Cloud kitchens in Hyderabad hit hard by pandemic

Owners say orders have come down drastically due to fear among people and lockdowns

Hyderabad: The advent of app-based food delivery services gave many budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to foray into the food industry and in the last couple of years, many cloud kitchens opened up in the city.

Relying on food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato, these small businesses function only through home-delivery mode, instead of having an option to dine in, drastically reducing the initial investment and running costs.

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And most of them were doing quite well too. That is, till Covid-19 struck. The pandemic and the lockdowns it triggered have affected these kitchens and in recent times, many of these kitchens have got it tough, says Harikiran Gupta, the owner of one such cloud kitchen.

“The number of orders we receive has drastically come down because of a combination of reasons. People’s fear of Covid-19 has also played a major role in it. Orders have come down further since the lockdown started and now we hardly get 10-15 orders a day,” he says.

Rakesh Gupta is another individual who runs three kitchens in various areas. The lockdown has affected business in all three kitchens. “While it is not as bad as it was in the 2020 lockdown, business has definitely reduced to the extent that we temporarily closed one of our branches,” says Rakesh.

But, for some like Allu Akhil Chowdary, who runs a cloud kitchen in Karmanghat, their own delivery staff and regular customers have played a role in sustaining the business.

“Apart from the food delivery apps, we have our own delivery team and our regular customers who directly order from us. These are keeping us going at the moment apart from whatever business we get from the apps,” explains Akhil, who adds, “To ensure smooth functioning, we obtained passes from the police for all of our employees.”

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