How Curefoods Built a ₹916 Crore Food Empire Across 10 Brands

Curefoods has grown by building something broader than a cloud-kitchen company. It operates a portfolio of food brands across different categories, uses shared kitchens and supply-chain infrastructure where possible, and distributes those brands through cloud kitchens, restaurants, kiosks and delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato.

That strategy has helped the company scale quickly. Operating revenue increased from about ₹585 crore in FY24 to ₹746 crore in FY25, before reaching ₹916 crore in FY26.

The portfolio includes brands such as EatFit, Sharief Bhai Biryani, Olio Pizza, Nomad Pizza, CakeZone, Frozen Bottle and Krispy Kreme. Some were built internally, while others were added through acquisitions or franchise arrangements.

The key idea behind the model is simple: Curefoods does not need every brand to build its own independent operating system. Kitchens, procurement, technology, logistics and other backend functions can be shared across parts of the portfolio, while each consumer-facing brand remains focused on a specific cuisine or eating occasion.

That combination has turned Curefoods into a multi-brand food platform rather than a collection of unrelated restaurants.

Curefoods makes money by selling food across multiple brands

The main revenue engine is still food sales.

When a customer orders from EatFit, Sharief Bhai Biryani or CakeZone, Curefoods earns revenue from the food being sold. Unlike a marketplace such as Zomato, it is not simply charging another restaurant a commission for bringing an order.

This gives Curefoods more control over pricing and product, but it also means the company carries the costs associated with producing that food. Ingredients, kitchen staff, packaging, rent and operating expenses all sit within the model.

That makes scale and utilisation especially important.

A kitchen with low order volumes still carries many fixed costs. If several brands can generate orders from the same location, those costs can be spread across a larger revenue base.

The value of Curefoods' portfolio therefore comes not only from having more brands, but from how efficiently those brands use shared infrastructure.

Shared kitchens form the backbone of the business

Curefoods has built much of its model around common kitchen and supply-chain infrastructure.

Instead of giving every brand a completely separate kitchen network, the company can operate several food concepts from the same backend where the menu and operational setup allow it.

This reduces duplication.

The same kitchen property can support more than one brand. Procurement systems can serve several menus, while technology, inventory processes and delivery operations can also be shared.

The economic benefit becomes stronger when a kitchen handles enough orders across multiple concepts.

If EatFit is strong during weekday lunch hours while another brand performs better during evenings or weekends, the same kitchen can remain productive across more parts of the day.

This is one of the main advantages of a portfolio model.

Curefoods is not asking every individual brand to carry the full cost of an independent restaurant network.

Sharief Bhai and EatFit are already major businesses

Although Curefoods operates several brands, revenue is not distributed equally across the portfolio.

In FY25, Sharief Bhai Biryani generated around ₹148 crore, while EatFit generated roughly ₹145 crore. Together, these two brands contributed close to 40% of Curefoods' revenue.

That concentration is important because it shows how the portfolio actually works.

Some brands become major revenue engines, while others may still be in earlier stages of scale.

Sharief Bhai gives Curefoods exposure to biryani, one of the largest categories in Indian food delivery, while EatFit targets customers looking for more everyday and healthier meal options.

Other brands such as Olio Pizza, Nomad Pizza and CakeZone provide exposure to categories such as pizza and desserts.

This gives Curefoods access to several different eating occasions without forcing one brand to stretch across every category.

The company is no longer only a cloud-kitchen operator

One of the biggest changes in Curefoods' model is its move into physical formats.

As of March 2025, the company had 502 service locations across more than 70 cities and towns, including 281 cloud kitchens, 122 restaurants, 99 kiosks and five central kitchens.

That mix makes the business increasingly omnichannel.

Cloud kitchens are well suited to delivery-heavy brands because they avoid the cost of large dining spaces. Restaurants create more visibility and give customers a physical brand experience, while kiosks can work efficiently in malls, offices and other high-footfall locations.

Central kitchens provide another layer of efficiency by supporting food preparation and supply across multiple outlets.

This broader network also reduces Curefoods' dependence on one operating format.

A brand that works well as a delivery-only concept can remain cloud-kitchen focused, while another brand may benefit more from restaurants or kiosks.

Acquisitions allow Curefoods to add brands faster

Curefoods has used acquisitions as an important part of its growth strategy.

Instead of building every concept internally, the company has acquired brands and businesses that already have customers, products and market recognition.

Its portfolio has expanded through acquisitions involving names such as Frozen Bottle, Nomad Pizza and other food brands.

This can make expansion faster.

Building a new restaurant brand from scratch requires time, experimentation and customer acquisition. Buying an existing brand allows Curefoods to start with something that already has demand and then plug it into its wider infrastructure.

The value of the acquisition depends on what happens after that.

If Curefoods can use its supply chain, kitchens, technology and distribution to improve the economics of the acquired brand, the deal can create operating leverage.

If the brand requires completely separate processes and infrastructure, much of that advantage disappears.

So Curefoods' acquisition strategy works best when acquired brands can benefit from the platform already in place.

Krispy Kreme adds a different model

Krispy Kreme gives Curefoods exposure to a different type of business because it is not a brand created or owned by Curefoods.

The company operates Krispy Kreme in India under a master-franchise arrangement.

That means Curefoods gets access to a globally recognised brand while operating the local business under the standards and requirements set by Krispy Kreme.

This brings several advantages.

Curefoods does not have to build brand awareness from zero, and Krispy Kreme already has a recognisable product and premium positioning.

