This homegrown pizza-maker is gearing up to give Domino’s a run for its money, and betting big on co-cooking

For years, Domino's Pizza has dominated the Indian pizza market. Whenever any other player has tried to grab a slice of the market, it hasn’t been able to garner the fan-following that Domino’s has.

However, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘vocal about local’ call to Indians in his latest address to the nation, the spotlight has turned to homegrown brands, which are already creating a niche for themselves.

One such company is Cheferd Foods, which was founded in 2018 by two school friends – Sehaj Singh Kukreja and Tushar Anand. The Delhi-based company, which clocked in a turnover of Rs 6.02 crore last year, houses brands such as Pizza On My Plate (POMP), Burger In My Box (BIMBo), and the Deli Salad Company (DSC).

The brand focusses on providing authentic Italian food. Its pizzas are priced between Rs 400 and Rs 1,200, burger offerings between Rs 130 and Rs 335, and its salad line up to Rs 425.

The business claims to have served more than 1.5 lakh customers so far, but those numbers have fallen since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country, and cases of COVID-19-positive delivery boys spreading infection began emerging.

A cloud kitchen company right now, Cheferd Foods says it eventually wants to become a co-cooking company - a business model the founders are excited to explore.

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Co-cooking: the new normal?

The company says it believes in co-cooking spaces, which operate a lot like co-working offices, and are the future of the food-tech industry.

In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the model could actually help keep dying companies afloat, at least long enough for them to stagger back to profitability.

“Let's say four or five restaurants come together in one cloud kitchen. This way, they will save on the rent first, then the staff salaries, and also the fixed cost,” Tushar quips.

The co-cooking model might work as a lot of people have now started taking fixed costs into account, which they weren't before the pandemic broke out, he adds.

Co-cooking models are fully equipped with kitchen necessities - from stoves to utensils, among others. This business model has been getting traction in some European and Asian countries, and is slowly making its way into India.

The origin story

Neither Sehaj nor Tushar had any experience in entrepreneurship. While Sehaj was heading sales and marketing for a food-reviewing portal, Tushar was handling family fund and investments, before they came together to set up Cheferd Foods.

The duo invested Rs 20 lakh of their own money in the company, and set up their first kitchen in South Delhi’s Zamrudpur.

The company sources its raw materials from various boutique setups, and always tries to use authentic ingredients since its focus has been on providing traditional Italian cuisine.

“We get our cheese from a boutique cheese manufacturing unit, which has replicated the climate conditions of the Flander’s region in Belgium at their plant,” Sehaj says, while the peeled tomatoes come from Italy. The pizza flour is procured from a network of vendors from West India. 

In their initial days, the company struggled with supply-chain issues, as most do when they’re in an early stage.

“The struggle is setting up a good supply chain because there are some months when you face a shortage. And because these are such crucial ingredients, even replacing them a little results in a change in the taste,” Tushar says.

The two also had to deal with hiring unsuitable people, or sometimes even over hiring, and not being trustworthy enough to appeal to customers. But their mistakes taught them important lessons, such as paying attention to detail, keeping a check on money matters, and the importance of hiring skilled labour.

“The value of skilled labor is unparalleled. Moreover, it has given us the opportunity to experiment and diversify our product without worrying about day-to-day running of the business,” Tushar says.

Hiring skilled workers proved to be a turning point for the business. Skilled workers gave the founders the space to think about expansion, and eventually the company moved from baking pizzas to burgers and salads.

While the company has several competitors in the market such as Chicago Pizza, Pizza Hut, Oven Story, and Papa John’s, it counts Domino’s as its competitor and inspiration.

The company operates as a cloud-kitchen business, where it only accepts online orders and does not provide any dine-in facilities.

Cheferd Foods currently has seven outlets across south and central Delhi and Gurugram, and plans to start offering takeaways soon, but says it is not considering dine-ins just yet.

“We are looking to enter into food tech, logistics, and kitchen infrastructure, which are the strong arms of the industry. We are also investing in a very promising upcoming cloud kitchen provider, and will be taking our brands to their kitchens,” says Sehaj

It also plans to take the company’s pizza and burger brands to more Tier I cities and tap Tier-II cities. The company is also looking at raising external funding.

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The Zomato-COVID-19 controversy

Cheferd Foods derives a lot of its sales from deliveries carried out by food aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy. Partnering with these platforms has given the business a wider reach and audience.

The company was showing strong growth even during coronavirus, but one incident hit their sales. The incident about the food delivery boy in Delhi who tested positive for COVID-19 further drove the knife in.

 “A day before the incident, if the number of our orders was 200 then, a day after the incident it went as low as 50 orders in a day,” Sehaj says.

The incident had prompted authorities to become extra vigilant about hygiene and social distancing measures, and to enforce that, they started carrying out random kitchen inspections.

“Our riders and staff – everyone is working throughout the coronavirus pandemic, taking risks in order to make sure that food reaches people,” says Sehaj. The company has enforced mandatory temperature checks every three or four hours, which are then printed on the bill to ensure transparency.

(Edited by Aparajita Saxena)