Online food delivery platform FreshMenu will open its first offline restaurant at Kempegowda International Airport here on Tuesday. The 70-seater restaurant and all-day café was set up in 30 days at an investment of ₹30 lakh and is located outside the departure gate.
“So far, we have worked behind the scenes. This airport restaurant serves as an experience store that will bring us up and close to our customers who are looking for on-the-go food choices,” Rashmi Daga, CEO and founder, FreshMenu, told BusinessLine . “The airport was the first choice for the brand’s first physical outlet as it gives us the perfect platform to talk about global cuisine from far and wide.”.
The restaurant will serve global cuisine with an Indian twist, in the signature FreshMenu style, with a range of fresh salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, pizzas, desserts and also a DIY option over the counter. While a meal will cost ₹300-350, prices begin at ₹100.
“The daily changing menu served here is slightly different from our standard fare and more suited to travellers on the go. However, we do not serve frozen or reheated food; everything is cooked to order and is served in less than 10 minutes” she said. FreshMenu has a hub in nearby Jakkur, which will serve as the feeder for raw materials. The 24x7 restaurant will have 40 people working in three shifts.
FreshMenu is following the trend of B2C online start-ups creating omni-channel presence in order to be available at every customer touch point, whether it is online or offline. Having raised $22 million in two rounds of funding since its inception three years ago, the firm operates in three markets — Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. It works on a full stack model, where it controls both food and delivery, with a network of kitchens that it runs. Daga says she is targeting a revenue run rate of ₹300 crore within a year, and is also expecting to break even in that time frame.