It doesn’t take a masterchef to know that food tastes best when it’s hot. But whenever you order food it usually gets cold and has to be reheated. Imagine, if you could get a piping hot, fresh thin-crust pizza at your doorstep.
Gurugram-based start-up Rocketchefs, founded by hospitality veteran Ramnidhi Wasan in October, aims to reduce the distance between the oven and the table for gourmet food by deploying mobile food trucks on call.
“I have worked in top hospitality chains and wanted to redo the gourmet street food ecosystem. As I donned the entrepreneur’s hat I realised that there has to be a distinct gap in the market and there has to be a large market in that gap. This was my guiding principle,” Wasan says. Rocketchefs currently operates five pizza trucks in a micromarket in Gurugram, but plans to enter Noida within the next fortnight, followed by Delhi in the next two months.
Unlike a traditional food truck that is parked at a public place, Rocketchefs customers can place orders through call or geo-location-based app, find the food van closest to them and get food delivered at their doorstep.
Average order size The company gets 15 orders a day per van with an average bill of ₹600. Rocketchefs is also looking to expand beyond pizzas and deliver idlis and dosas as well. “In the next 15 days, our dosa trucks will be out. We also want to deliver gourmet ice cream in the next one month,” he said.
Ice cream is going to be one of its strongest points, Wasan believes. “We would look at exploring new flavours as well as reinvent traditional Indian sweets as ice creams. The first prototype of the ice cream bike is being done,” he added.
Approximately ₹80 lakh has been invested in the self-funded venture, but Wasan is looking at raising a pre series A round for ₹2 crore.
Enhancing tech “This would be used to augment the fleet, technology enhancement and talent acquisition. Growth capital through Series A shall follow after six months once the model has been scaled to the next level,” he says.
Going forward, Rocketchefs is also open to tying up with other food players. “Rocketchefs should become a curated marketing and technology platform. It would not own the food end to end,” Wasan says, adding that, “Ultimately, we want to become the Uber for food”.