At the same time, the format pushes Curefoods further into physical retail because doughnut shops and kiosks depend more heavily on footfall and offline visibility than many cloud-kitchen brands.

This makes Krispy Kreme an important part of the company's shift towards a broader omnichannel model.

Swiggy and Zomato still control much of customer distribution

Despite operating its own food brands, Curefoods remains highly dependent on third-party delivery platforms.

In FY25, around 85.6% of sales generated through cloud kitchens came through Swiggy and Zomato.

That is one of the most important numbers in the business.

Curefoods controls the food, kitchen and brand, but it does not fully control customer discovery and delivery.

Swiggy and Zomato bring large volumes of users and provide a delivery network that would be expensive to recreate independently. In return, Curefoods has to accept aggregator commissions and reduced control over the customer relationship.

The company previously experimented with its own delivery network and reportedly reached around 5,000 orders per day across five brands. It later shut the service because delivery costs were too high.

That experience shows how difficult it is to internalise last-mile logistics in food delivery.

Owning the kitchen is one challenge. Building a dense delivery network is another.

Physical outlets can reduce aggregator dependence

The expansion into restaurants and kiosks partly addresses this problem.

When a customer walks into a Curefoods-operated restaurant or kiosk, the company can generate the transaction without depending on a food-delivery platform.

That gives Curefoods more control over the customer and can improve the economics of the order.

Physical outlets can also work as marketing.

A customer may discover Frozen Bottle or Krispy Kreme at a mall, build familiarity with the brand and later order the same product online.

This creates a link between offline presence and online demand.

For Curefoods, the goal is not necessarily to replace cloud kitchens with restaurants. It is to use several channels together.

Cloud kitchens provide delivery efficiency, restaurants build physical presence, and kiosks allow brands to enter locations where a full restaurant may not make sense.

Different brands cover different eating occasions

Curefoods has organised its portfolio across broad categories such as daily meals, Indian food, pizza and desserts.

This matters because food demand changes by time, occasion and customer.

A person may want an EatFit meal during the workweek, order Sharief Bhai Biryani with family on the weekend and buy CakeZone for a birthday.

Curefoods does not need one brand to satisfy all these needs.

It only needs the wider portfolio to capture enough of those occasions.

That gives the company a portfolio advantage similar to other multi-brand consumer businesses.

If one category slows, another can still grow, while successful brands can be expanded faster through the existing kitchen and distribution network.

Quick food delivery creates a new competitive pressure

The rise of 10-minute and quick-food delivery creates another challenge.

Platforms are increasingly experimenting with ready-to-eat and rapidly prepared food, which competes directly with some restaurant occasions.

Curefoods has argued that only around 20% of its roughly 2,000 menu items fall into categories that are highly exposed to this type of competition.

The rest of the menu depends more on differentiated food.

A customised cake, specialised biryani or premium pizza is harder to replace with a generic 10-minute meal.

This is important because Curefoods does not necessarily need to win on delivery speed in every category.

It can instead focus on brands where product quality, taste and familiarity matter more than receiving the food a few minutes earlier.

That gives the company a potential defence against the increasing commoditisation of basic meal delivery.

Revenue has reached ₹916 crore, but losses remain high

Curefoods' recent growth has been strong.

Operating revenue increased from approximately ₹585 crore in FY24 to ₹746 crore in FY25, before growing another 23% to around ₹916 crore in FY26.

However, profitability has not improved at the same pace.

Net loss was approximately ₹170 crore in FY25 and increased to around ₹192 crore in FY26.

That creates a clear tension in the business.

Curefoods is expanding revenue, but it is also carrying the cost of new restaurants, kitchens, acquisitions, employees and brand development.

Aggregator commissions remain another pressure point because a large part of cloud-kitchen sales still comes through Swiggy and Zomato.

This means growth alone will not determine whether the model succeeds.

The company eventually needs its existing infrastructure to generate more revenue without costs increasing at the same rate.

The real advantage is the operating platform behind the brands

Curefoods' portfolio may look like a collection of separate food businesses from the outside, but much of the economic logic sits behind the brands.

The company can share procurement, technology, supply chain and kitchen infrastructure across parts of the portfolio.

Successful brands can be added to more kitchens, while acquisitions can potentially scale faster once they are connected to the wider network.

At the same time, physical restaurants and kiosks give some brands a route to grow outside delivery platforms.

This makes Curefoods less dependent on one specific channel or cuisine.

The strength of the model depends on how well the company can maintain specialised consumer brands while centralising enough of the backend to create cost advantages.

What really matters

Curefoods has already built a large food business, with ₹916 crore of operating revenue in FY26, hundreds of service locations and a portfolio covering daily meals, biryani, pizza, desserts and international franchise brands.

But the company's next phase will be defined by efficiency rather than simply adding more brands.

The portfolio model works only if shared kitchens, procurement and technology create meaningful operating leverage. Otherwise, every additional brand adds complexity without improving the economics of the group.

Curefoods also needs to reduce the pressure created by its heavy dependence on Swiggy and Zomato while continuing to expand direct and physical customer touchpoints.

Its restaurants, kiosks and franchise-led brands are already moving the company in that direction.

The long-term opportunity is therefore not just to build another successful restaurant chain. It is to create a common food operating platform where multiple brands can grow faster and more efficiently than they could on their own.

Whether Curefoods can turn that infrastructure advantage into sustainable profitability will determine how valuable the ₹916 crore food empire ultimately becomes.