HOW CLOUD KITCHENS ARE RESHAPING THE INDIAN RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
Cloud kitchens are everywhere. Startups are popping up every day with new ideas and concepts. And then comes the idea of cloud kitchen. The idea almost revolutionised the whole Indian food industry. Cloud kitchens also known as dark kitchens or ghost restaurants built only to serve online customers. Specifically made only for cooking and delivering purposes and not for the walk-in customers. By looking at the profits and stats cloud kitchens undoubtedly are much simpler and easier than walk-in restaurants. The way people are inclining towards online delivery especially in the past two years makes it believable why cloud kitchens got the hype out of the blue. The concept existed way before the pandemic occurred but never got the limelight. It was just a matter of time till people noticed how only online ordering restaurants can exist as well. Since after the lockdown people preferred to remain in their homes and wanted to order online kinds of stuff. Making it very easier for this concept to travel all its way to India.
Startups rise and then fail. India is a big hub of entrepreneurs and there are lots popping out daily. Getting hands-on cloud kitchens and trying that out is now the new trend in the food and restaurant industry. How is it reshaping the industries? By reshaping it’s most likely that cloud kitchens are changing the traditional walk-in restaurants. Now when you check your phone you may see many restaurants on the list while you order using any online food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato. But go outside and see how many of these actually exist and are open for customers. Every day many restaurants pop out and you may find them only in the list but not physically. Why so? Because these restaurants don’t serve offline customers. Unlike walk-in restaurants, these kitchens don’t need a parking lot, lots of empty space, live streaming and rooftop for beautiful views. What they need is enough space for them to set up a fully functional kitchen that will work all day long. That’s how cloud kitchens are different. People are adopting this style probably because of lost cost. A walk-in restaurant in most cases needs more investment than a cloud kitchen. Staff members like waiters, receptionists, stockists and a lot more are usually either not required or hired in fewer numbers for a cloud kitchen. A walk-in restaurant needs to physically advertise its service which can be a very tedious job. However, for cloud kitchens, aggregators can do the advertisement part and also every cloud kitchen on its own can digital market its product to the rest of the world. Since the whole nation has glued their eyes into their smartphones and PCs, advertisements and getting online traffic is not that hard. The food industry in India has already entered the tech plus food field but this idea of taking the kitchen online can bring some interesting outcomes in the near future.
Cloud kitchens in India are now rising. Many companies have adopted the concept and many start-ups have started working on it. “Cloud kitchens are the future” is what people are spreading. It sure can bring many changes to the industry like easy management, fewer investment methods and much more. But there are a considerable amount of demerits as well. Like there is no direct interaction with the customers in the case of cloud kitchens. A customer goes for a dine and can directly talk to the head chef or the manager. The waiter can offer special menus or can talk with the customer about their likes and dislikes. This way a restaurant gets a clear image of their service directly from the customers. But in the case of cloud kitchens, reviews and online feedbacks are given which offers no direct interaction and talking. The aggregators act as the medium. Also in the past few months, it has been seen that aggregators are charging high commissions on restaurants which makes it difficult to continue the business. Hence it depends on the situation when and where which type of restaurant might work. For now, there are a lot of hopes for the cloud kitchen concept and it has the potential to increase the growth of the food and restaurant industry in India.
