About The Masala Story

Founded in February 2020, The Masala Story is a delivery kitchen that serves authentic North Indian cuisine in North India. The food chain offers premium and authentic North Indian cuisine including freshly cooked dum biryani, kebab, phirni and more at its Haryana and Delhi outlets. The Masala Story believes that spices used in Indian cuisine have always held importance in its preparation. Keeping this in mind and combining the flavours and spices that are so integral to North Indian Cuisine, The Masala Story by Punjabi By Nature a unit of MR Enterprises came into existence.

The market opportunity, considering the product as a category

The Indian Food Service Industry is worth $41.3 bn and growing at a CAGR of 11%. It is expected to reach $68 bn by 2018. •The size of the Organized Indian QSR market is $0.62 bn, growing at a healthy CAGR of 20% and is expected to reach $1.1 bn by 2017-18. A delivery segment is an integral part not only of the Indian Food Service segment but is also common for Grocery stores, Liquor stores, vegetable vendors etc. •Major cities comprise large workplace clusters and high-density residential areas. Young Indian Consumers are highly-priced sensitive. 18% 40% 31% 11% Age Group Profile of Those Who Eat Out 18 to 20 years 21 to 30 years 31 to 40 years above 40 years

Indian consumers, at least those who can afford it, are increasingly dining out, particularly in urban areas. • Eating out has evolved from an occasion-driven activity to an occasion in itself. It has become a form of entertainment for consumers today. • Urbanizing double-income households, changing lifestyles and food preferences are spurring the organized market within the dining out sector. Casual Dining and QSR Dominates the Organized Indian Food Service Market Casual Dining and QSR 70% Pubs, Bars, Clubs and Lounges 12% Fine Dining and Frozen Desserts 10% Cafes 8% Total Indian Food Service Market 100%. 31% of Indians are vegetarians for religious and cultural reasons while the rest of the population eat fish and meat Hindus, the dominant element of the population, strictly abstain from eating beef Consumption of pork is also limited to a relatively small base Dining out is popular amongst many Indian consumers, particularly in urban areas, facilitated by busier lifestyles and higher levels of disposable income. Indeed, value sales at full-service restaurants have increased steadily in recent years, with consumers largely preferring independent rather than chained venues. It is also becoming more common for some consumers to order food for takeaway to eat at home during the week and then to dine out in restaurants Since a dip in 2009, demand for home delivery/takeaway meals has been increasing steadily, with value sales reaching nearly Rs 2.8 billion in 2020. Fast food has become highly palatable to the teens and consumers in their early twenties, with international fast-food chains like KFC and McDonalds, Subway, Domino’s Dunkin Donuts particularly popular. Young consumers consider eating at these places to be fashionable, allowing them to feel a part of the international youth culture. The menus in Indian outlets tend to differ from those in other countries with high consumption of beef. There is also a high demand for indigenous meals from independent fast food venues Many consumers purchase snacks and other food items from the numerous street stalls and kiosks. Street food like pav bhaji, dosas, pani puri etc is very popular in India.

How The Masala Story thought began:

Over the past 15 years dealing with various brands in providing them real estate , I realised that there was a vacuum in the way Indian Delivery was perceived in the market.

People restricted from ordering Indian food from outside as it was a messy affair, in terms of oil packaging as well as the delivery experience. When ordering delivery for a dinner you either ordered it through the service door or else ordered it much before your guests arrived only to make sure that the shabby delivery experience isn’t exposed to the guests. There was no standardization of the brand in terms of the product. Brands grew multiple folds through franchising and self funded expansions but put little focus on the product or its experience by the time the food got to the customer. Hence came the thought of creating a brand called “The Masala Story”, a startup brand. A brand which is Zero Mess, Packed to impress. we are serving authentic Indian food in Handi’s, Boxes, Sealed Bread Envelopes hygienically packed and delivered to the doorstep. The brand is focused on keeping the environment clean and hence it is a Zero plastic brand.

During Covid how did you manage your business?

Covid was a blessing in disguise for “The Masala Story”. We had just started with our first two outlets and people had just started to know us and begin to have confidence in us with their repeated ordering platform visible through the above 55% repeat ratio of the orders. During Covid The Masala Story took all possible measures to deliver hot hygienic food to the door steps with all safety protocols in place including recording the temperature of all the people cooking, delivering as well as handling the food on behalf of the brand. There was a hand sanitizer sent with every order along with a delivery instruction on how the order delivered through The Masala Story shall be received at the residence. This helped build the trust in the brand and hence we grew from 1 kitchen to 6 kitchens within the first year of operation considering the pandemic.

Commenting on the brand and its vision, Manav Deep Singh, co-founder of The Masala Story said, “We opened our delivery kitchen right before the pandemic. Hence this urged us to strategise as per the given situation. We aim to provide delicious North Indian cuisine with utmost safety to our customers and the environment. We tend to use traditional handis as it gives our customers the royal feel without causing any mess.”

Comments

comments