How One Cloud Kitchen Company Gets 70% of its Business from Direct Ordering

How One Cloud Kitchen Company Gets 70% of its Business from Direct Ordering

Art06_Feature_Go Direct_August

Using the combined power of WhatsApp and their personal social media following, Vikramjit Roy and Anurodh Samal of A Sirius Hospitality have turned a one-kitchen-one-brand startup into a two-kitchens-five-brands success story within a year. And their marketing budget goes primarily into keyword propagation so that Hello Panda, their brand, becomes synonymous with ‘Pan Asian’, in the same way as Domino’s has been able to own the word ‘pizza’.

Using the combined power of WhatsApp and their personal social media following, Vikramjit Roy and Anurodh Samal of A Sirius Hospitality have turned a one-kitchen-one-brand startup into a two-kitchens-five-brands success story within a year. And their marketing budget goes primarily into keyword propagation so that Hello Panda, their brand, becomes synonymous with ‘Pan Asian’, in the same way as Domino’s has been able to own the word ‘pizza’.

WHEN multi-award-winning chef Vikramjit Roy quit ITC Maurya last year, running a ‘cloud kitchen’ was “definitely not a choice” he had envisioned. Along with his investor, Vir Kotak, Roy was checking out spaces in Vasant Vihar, the tony South Delhi neighbourhood, intending to start a Modern Asian restaurant and microbrewery. His plan went out of the window on March 25, 2019, when the government announced a nationwide lockdown.

It was a setback for Roy and his business partner (and long-time colleague), Anurodh Samal, but what worried them more was the cloud of uncertainty that loomed over the future of their young team of chefs and kitchen hands, who had left their five-star hotel jobs to follow them. “We could sense the frustration creeping into our team. Anurodh and I then decided to do something for these 15 young people who were entirely dependent on us,” Roy recalled.

Roy and Samal liquidated their lifetime savings, leased a 500-square-foot space in a mall in Sector 56, Gurgaon, and launched a cloud kitchen producing pan-Asian food under the brand name Hello Panda. Behind the scenes, the duo rented a property where the team could live and organised four staff meals a day. That took care of the team’s roti and makaan, and they all agreed to take a salary of Rs 15,000 each, irrespective of what they earned before, to be able to send some money home. That left them with a cash flow that would see them through for two or three months.

Vir Kotak

WHEN multi-award-winning chef Vikramjit Roy quit ITC Maurya last year, running a ‘cloud kitchen’ was “definitely not a choice” he had envisioned. Along with his investor, Vir Kotak, Roy was checking out spaces in Vasant Vihar, the tony South Delhi neighbourhood, intending to start a Modern Asian restaurant and microbrewery. His plan went out of the window on March 25, 2019, when the government announced a nationwide lockdown.

It was a setback for Roy and his business partner (and long-time colleague), Anurodh Samal, but what worried them more was the cloud of uncertainty that loomed over the future of their young team of chefs and kitchen hands, who had left their five-star hotel jobs to follow them. “We could sense the frustration creeping into our team. Anurodh and I then decided to do something for these 15 young people who were entirely dependent on us,” Roy recalled.

Roy and Samal liquidated their lifetime savings, leased a 500-square-foot space in a mall in Sector 56, Gurgaon, and launched a cloud kitchen producing pan-Asian food under the brand name Hello Panda. Behind the scenes, the duo rented a property where the team could live and organised four staff meals a day. That took care of the team’s roti and makaan, and they all agreed to take a salary of Rs 15,000 each, irrespective of what they earned before, to be able to send some money home. That left them with a cash flow that would see them through for two or three months.

Vir Kotak

CREATING A DATABASE, SPREADING THE WORD

After putting in place this almost-socialist model, Roy and Samal launched Hello Panda, and the first thing they did was break down the walls so that people moving around in the mall could see them at work. They also put together the database that they had developed in the years they had spent working together at Wasabi by Morimoto (Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi) and Tian (ITC Maurya, New Delhi), and at upmarket restaurants such as Whisky Samba (Gurgaon) and Kimono Club (New Delhi), and spread the word about Hello Panda on social media channels.

