When Rebel Foods pioneered cloud kitchens in India, it wasn’t just a business model, it was a revolution.
A single kitchen.
Multiple virtual brands.
No front-of-house staff.
No real estate battles.
The math made perfect sense, scale fast, reduce costs, optimize delivery, and expand across India’s growing online food delivery ecosystem.
Back in 2015, Faasos was just a struggling QSR. But a major pivot turned it into a backend logistics engine for 20+ food brands. Under the Rebel umbrella, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story, Sweet Truth, The Good Bowl, and Mandarin Oak were born. Each targeted a niche. Each shared the same kitchen. Rebel Foods even coined the term “Full Stack Food Tech.”
By 2021, investors were sold. Rebel hit unicorn status, expanded into Southeast Asia and the Middle East via joint ventures, and claimed to run the “world’s largest internet restaurant company.”
But fast forward to FY24, and the cloud began to look stormy.
The Origin Story: How One Roll Sparked a Revolution
In 2011, Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, childhood friends and INSEAD graduates, weren’t trying to build a food-tech behemoth. They just wanted a decent wrap.
After returning to India from Europe, Jaydeep noticed that global cities offered quick-service, flavorful food, something he had missed in India. With that craving, they started Faasos in Pune, offering fresh, on-demand wraps via a brick-and-mortar setup. But soon, they saw the real problem wasn’t the cuisine, it was the cost of running full-service outlets.
So, they pivoted.
By 2015, Faasos morphed into Rebel Foods, the world’s largest internet restaurant company. It embraced a cloud kitchen model, no dine-in, no prime real estate, just delivery-first food brands built with tech and scale in mind.
Rebel Foods: Scaling Kitchens, Not Walls
Rebel Foods, the pioneer of India’s cloud kitchen revolution, redefined food delivery with a tech-first, multi-brand model. From its roots as Faasos in 2010 to becoming a global food-tech unicorn, Rebel now operates 450 cloud kitchens and 4,000 internet restaurants across 10 countries, all powered by its proprietary Rebel OS. Here’s a quick look at how the cloud kitchen giant stacks up in FY24:
| Category | Details |
| Founded | 2010 (as Faasos); pivoted to cloud kitchens in 2016 |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, India |
| Founder(s) | Jaydeep Barman, Kallol Banerjee |
| Funding Raised (in ₹ Cr) | 4172.155 |
| Valuation (in ₹ Cr) | 11929.4 |
| Cloud Kitchens | 450+ Kitchens, 70 Cities, 10 Countries |
| Internet Restaurants | 4,000 Active Virtual Brands |
| Distribution Channels | EatSure app, Swiggy, Zomato, Rebel Launcher partners |
| Technology Backbone | Rebel OS – internal stack for operations, inventory, workflows |
| Key Strategy | Multi-brand shared kitchens + tech + global partnerships |
Rebel Foods FY23–FY24: Burn Slows, Focus Sharpens
Rebel Foods entered FY24 with a clear goal , to reduce cash burn and double down on core brands. The financials reflect this strategic shift. Here’s a breakdown of how Rebel rebalanced its books:
Key Insights
- Revenue Growth:
Operating revenue rose 18.02% YoY from ₹1,195 Cr to ₹1,420 Cr, indicating steady top-line expansion even as brand rationalisation efforts were underway. - Cost Control Begins:
While total expenses increased marginally (₹1,827 Cr → ₹1,857 Cr), employee costs and marketing spends were reduced, signalling a pivot toward sustainable growth. - Material Costs Still Rising:
Cost of raw materials increased by ~6%, reflecting inflationary pressures or increased volume, even as overall spending was tightened elsewhere. - Ad Spend Rationalised:
A sharp ~32% drop in advertising expenses suggests Rebel is cutting back on aggressive brand launches and focusing more on organic or retained users. - Still Loss-Making, But Efficient:
The company remains in the red, but loss growth has plateaued. Operating leverage is improving, a crucial step toward eventual profitability.
Brand-Level Breakdown: Too Many Plates Spinning?
