When starting a business, the thought that often comes to mind is how to create a unique identity for a single brand. This journey of differentiation can elevate a business to new heights. The story of Rebel Foods exemplifies this concept.
Rebel Foods initiated a revolution in the culinary world, the likes of which had never been seen before. Imagine the amount of planning and preparation required to establish multiple food brands within a single company.
Today, Rebel Foods has become the world’s largest internet restaurant company, valued at $1.4 billion. This remarkable success story began when friends Jaideep Burman and Kallol Banerjee launched Faasos in Pune in 2011. It is a tale of the hard work, innovative thinking, and courage of two IIM Lucknow alumni who transformed their passion for food into a thriving business.
Jaideep Burman, a Kolkata native with a deep love for food, pursued engineering and later completed his MBA from IIM Lucknow. He subsequently worked for companies such as Onida and Brainvisa. In 2005, he attended business school and later joined McKinsey & Company in London. However, the memory of Kolkata’s Kathi Rolls inspired him to embark on something new and he also wanted to bring his daughter back to India.
In 2010, he returned to India and, alongside his friend Kallol Banerjee, started Faasos. Kallol, who also held an engineering degree from Jadavpur University and an MBA from IIM Lucknow, joined Jaideep in introducing the flavours of Kolkata to Pune.
Initially, Faasos sold only rolls, but Jaideep and Kallol soon realised that substantial profits couldn’t be made from rolls alone. They experimented with selling pizza, though it initially failed. From this experience, they learned an important lesson: every successful food brand is known for a signature dish, like McDonald’s for burgers and Domino’s for pizza. They named their pizza brand ‘Oven Story’, which led to a significant increase in sales.
This success motivated them to launch more brands. In 2016, they introduced Behrouz Biryani, followed by several others like Mandarin Oak for Chinese cuisine, Sweet Truth for desserts, and The Good Bowl. Rebel Foods’ speciality is its cloud kitchen model, which operates without physical restaurants. By setting up kitchens in cost-effective locations, they can take online orders and deliver food, thereby reducing costs and offering a variety of tastes to customers.
In the 2021-22 financial year, Rebel Foods’ revenue grew 2.1 times to Rs 859 crore. The company reported a revenue growth of Rs 1,420 crore in FY 2024.
Today, Rebel Foods operates more than 450 cloud kitchens across 70 cities in India and has expanded to countries such as the UAE, UK, and Singapore. The hard work of Jaideep and Kallol not only transformed the food business but also inspired many new food entrepreneurs to adopt the cloud kitchen model. Their story demonstrates that with the right mindset, technology, and hard work, anything is achievable.
