Curefoods expects ₹900 crore in revenue, Ebitda breakeven this year

In FY24, Curefoods reported revenue of ₹635.09 crore, up from ₹411.5 crore a year earlier. Its losses narrowed to ₹172.6 crore from a loss of ₹342.7 crore in FY23. 

“As we are a very asset-heavy business with five to six mega central kitchens and about 500 offline locations, we have been solely focused on improving profitability, opening more stores and maximising our utilisation over the past year,” founder Ankit Nagori told Mint in an interview. 

The startup, which also owns food brands Nomad Pizza, Olio Pizza and Sharief Bhai biryani, earns about 75% of its revenue from online platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato, with the rest coming from its offline centres. These centers, however, have an average order value of ₹600, well above the company’s overall order value of ₹420-430. 

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Nagori said he expects Sharief Bhai biryani to become the company’s largest brand in the next two years after its first outlet in Dubai was launched last month. Currently, Eatfit is the largest revenue contributor while Olio has the largest footprint of any Curefoods brand. The company is also focused on adding more cuisines such as Mexican and Lebanese while growing its presence in existing categories. It recently launched Arambam, a dine-in restaurant that offers millet-based cuisine. 

“The idea is for our brands to cater to a diverse consumer base. I would say we are 80% there already but we still do not have important items such as burgers, fried chicken and Asian dishes. While we could do some of these in-house, we are also open to acquisitions in these categories,” Nagori said. 

Despite its sustained growth and robust expansion plans, Curefoods has also been affected by high food inflation over the past three years. “This is probably the most inflationary period in the past 50 years. The macroeconomic factors alongside a broader slowdown in urban consumption has made us lose the bottom 10% of customers as we are slightly outpriced. We are now seeing many of our customers choose the lower-cost options on our menu,” Nagori said. 

Expansion plans

Curefoods plans to increase its footprint in the Middle Eastern regions such as Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, which have a large Indian diaspora, over the next two years. It also aims to launch some of its other brands such as Olio Pizza and Eatfit there. “We currently have four locations in Dubai. By the end of next year we plan to have 10. This will be a big revenue boost as one centre in Dubai is almost equal to 20 locations in India,” Nagori said. 

Within India, Curefoods has presence in 40 cities and plans to add another 500 stores over the next three years. It aims to increase its footprint to 75 cities by the end of 2025 and expects tier 2 and tier 3 towns to be its next area of growth. 

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“In a metro city, we may see a 10-20% expansion but it is intensely competitive. So, I think the next opportunity is to go from the 40th city to the 75th city and offer the best quality there,” Nagori said, adding that offline touchpoints play are crucial to tapping these customers as they don’t usually order food online. 

The company also hopes to benefit from the trend towards premium products that’s playing out beyond the metros. “Towns such as Jaipur are seeing people eat out at super-expensive restaurants for the experience. There are some very high-quality pizza joints coming up there. Asian cuisine has also picked up in these areas,” Nagori said. 

Funding round underway

Curefoods is in the midst of raising a $40 million in a funding round through a mix of primary and secondary transactions, according to a report by Moneycontrol. The round is expected to see Curefit Healthcare Private Limited (Cult Fit) fully exit its investment and new investors come on board. 

Nagori declined to disclose details about the funding round, but said the company plans to use capital for expansion, which includes opening more restaurants, acquiring brands and entering new markets. The company last raised about $25 million from RB Investments and Three State Ventures in January at a valuation of $376 milion, according to market intelligence provider Tracxn. 

Also read: India’s ghost kitchens don’t have enough room for too many cooks

Founded in 2020 by Nagori, Curefoods manages food brands and products including cloud kitchens, quick-service restaurants, and regular restaurants. Its investors include Rukam Capital, Brand Capital, Chiratae Ventures and Binny Bansal, and it competes with brands such as Rebel Foods and Box8.  

Before launching Curefoods, Nagori co-founded Cult Fit (then Cure Fit) with Mukesh Bansal after he resigned from Flipkart as its chief business officer in 2016. In 2021, Tata Digital invested $75 million in Cult Fit.