While Rebel doesn’t publicly disclose brand-level P&L, insiders and past investor decks suggest the following:
Here’s a continuation and expansion of Rebel Foods’ brand-level breakdown based on available insights, internal decks, and historical brand launches. While exact revenue/profit figures per brand are not public, the operational status and strategy of each can be inferred:
| Brand | Category | Status | Notes |
| Faasos | Rolls & Wraps | ✅ Core | Original brand; profitable in many cities |
| Behrouz Biryani | Premium Biryani | ✅ Premium | High ASP, loyal customer base, performs well in Tier 1 |
| Oven Story | Pizza | ⚠️ Under Pressure | Struggles against Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Swiggy’s in-house pizza |
| Mandarin Oak | Pan-Asian | ⚠️ Being Restructured | Menu consolidation underway; active in select cities only |
| LunchBox | Indian Meals | ❌ Paused | Low repeat rates, churn issues, scaled down |
| The Good Bowl | Fusion Bowls | ⚠️ Restructured | Some overlap with Faasos offerings; consolidated menus |
| Sweet Truth | Desserts | ⚠️ Seasonal | Active in metros; niche, high-margin but limited frequency |
| Wendy’s (India) | Burgers/QSR | ✅ Partner Brand | Operated via Rebel Launcher; scaled in cloud-first format |
| Nude Bowls | Healthy Bowls | ⚠️ New / Testing | Launched during the health-food wave; limited reach currently |
| The 500 Calorie | Calorie-Controlled | ⚠️ New / Testing | Hyper-specific health food brand; may overlap with Nude Bowls |
| Box & Co | Combo Meals | ⚠️ Experimental | Meal boxes for corporate / lunch demand; unclear scale |
| Ambyar Ayam | Indonesian Cuisine | ⚠️ International JV | Regional brand in Southeast Asia (Indonesia JV) |
| Bros Fried Chicken | Fried Chicken | ⚠️ Competitive | Likely positioning against KFC; testing in limited kitchens |
| Feeling Brew | Beverages/Coffee | ⚠️ Niche | Coffee + cold beverages; delivery-only test brand |
| Ban Zai | Japanese/Asian | ⚠️ Pilot | Minimal presence; likely brand experiment in pan-Asian cluster |
| Boom Burger | Burgers | ⚠️ Early Stage | Possible test run; no large-scale rollout observed |
| Burger Bros | Burgers | ⚠️ Conflicts Brand | May be early Wendy’s pilot or internal brand under test |
| Zomoz | Momos/Dimsum | ✅ Acquired Partner | Rebel-acquired brand (Zomoz Foods); focuses on Northeast/Tier 2 cities |
| Smoor | Premium Desserts | ✅ Partner Brand | Chocolates, cakes; runs via Rebel Launcher model |
Most new launches (like Slay, Firangi Bake, The Biryani Life) failed to scale efficiently. Rebel is now exiting non-performing brands and doubling down on top 3-4 flagships.
Rebel Foods built a massive portfolio of 20+ cloud kitchen brands. However, only a handful, like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story, and Zomoz, are truly carrying the weight. In contrast, over 70% of the others, such as Boom Burger, Nude Bowls, and 500 Calorie, remain either niche, paused, or still stuck in testing mode. As a result, menu overlaps and brand fatigue have started to set in. To address this, Rebel has begun consolidating its offerings and trimming underperformers. Interestingly, while several in-house brands are losing momentum, external partners onboarded via the Rebel Launcher platform, such as Wendy’s and Smoor, are showing stronger performance. This shift indicates that curated collaborations may be a more sustainable growth strategy than constantly launching new in-house brands. The company’s pivot is now clear: fewer brands, sharper focus, and scaling its infrastructure as a service, not just a kitchen full of experiments.
The Ghost Kitchen Dilemma: Scaling Isn’t Always Saving
The cloud kitchen model promised a new future for food delivery, one where restaurants could thrive without the overheads of real estate, waitstaff, or front-of-house costs. And initially, the promise held up. But as operators like Rebel Foods scaled, cracks began to show:
Operational Complexity: Running 8–15 brands under one roof meant managing diverse inventories, training staff for multiple cuisines, and coordinating complex logistics. Efficiency gains were offset by backend chaos.
