Scripting a survival
Zee’s founding family plots a twist in the tale and stays in control
Cloud kitchen start-up Rebel Foods, which runs some 350 internet kitchens housing 10-12 restaurant brands each, has turned to IoT-enabled smart cookware to ace the taste consistency test.
Imagine a wok that can cook, control temperatures, add ingredients and understand the speed of toss, all by itself. The employee managing the machine just has to choose the dish he wants it to cook. That’s Wokie, the IoT- enabled smart wok developed in-house by Rebel Foods, which owns brands including Faasos, Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani, Firangi Bake, Sweet Truth, and Mandarin Oak.
Patented pots & pans
Raghav Joshi, Co-founder and CEO (India BU), Rebel Foods, told BusinessLine, “Finding the right staff with the right skill-set across 350 locations and managing that skill level for consistency becomes an inherent challenge. This is where our investment in hardware is going in, to build capabilities like this wok, which can automatically regulate temperatures and the speed of the toss so that you get that perfect bowl of noodles.”
Joshi says the company has also developed a fryer that knows how to maintain the temperature of the oil, how long to fry an item and then to bring it.
The company has applied for patents for these even as it is creating a few more such smart cooking utensils.
Not just the hardware, Rebel has been strengthening its play on the software side as well. It has created its own operating system and allows third party brands to use its OS and scale their business across the country using its cloud kitchen network.
“Some time the chef isn’t always 100 per cent sure about a particular recipe. The software, at a click of a button, lets the chef access the recipe and its video. The food gets bar-coded and scanned to ensure nothing gets missed out. The customer can also track the delivery boy, see his temperature in the EatSure app,” he adds, describing how the company’s technology team doubled in the last one year, and there are plans to hire more.
Expansion plans
Including India, Rebel Foods operates in 10 countries across Europe, West and South-East Asia. Countries like Indonesia have emerged one of its top markets outside India. In the next 6-8 months, the company is looking to expand to another 10 countries with over 150 internet kitchens.
In the past 3-4 months, the company had expanded to 15 cities in India, taking the total to 50, and it wants to expand its footprint to 50 more cities in 6-8 months.