aims to expand to all metro cities and several tier-2 cities within the next five years.
Vaibhav says every cook is taught the importance of hygiene so that consumers can get healthy hygienic home-cooked food. “In collaboration with Skill India, we conduct assessments to certify them. Every cooking session is being monitored through the Check-In & Check-Out process on the app where chefs upload the images. We also give them an apron, hair-net, masks at the time of on-boarding and they can take more whenever they want.” says Vaibhav.
Mukul Singhal, Partner, Pravega Ventures, says ChefKart, with its strong focus on quality and personalisation, caters to a significant latent demand by connecting consumers with skilled chefs for home-cooked food. “Home-cooked food represents a vast Total Addressable Market (TAM). While platforms like Zomato have seen success in food ordering, home-cooked food remains an open problem area, with the potential for an even larger TAM,” says Singhal.
The company has seen a steady rise in revenues. For FY20-21, the first year of its existence, the company clocked Rs 50 lakhs. In FY21-22 it increased to Rs 3.5 crores and in FY22-23 it clocked revenues of Rs 7 crores. The company says it is targeting 40-50% growth this year.
Over 50,000 households have tried our services and around 17,000 users have subscribed to us. With over 3000 cooks utilising our app, we have successfully cooked more than 1.2 million meals to date. In FY 2022-23 alone, around 2500 cooks earned through our platform,” says Vaibhav.
Looking ahead, Vaibhav and Aman envision ChefKart as a key innovator in the home-cooking sector. They plan to expand their technological capabilities and reach, aiming to make ChefKart a household name for quality home-cooked meals. With a commitment to empowering cooks and enhancing customer experience, Vaibhav says ChefKart is looking to redefine the culinary landscape in India and set new standards in the industry.
