Rebel Foods: Pioneer in Indian internet restaurant and cloud kitchen

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: to identify the potential for disruptive innovation in the changing dynamics of the online food industry with the emergence of technology; to examine appropriate responses to emerging disruptive (environmental) threats in developing a sustainable food retail business; to evaluate the process of executing change management within the organisation, as per the dynamic external business environment; and to develop marketing and distribution strategies that can be created based on a competitive business environment by applying disruptive technological initiatives. Case overview/synopsis Rebel Foods Private Limited was one of the largest internet restaurant and cloud kitchen companies, founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2016. Rebel Foods had established its presence in 70 cities owing to its extensive network of 450 cloud kitchens with more than 4,000 internet restaurants. It was involved in all three steps of the “food on demand” industry: ordering, distribution and order fulfillment. Faasos (earlier name of Rebel Foods) had invested around four years in the restaurant industry using the brick-and-mortar format, slowly shifting to the online business model. Due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus in March 2020, Rebel Foods closed 70% of its kitchens and began selling do-it-yourself meal kits. After the pandemic, the kitchens at Rebel Foods used cutting-edge technology such as robotics, drum machines, automatic Tawas (pans) and auto fryers. The chefs at Rebel Foods had automated the cooking process using modern technology like computer vision and artificial intelligence. Despite all efforts, the company’s operating revenue had dropped by 27.5% during FY21 to reach 405.1 crore INR, down from 558.7 crore INR in FY20. Sales have also been declining in the past few years. Complexity academic level The learners can be early-career entrepreneurs operating in the food industry and/or enrolled in postgraduate or short-term management programs. The case can also be used in Executive MBA courses in Strategic Management, Marketing Management and Entrepreneurship Management. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.