With the media exposure that he got after the many awards he won during his previous stints with some of the country’s leading hotels, Roy had a considerable social media following, which he was able to use to create awareness about Hello Panda. In his messaging, he unfailingly shared Hello Panda’s WhatsApp number and website link – his brand’s two principal channels of communication.

After putting in place this almost-socialist model, Roy and Samal launched Hello Panda, and the first thing they did was break down the walls so that people moving around in the mall could see them at work. They also put together the database that they had developed in the years they had spent working together at Wasabi by Morimoto (Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi) and Tian (ITC Maurya, New Delhi), and at upmarket restaurants such as Whisky Samba (Gurgaon) and Kimono Club (New Delhi), and spread the word about Hello Panda on social media channels.

With the media exposure that he got after the many awards he won during his previous stints with some of the country’s leading hotels, Roy had a considerable social media following, which he was able to use to create awareness about Hello Panda. In his messaging, he unfailingly shared Hello Panda’s WhatsApp number and website link – his brand’s two principal channels of communication.

SEE ALSO: India Foodservice Delivery Report author says direct ordering will bring down market share of aggregators.

CHANNELING WHATSAPP POWER

Roy’s social media followers – and Samal’s old connections – insist however on calling them up on their mobiles to place orders. This was more so when a delivery kitchen was still a novelty. The early customers of Hello Panda (and the regulars even today), many of whom expected the kind of personalised service they got at the five-star restaurants they patronised, were/are comfortable calling up either Roy or Samal before placing their orders.

Once either Roy or Samal receives an order, it is fed into their WhatsApp group so that a KOT can be generated and the kitchen starts processing it. Simultaneously, the customer placing an order gets a link that enables the payment to be made and the progress of the order, including the movement of the rider, to be tracked. Each order is accompanied by a handwritten ‘thank you’ note and a menu sheet with the contact numbers, website address and social media handles highlighted – these bits of information also appear on the packaging so that no one misses them.

To reach the orders to their customers, Hello Panda has its own team of full-time riders and, according to Roy, the arrangement works out to be cheaper. The riders are more responsible because they know they are being tracked and can easily be caught out if they don’t do anything right.

The combined power of these strategies has enabled Roy and Samal to achieve a direct ordering rate of 70 per cent and an average order value of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. And their team’s average paycheck has gone up from Rs 15,000 to Rs 27,000 per month. Who said ‘cloud kitchens’ constituted the low end of the food service industry?

Roy’s social media followers – and Samal’s old connections – insist however on calling them up on their mobiles to place orders. This was more so when a delivery kitchen was still a novelty. The early customers of Hello Panda (and the regulars even today), many of whom expected the kind of personalised service they got at the five-star restaurants they patronised, were/are comfortable calling up either Roy or Samal before placing their orders.

Once either Roy or Samal receives an order, it is fed into their WhatsApp group so that a KOT can be generated and the kitchen starts processing it. Simultaneously, the customer placing an order gets a link that enables the payment to be made and the progress of the order, including the movement of the rider, to be tracked. Each order is accompanied by a handwritten ‘thank you’ note and a menu sheet with the contact numbers, website address and social media handles highlighted – these bits of information also appear on the packaging so that no one misses them.

To reach the orders to their customers, Hello Panda has its own team of full-time riders and, according to Roy, the arrangement works out to be cheaper. The riders are more responsible because they know they are being tracked and can easily be caught out if they don’t do anything right.

The combined power of these strategies has enabled Roy and Samal to achieve a direct ordering rate of 70 per cent and an average order value of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. And their team’s average paycheck has gone up from Rs 15,000 to Rs 27,000 per month. Who said ‘cloud kitchens’ constituted the low end of the food service industry?

SEE ALSO: Unburdening Life: How a Direct Ordering Platform with Integrated Back-End Solutions Makes Business Less Complicated

GETTING THE BACK-END IN ORDER

Serious work needed to be done at the back-end. Orders coming from multiple sources – WhatsApp, brand website and food service aggregators – had to be integrated on the PoS in a way that multiple screens did not jump up on the order receiver’s computer screen. Roy and Samal did it by employing the software named Merge to amalgamate orders coming from multiple sources on one page.

