FreshMenu is an online restaurant that serves freshly-made, chef-cooked gourmet meals in a box. The FreshMenu kitchens were set up at different locations basis the findings of various surveys and research that they had conducted, post which they also set up a
hub-and-spoke model. Started in Bangalore, the company has expanded its services to
Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.
FreshMenu pioneered the concept of
app-based food delivery kitchens in the country. Unlike delivery apps or aggregators, FreshMenu’s team of about 500 operates its own kitchens, cooks food in-house, and runs its own delivery fleet to control the entire process of food ordering. The company is also listed on delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy, but 90 percent of its orders are fulfilled by its own delivery team.
FreshMenu.com was founded in 2014 by an IIM Ahmedabad alumni,
Rashmi Daga, who has previously worked with cab aggregator Ola and online jewellery store Bluestone. Armed with a rich experience in spearheading and managing several start-up’s and diverse businesses, Rashmi wants to bring the best of food on customer’s table. Aimed at rescuing food- seekers from mundane meals, FreshMenu is on a constant quest to whip-up interesting food options in the kitchens spread out across the city that deliver freshly cooked food to the doorsteps of its customers.
Salient features No minimum order, no delivery charges, 45 minutes delivery
Prepared Fresh - FreshMenu starts preparing your meal only after receiving the order. It’s always fresh, wholesome and delectable. Its kitchens are spread all over the city and that’s how your meal is always piping hot.
Finest Ingredients - All FreshMenu’s produce is freshly sourced and prepared daily. It procures the quality sauces, oils and exotic spices from across the world to get that authentic flavour.
Good Chefs - FreshMenu’s chefs constantly explore, innovate and customize various international recipes to suit the taste. Trained from the topmost culinary institutes, all chefs have years of experience to celebrate.
Funding Details FreshMenu received Series B funding in January 2016 of Rs. 110 crore led by Zodius Capital with participation from existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partner. It had raised $5 million in Series A round of funding in 2015 from Lightspeed Venture Partners.
When asked about the
monetization model, Rashmi said, “We are at the heart of food business where we take care of everything from designing to cooking and delivery of food. Our customers repeat every week with us and hence the monetization is very very strong.”
FreshMenu is present in 3 cities with 26 kitchens. It takes about 10k orders per day. Going forward, the company plans to bring in a lot of innovative food choices for customers and expand operations in a couple of other metro cities.
Speaking about the
best and worst memories during her entrepreneurial journey, Rashmi stated, “The best memories of FreshMenu is about discussing new dishes for hours with chefs, tasting absolutely delicious dishes and delivering delight to customers. Worst memories are of times when we did make mistakes with our food or operations and left customers unhappy with us.”
FreshMenu has been able to grow in a highly unorganised, and yet competitive sector is because of its control on food quality. There is a central team that looks after everything from what part of global cuisines should be adopted, how to tweak them to suit the indian palette, how to cook them on scale, how to fix sourcing, check quality of ingredients, make sure the supply chain is set up right.
