Faasos’ cloud kitchen pivot starts to pay off as revenues rise 67% in FY18

Rebel Foods, which owns and operates internet kitchen brand Faasos, managed to grow its revenues by 67% in the financial year 2017-18 while narrowing its losses for the second straight year.

The net sales of Pune-based Faasos, which has gradually pivoted from a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain to a cloud kitchen model, jumped to Rs 149 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 89 crore in the previous fiscal, show filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). 

The firm effectively shrunk its net losses to Rs 74 crore for the year ended March 2018 from Rs 82 crore in the previous financial year, when it lost as much money as it earned. It had posted losses of Rs 111 crore in 2015-16, quadrupling from the previous fiscal on the back of higher expenses.

Total expenditure rose to Rs 223 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 171 crore in the previous financial year.

VCCircle had reported in August that Faasos had raised $15 million (Rs 102.9 crore) in a round led by Russian venture capital firm Sistema Asia Fund Advisors and Evolvence India Fund.

Both investors contributed $4 million each. Another $4 million was brought by some existing investors – Lightbox, Sequoia Capital and Russian investment firm Ru-Net. An additional $3 million came as secured debt, bringing the size of this funding to $15 million.

Faasos has raised $56.81 million since 2010-11, according to VCCEdge, the research and data arm of News Corp VCCircle.  

The company recently rebranded its parent entity to Rebel Foods to distinguish its wraps-and-meals brand Faasos as a separate brand under the parent company. 

Since the pivot, it has launched seven brands under different categories such as biryani, meals, pizza, and dessert, and runs over 1,100 individual internet restaurants (with 176 kitchens) across 15 Indian cities. A cloud kitchen accepts only online orders and offers no dine-in facility.

Major rival FreshMenu had more than doubled its net sales in 2016-17 to Rs 70.9 crore from Rs 31.7 crore in 2015-16 while net losses widened to Rs 42.3 crore from Rs 33.8 crore. 

Another peer, Mumbai-headquartered Poncho Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, which offers an on-demand food delivery service under the brand Box8, reported revenues of Rs 51 crore in 2016-17, a significant increase from Rs 28 crore in the previous fiscal. Losses narrowed to Rs 12.4 crore from Rs 15.1 crore in 2015-16. 

Both FreshMenu and Box8 are yet to file their financials for 2017-18.