The utility of the Hello Panda PoS is not limited to managing orders. It has enabled Roy and Samal to keep a watch on the inventory – it is complicated because Hello Panda, unlike your everyday cloud kitchen, has 200 items on the menu, and some of the ingredients, such as black cod and Chilean sea bass, are quite expensive. The standardised recipes with pictures are also uploaded on the PoS so that the young team can deliver consistency to a level that makes Roy (and his customers) happy.
Roy is fortunate in one respect. “My boys,” he said, “are highly skilled, so we could put complex dishes on our menu.” His advice: If you opt for an elaborate menu, limit the number of your SKUs by putting each item in your store to multiple uses.

Serious work needed to be done at the back-end. Orders coming from multiple sources – WhatsApp, brand website and food service aggregators – had to be integrated on the PoS in a way that multiple screens did not jump up on the order receiver’s computer screen. Roy and Samal did it by employing the software named Merge to amalgamate orders coming from multiple sources on one page.

The utility of the Hello Panda PoS is not limited to managing orders. It has enabled Roy and Samal to keep a watch on the inventory – it is complicated because Hello Panda, unlike your everyday cloud kitchen, has 200 items on the menu, and some of the ingredients, such as black cod and Chilean sea bass, are quite expensive. The standardised recipes with pictures are also uploaded on the PoS so that the young team can deliver consistency to a level that makes Roy (and his customers) happy.

Roy is fortunate in one respect. “My boys,” he said, “are highly skilled, so we could put complex dishes on our menu.” His advice: If you opt for an elaborate menu, limit the number of your SKUs by putting each item in your store to multiple uses.

Serious work needed to be done at the back-end. Orders coming from multiple sources – WhatsApp, brand website and food service aggregators – had to be integrated on the PoS in a way that multiple screens did not jump up on the order receiver’s computer screen. Roy and Samal did it by employing the software named Merge to amalgamate orders coming from multiple sources on one page.

The utility of the Hello Panda PoS is not limited to managing orders. It has enabled Roy and Samal to keep a watch on the inventory – it is complicated because Hello Panda, unlike your everyday cloud kitchen, has 200 items on the menu, and some of the ingredients, such as black cod and Chilean sea bass, are quite expensive. The standardised recipes with pictures are also uploaded on the PoS so that the young team can deliver consistency to a level that makes Roy (and his customers) happy.
Roy is fortunate in one respect. “My boys,” he said, “are highly skilled, so we could put complex dishes on our menu.” His advice: If you opt for an elaborate menu, limit the number of your SKUs by putting each item in your store to multiple uses.

Serious work needed to be done at the back-end. Orders coming from multiple sources – WhatsApp, brand website and food service aggregators – had to be integrated on the PoS in a way that multiple screens did not jump up on the order receiver’s computer screen. Roy and Samal did it by employing the software named Merge to amalgamate orders coming from multiple sources on one page.

The utility of the Hello Panda PoS is not limited to managing orders. It has enabled Roy and Samal to keep a watch on the inventory – it is complicated because Hello Panda, unlike your everyday cloud kitchen, has 200 items on the menu, and some of the ingredients, such as black cod and Chilean sea bass, are quite expensive. The standardised recipes with pictures are also uploaded on the PoS so that the young team can deliver consistency to a level that makes Roy (and his customers) happy.
Roy is fortunate in one respect. “My boys,” he said, “are highly skilled, so we could put complex dishes on our menu.” His advice: If you opt for an elaborate menu, limit the number of your SKUs by putting each item in your store to multiple uses.

SEE ALSO: Opinion – Is Your Tech Platform Serving You Well?

