Introduction

Dil Foods has built a virtual restaurant platform for food services aimed at small to medium-sized independent restaurants and food enterprises. The company's business offers an authentic regional cuisine experience to a variety of different Indian palates as well as training, packaging, and marketing services to privately owned small restaurants, giving customers a remarkable dining experience while also empowering local food enterprises.

Dil Foods is having a big impact on the food and agriculture technology scene. For small- to medium-sized independent restaurants and food businesses, this ground-breaking platform is a lifeline, offering not only a pleasant culinary experience but also a comprehensive business solution.

Dil Foods hopes to offer a variety of regional cuisines in addition to its fresh food products. The business uses eight cloud brands, each of which stands for a distinct geographic area and cultural identity. Dil Foods has collaborated with over 65 local restaurants, leveraging their resources concurrently. Moreover, Dil Foods provides frozen meals to eateries, and the cooks at those establishments are required to prepare the dish according to the instructions on the Dil Foods container. Orders are placed via websites like Zomato and Swiggy.

Dil Foods purports to serve true regional Indian food that is standardised, clean, and hygienic. Dedicated to preserving uniformity, 68% of their menu items are the same at every location. Additionally, the company's impressive expansion over the past 1.5 years has resulted in a presence in 111 outlets and a spectacular incremental revenue of ₹6 Crores for their restaurant partners. A 4-star rating overall indicates that customers are very satisfied.

Founder’s Journey of Dil Foods

Dil Foods was founded by Arpita Aditi. She attended Manipal School in Biotech Engineering and is from Ranchi, Jharkhand. She worked with Himalaya Pharmaceuticals, Reliance Capital, and Swiggy from 2017 to 2019. She has previously worked as a Research Scientist at The Himalaya Drug Company, as a Corporate Sales Manager at Reliance General Insurance & Little Internet Private Limited.

Three years ago Niteesh Jaiswal had joined Dil Foods as the co-founder and COO; before this Niteesh co-founded and was running octointernet.com which provides ERP solutions to the corporate food courts and restaurants. Niteesh is an MBA graduate from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

Arpita career took a significant turn when she joined Swiggy, where she oversaw national partnerships and had relationships with over 5000 restaurants. Arpita gave up on Swiggy after realising there was a chance to launch a business there. In October 2019, Arpita co-founded Nutnbolt Business Solution to help small restaurateurs sustain their business which eventually transformed into Dil Foods in March 2022. According to Dil Foods' business strategy, restaurants can contact them via a form, and when their experts determine whether you are a good fit for Dil Foods, they train the chefs and other personnel in accordance with their standards and recipes. Additionally, Dil Foods delivers packing supplies right to the restaurant's door so that they may quickly boost sales.

Business Model of Dil Foods

Food is a feeling in India. Their regular meals serve as a reminder of our loved ones and the priceless moments they share with us. Many of us, however, miss out on this rewarding experience because we relocate to distant locations in search of employment or study, leaving a part of our hearts behind. They are attempting to recreate the comforting taste of a mother's cooking from various regions of India using Dil. They are returning home to people's plates with Dil. Since Dil is at home, that is why they decided to call him Dil.

A variety of regional Indian flavours are available from these companies, which include Dil Punjabi, Aahar, The Chaat Cult, House of Andhra, Bihari Bowl, Bhole ke Chole and Khichdi Bar.Dil Foods specialises in authentic regional cuisine commonly consumed on a daily basis. Its upcoming brands will continue to focus on providing such cuisine. Across the existing brands, there are a total of 220 SKUs. The company selects restaurant partners based on their level of underutilization which can be small, medium, or even national chains.

As for its revenue model, the restaurant partners work with the company under a fixed pay-per-SKU structure, with the restaurant receiving a profit margin of 40% on each item sold through the platform. Its items are currently offered for sale on Swiggy and Zomato.

Finding the ideal group of culinary and training teams that can use their experience to instruct small and medium-sized restaurants proved to be the largest hurdle. At first, the employees at some of the restaurants we worked with couldn't communicate in common languages, making it difficult for them to recognise or accept orders as they had the necessary training or experience. Their challenge was to find a culinary staff that would feel at ease going through such a training process. Their marketing plan is to establish themselves as a company that develops a sustainable market in India while satisfying the needs of various ethnic cuisines. Currently, they have established themselves as the preferred choice for working professionals who prefer to order online rather than prepare meals themselves but still yearn for a taste of home. They hope to position themselves as the go-to source for authentic Indian meals that free up working professionals' daily schedules from the burden of cooking, as their USP is the division of our brands. They want their clients to come back to us on a daily basis for the same.

Dil Foods Sales & Valuation

Dil Foods reported revenues of ₹7 crores and a burn of ₹1 crore for the fiscal year 2022–2023. Going on to the fiscal year 2023–2024, as of October, they had made ₹13.16 crores in sales, and they aim to reach ₹30 crores by the end of the year. As of October, their profit has been ₹87 lakhs, and they expect to make ₹2.2 crores by the end of the year.

Dil Foods, valued at ₹14 crores, raised ₹1 crore in investment in April of 22. They obtained an extra ₹40 lakhs in September 22nd, at a price of ₹40 crores. They then raised an additional ₹40 lakhs at the same valuation. Furthermore, the company raised a noteworthy amount of ₹15.5 crores in July 23 at a valuation of ₹75 crores. Furthermore, the company raised a noteworthy amount of ₹15.5 crores in July 23 at a valuation of ₹75 crores. Within the next five years, the company's visionary founder Arpita Aditi, hopes to grow Dil Foods into a ₹7500 crore enterprise.

When examining Dil Foods' financial structure, the average order value is ₹300. Of this, the restaurant receives 31%, packing costs account for 6%, and marketing charges total 10.5%. 1% goes towards logistics and other expenses, while 1% goes towards chef salary. Zomato and Swiggy receive a fee of 22%, while employee salaries account for 11.97% of total costs. With factory and utility costs totaling 4.88%, EBITDA is left at 11.65%.

Shark Tank India Pitch and Deal

The Shark Tank episode featuring Dil Foods aired on January 26, 2024. Every Shark in the tank was impressed by Arpita's entrepreneurial energy when she presented her brands and business plan to the Sharks. She demanded 0.5% equity in return for Rs. 50 lakh. Her pitch left the Sharks all quite impressed. She received what she requested from Vineeta Singh (CO-Founder & CEO SUGAR Cosmetics), and a short while after, Radhika Gupta (MD & CEO at Edelweiss Mutual Fund) stated that it was also ok for her to join Vineeta Singh.

The same was offered by Ritesh Agarwal (CEO, OYO Rooms) as well. Later, Vineeta Singh and Radhika Gupta joined him, and they also made her an offer of Rs 1 Cr for 1% share and Rs 1.5 Cr for 1.5% equity. The final offer from Vineeta Singh, Radhika Gupta, Ritesh Agarwal, and Peyush Bansal was Rs 2 Crore for 2.67% equity, which Arpita Aditi accepted because Peyush also desired to join them. The deal was off for Aman Gupta.

On Shark Tank India, Dil Foods showcased their innovative idea to an experienced group of investors. The trip is shown as Arpita Aditi pitches their ground-breaking platform and highlights how it might completely transform the food and agriculture technology industry. The essence of Dil Foods' innovative strategy and its influence on the industry are encapsulated in the Shark