Brand Dilution & Cannibalization: By launching too many similar or overlapping brands, Rebel Foods unintentionally created confusion among its customers. For instance, Behrouz Biryani, The Biryani Life, and LunchBox all catered to a similar audience. As a result, instead of reinforcing brand loyalty, they ended up splitting it. Moreover, customers weren’t sure which brand to stick with, leading to lower repeat purchase rates. Over time, this overlap not only diluted brand equity but also made customer acquisition and retention more expensive. Therefore, Rebel’s multi-brand strategy, while ambitious, started working against itself.
Aggregator Dependency: With Swiggy and Zomato commanding customer discovery and delivery, margins shrank. Every rupee earned was split across platform commissions, discounts, and delivery costs.
Thin Margins, High Costs:
Cloud kitchens may have trimmed down fixed expenses like rent and decor, but they continue to struggle with profitability. Why? Because they depend heavily on steep discounts and aggressive customer acquisition campaigns, especially when launching in new delivery zones or cities.
From Blitz to Balance: Rebel’s FY24 Reset Strategy
After years of chasing scale through blitzkrieg brand launches and global rollouts, Rebel Foods hit pause in FY24, and opted for consolidation over expansion. Here’s how the kitchen king is rewriting its playbook:
Core Brand Focus: Flagships like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Rebel Launcher (which monetizes idle kitchen capacity via third-party brands like Wendy’s) are now front and center. Non-performers are being quietly sunset.
Global Expansion, Local Tactics: Instead of opening its own kitchens abroad, Rebel is partnering with local players or licensing its brands to de-risk expansion. Think Middle East rollouts via Kitopi or Wendy’s co-branding in India.
Leaner Teams, Smarter Kitchens: Headcount rationalization, AI-led order prediction, and automation have replaced bloated ops teams. Efficiency > vanity scale.
Kitchen Profitability First: Each kitchen is now treated as an independent P&L center. If a location doesn’t turn profitable fast, it’s either restructured or shut down.
IPO on Ice: Once hyped as India’s first cloud kitchen unicorn to go public, Rebel has dialed down IPO talk. FY24 saw a shift in tone, less about valuations, more about margins and sustainability.
The Economics of Ghost Kitchens: Dream or Mirage?
Cloud kitchens promised lower costs, faster scale, and tech-led efficiency. But at scale, the cracks showed:
Operational complexity: Running 10+ brands per kitchen meant managing diverse menus, inventory, and staff skillsets, leading to backend chaos.
Brand dilution: Overlapping menus confused customers and split loyalty. Brands like Behrouz, Biryani Life, and LunchBox cannibalized each other.
Aggregator dependence: Heavy reliance on Swiggy/Zomato meant high commissions and shrinking margins.
Thin margins & high CAC: Discounting wars and low brand stickiness pushed customer acquisition costs through the roof.
In essence, ghost kitchens traded rent for technology, but that didn’t eliminate cost pressures. While they saved on physical infrastructure, they still faced high operational expenses. Moreover, without consistent order volume and a loyal customer base, most kitchens struggle to break even. As a result, unless each unit runs near full capacity, profitability continues to be out of reach.
From Cloud Chaos to Kitchen Clarity
Rebel Foods once embodied the future of food delivery, fast, scalable, and asset-light. But FY24 marked a turning point.
It realized that scaling brands is not the same as scaling profitability.
Now, Rebel is rebuilding on firmer ground:
- Fewer brands, more focus
- Kitchen-level profitability over vanity GMVs
- Third-party monetization via Rebel Launcher
- Tighter cost control and brand clarity
While the IPO dreams are deferred, the reset is real. With anchor brands like Faasos, Behrouz, and Zomoz holding strong, and with infrastructure monetization via Rebel Launcher gaining ground, Rebel Foods may yet prove that cloud kitchens weren’t a bubble, just a model that needed baking time.
This report is powered by PrivateCircle Research, the intelligence engine behind India’s private markets.