I approach entrepreneurship like a film script: Actor Naga Chaitanya on building F&B brands

As a child, Telugu cinema actor Naga Chaitanya loved eating chicken butter masala with butter naan. “That’s all I used to eat… I was obsessed, I don’t know why. I was living in Chennai, and I think I’ve eaten more than 150 different varieties of butter chicken!” 

While his palate has changed since then, the actor’s obsession with food continues. 

“I am a huge fan of pan-Asian food,” Chaitanya tells YS Life over a virtual call. 

After trying different types of Asian food at different restaurants across the world during his travels, he decided to bring the experience back to his hometown, Hyderabad. 

In February 2022, the actor took the entrepreneurial plunge with pan-Asian cloud kitchen Shoyu. Having successfully run Shoyu through a cloud kitchen in Madhapur, a neighbourhood of Hyderabad, and a QSR at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport, Chaitanya has decided to plunge further into the F&B space. 

In March this year, he launched another cloud kitchen in Hyderabad—Scuzi. This time, in search of comfort food featuring pizzas, burgers, pastas, hummus bowls, and crispy, sugary fried delight churros. 

“Whenever I travel, I always have a tendency to look for great burgers and pizzas. That’s always on my bucket list… But I didn’t find any (player) in the gourmet delivery space in Hyderabad. A burger doesn’t need to be dressed in a lot of sauces… It’s supposed to be about the meat, the cheese, and the bread. I found a void,” the actor-turned-entrepreneur says. 

With great emphasis on packaging and providing a gourmet experience at the comfort of diners’ homes, Scuzi is delivering an average of 400 orders every day through food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato. 

Standing out 

According to Swiggy’s ‘How India Eats’ study, in collaboration with Bain & Company, the food delivery market is expected to reach Rs 2.12 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 18% in the next six years. 

The Indian cloud kitchen market was valued at $1,097.5 million in 2024, and is expected to growth at a CAGR of 12.7% to reach $3,211.7 million by 2033. Interestingly, South India dominates the cloud kitchen market, with a 35% share last year. 

Popular cloud kitchen brands in the Deccan Capital include Biriyani By Kilo, and Rebel Foods (Behrouz Biriyani, Oven Story). In the Asian space, there are brands like Shitori and Chow Tao by EatFit. Chaitanya hopes to crack the competitive and dynamic cloud-kitchen market with top-notch packaging and an evolving menu. 

“We are taking a very restaurant (like) approach for our cloud kitchen menu,” he says, adding that Scuzi will have seasonal and occasion-based menus—IPL-special, among others, while still being defined and not cluttering the menu with multiple-cuisine options. 

“We like to keep exciting the customer, and we have monthly food trails and discussions on this, learning from the statistics on what’s moving and evolving the menu,” he adds. 

Speaking about the packaging, Chaitanya says that both Scuzi and Shoyu ensure that the food, even when delivered, maintains the temperature in which it is supposed to be served and eaten—this is done with the help of ice gel packs. 

Chaitanya adds: “When the food is delivered to our customer’s house, it looks presentable and can be laid out on the table as it is. There’s no need to shift the food from our boxes to plates.” 

The business of food and beyond

Chaitanya says he approaches entrepreneurship like how he would look at a film script. 

“I think both acting and entrepreneurship complement me in some way… both are creative exercises and very meditative for me.” 

Building something from zero to the finished product gives him immense joy. 

Chaitanya has been involved in the creative process of building both Shoyu and Scuzi from the beginning. “For both Shoyu and Scuzi, there was not even a menu on day zero… From writing down the idea to building a brand story, defining the messaging and the brand narrative, to designing the packaging, and getting into food trails with my partners…” 

The operations and finances are taken care of by his partners—Varun Tripuraneni, Akshay Quenin and Tanveer Kwatra in the case of Shoyu; and Varun, Arjun Jaiswal, and Saniya Jaiswal for Scuzi. 

Having bootstrapped both the brands, Chaitanya and his partners are continuing to find solutions to the challenges associated with food delivery—being dependent on aggregators for delivery and maintaining the temperature of food during climate changes. 

“Whenever there are heavy rains, and the (delivery) riders are not available, our hands are tied. Similarly, when it’s peak summer, a big challenge is ensuring the cold food remains cold,” says Chaitanya. 

After operating in Hyderabad for three years, Chaitanya plans to expand Shoyu to other cities—starting with Bengaluru and later Delhi. 

“Scuzi is a little baby… We just launched it and with food, you have to be very vigilant,” he says. 

While F&B continues to excite Chaitanya, the entrepreneur is also scouting for other potential opportunities. He is constantly looking out for VCs, fund houses, and startups to understand the market sentiments. 

“I am definitely not putting all my eggs in one basket,” he says, adding that the technology and AI space has recently grabbed his interest.