DELIVERING QUALITY WITH CONSISTENCY

“We cannot stint on quality just because we run a delivery kitchen,” Roy said, prefacing the details he shared of the efforts that went into maintaining the food quality you’d expect from a top-drawer restaurant. Before putting a new dish on the menu, for instance, he lets it sit in a delivery box for 40 minutes before tasting it, and repeating the test after microwaving the dish, just as a customer would do. “Asian food especially changes its character in the microwave,” Roy explained.

Roy also cooks his dim sum up to 80 per cent before dispatching them to customers because the dumplings, while travelling, get cooked in the ambient heat of delivery boxes. Trade secrets such as these enable Hello Panda to ensure quality and deliver consistency. Before launching A Sirius Hospitality’s Woke Pizza brand, Roy spent hours and days locating flour with the right gluten content and getting the pH value right for the water that goes into making the pizzas. A pizza, he pointed out, is as good as the flour and water that go into making the dough.

“We cannot stint on quality just because we run a delivery kitchen,” Roy said, prefacing the details he shared of the efforts that went into maintaining the food quality you’d expect from a top-drawer restaurant. Before putting a new dish on the menu, for instance, he lets it sit in a delivery box for 40 minutes before tasting it, and repeating the test after microwaving the dish, just as a customer would do. “Asian food especially changes its character in the microwave,” Roy explained.

Roy also cooks his dim sum up to 80 per cent before dispatching them to customers because the dumplings, while travelling, get cooked in the ambient heat of delivery boxes. Trade secrets such as these enable Hello Panda to ensure quality and deliver consistency. Before launching A Sirius Hospitality’s Woke Pizza brand, Roy spent hours and days locating flour with the right gluten content and getting the pH value right for the water that goes into making the pizzas. A pizza, he pointed out, is as good as the flour and water that go into making the dough.

ONE KITCHEN, MULTIPLE BRANDS

“A delivery kitchen cannot be hugely profitable unless you scale up,” Roy said, explaining why, with an investment from Vir Kotak, Samal and he have expanded to two kitchens – their second in a mall in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj neighbourhood is spread over 2,500 square feet – dishing out five brands (a sixth is cooking). They are also on their way to their first standalone restaurant – The Tangra Project at DLF Avenue in Saket.

“Keep creating brands without multiplying kitchen spaces,” advised Roy. At A Sirius Hospitality’s Vasant Kunj kitchen, for instance, three separate spaces have been created for Asian and Indian food and pizzas, but the same staff does the cutting and chopping and grinding, while the specialist chefs focus on their respective areas of expertise.

“We get more work done using the same space,” Roy commented as he rolled out the names of the brands that have come out from the A Sirius stable over the past one year – Hello Panda, Ginger Garlic (popular, affordable Chinese food), Park Street Rolls & Biryanis, Woke Pizza and Sum Dim Sum.

Emphasis on direct ordering, rapid multiplication of brands, and getting more value out of the same kitchen space and more or less the same staff – Roy, Samal and their investor have got the formula working for them, and how!

“A delivery kitchen cannot be hugely profitable unless you scale up,” Roy said, explaining why, with an investment from Vir Kotak, Samal and he have expanded to two kitchens – their second in a mall in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj neighbourhood is spread over 2,500 square feet – dishing out five brands (a sixth is cooking). They are also on their way to their first standalone restaurant – The Tangra Project at DLF Avenue in Saket.

“Keep creating brands without multiplying kitchen spaces,” advised Roy. At A Sirius Hospitality’s Vasant Kunj kitchen, for instance, three separate spaces have been created for Asian and Indian food and pizzas, but the same staff does the cutting and chopping and grinding, while the specialist chefs focus on their respective areas of expertise.

“We get more work done using the same space,” Roy commented as he rolled out the names of the brands that have come out from the A Sirius stable over the past one year – Hello Panda, Ginger Garlic (popular, affordable Chinese food), Park Street Rolls & Biryanis, Woke Pizza and Sum Dim Sum.

Emphasis on direct ordering, rapid multiplication of brands, and getting more value out of the same kitchen space and more or less the same staff – Roy, Samal and their investor have got the formula working for them, and how!

By Sourish Bhattacharya

Published On: 10/08/2021

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