Is your dream of a food enterprise not taking off because you cannot afford to run a professional kitchen? If food business is your passion and you are not yet ready to open a restaurant, you might consider a takeaway. For that, you could begin by working out of a cloud kitchen, a space that provides all that a professional kitchen requires, on a rental basis. Hyderabad-based Rohan Reddy started ‘Book Your Kitchen’ (BYK) at Kavuri Hills for entrepreneurs who aspire to be in the food business but cannot quite afford the high rentals and establishment costs it involves. The idea is to stop food entrepreneurs from getting discouraged by the high costs and the challenges involved in getting their hands on kitchen space, equipment, certifications and support. “Being in the food and beverage industry for the past 30 years, we saw how difficult it was for food businesses to start and survive. But we also saw a simple and easy solution to all of this. At BYK, apart from a professional kitchen space, we also provide amenities like professional equipment, dry and cold storage areas, cleaning and maintenance and personalised space,” says Rohan.
He elaborates, “We are only space providers. The team just needs to come, cook and clean after them. How they sell the food is their choice, BYK was developed to encourage food businesses get started and grow. We want to break down barriers and facilitate an independent food business.”
The lockdown has driven many restaurants to shut, owing to the pressure of high rents, as well as a scarcity of staff who have not returned from their respective hometowns. “Smaller food businesses that were in the initial stages will find it very difficult to sustain after the lockdown; also dine-in is not possible for some time. Considering the various food delivery platforms we have in Hyderabad, operating from a cloud kitchen should help them survive,” says Rohan, adding, “In the kitchen, everyone is an innovator, a teacher and an artist, we all have a secret recipe yet to be discovered. India is blessed with cuisines that burst with flavours in every state. With BYK, people from any walk of life can establish a business, love their work, fulfil their potential and change the world around them for the better.”