With a modest beginning in Bengaluru in 2020, offering a capacity of 10 parties per day, CaterNinja has closed the 2023-24 fiscal year with a remarkable expansion. Now spanning six cities, the company boasts an impressive capacity of 188 catering parties per day. Throughout this journey, CaterNinja has not only expanded its reach but also transformed its service offerings. Introducing innovations such as Ninja Box, Ninja Buffet, and Ninja Live, the company has standardized its catering offerings, catering to a diverse range of customer needs over the past few years.
Anup Agarwal, a former investment banker turned tech entrepreneur, expresses ambitious goals for CaterNinja: “Our aim is to extend our operations to 20 cities within the next 12-18 months. We’re not content until we’ve reached 100 cities and established ourselves as a nationwide catering brand.”
Targeting Market Expansion and Opportunities
Anticipating substantial growth in the “foodtainment” market, he foresees expansion not only in metropolitan areas but also in tier II and III cities across the country in the coming years. “We aim to seize the opportunities presented by this market expansion,” he stated.
Agarwal notes a wave of fresh talent entering the food industry, including home chefs, cloud kitchens, and dark kitchens, seeking support from tech startups to enhance their businesses and drive profitability.
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“Our task is to transform these ventures into profitable endeavors by integrating them into our strategic kitchen network. Thus far, we’ve achieved success in this endeavor,” he remarked. Presently, CaterNinja operates in cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai.
“CaterNinja empowers consumers with the technological tools to customize their menus and optimize their events,” Agarwal explained. “We’ve simplified the process for PSUs, corporate entities, and new-age startups to discover catering options for their meetings and events right within their premises.”
Agarwal mentioned that while CaterNinja collaborates with strategic partner kitchens, they also contribute significant quality audits and packaging innovations to the ecosystem.
“We don’t focus solely on hyper-local business. Instead, we carefully choose partners in key locations within each city to ensure the safe and hygienic delivery of food to our customers,” he elaborated.
Regarding safety concerns, he mentioned conducting multiple rounds of audits on partner kitchens to guarantee their capacity to deliver food in a safe and secure environment.
“We may consider investing in select strategic partner kitchens in the future,” he suggested.
Agarwal also mentioned that CaterNinja has developed its own distribution and delivery system in all the cities where it operates, rather than relying on delivery partners like many other direct-to-consumer food brands do.
Growth Trajectory and Funding Plans
Agarwal emphasized that CaterNinja has achieved a tenfold growth in the past four years purely through hard work, without relying heavily on external funding, aside from a small seed round.
Nevertheless, with a proven successful model in hand, Agarwal expressed their intention to pursue a significant funding round this year to secure capital for propelling the business to the next stage of growth.
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