Ghost Kitchens India strengthens its plan to expand in Gujarat

Food-tech platform Ghost Kitchens India announces the acquisition of Shy Tiger brands, a cloud kitchen company based out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The acquisition solidifies Ghost Kitchens’ foothold in Gujarat market, while providing a platform for further expansion and growth. The acquisition comes on the heels of Ghost Kitchens’ successful equity and debt fundraising round of $5 million USD earlier in February 2024, demonstrating the company's strong financial position and strategic vision.

Founded in 2018, Shy Tiger has 5 multi brand cloud kitchens spread across Ahmedabad.  Milapsinh Jadeja, Director, Shy Tiger, strategically invested in the organization, and they swiftly established themselves with an annualized run rate (ARR) of INR 5 crores. The company's portfolio includes iconic brands like KBOB’s and The Black Chimney. The acquisition marks Ghost Kitchens’ strategic move to bolster its presence in Gujarat by integrating its existing brands in Shy Tiger’s infrastructure.

Commenting on the acquisition, Karan Tanna, Founder & CEO, Ghost Kitchens, said, “KBOB’s and The Black Chimney are 15 years old brands in Ahmedabad. We saw this as an opportunity to scale these brands and expand our presence into Ahmedabad and Gujarat market. Moreover, brand affinity and customer repeat ratio give us a strong position to build up a business. Apart from plugging our brands in their existing kitchens, we could improve the unit economics and get a substantial yield from each kitchen and the entire state.”

Earlier in 2022, Ghost Kitchens had acquired a technology company-WTF which helped them create their proprietary technology, allowing Ghost Kitchens to manage their business end-to-end and to make it more efficient to generate organic revenue, better customer experience and higher profitability. Additionally, Ghost Kitchens acquired Speak Burgers by celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani in February 2023 with an aim to grow the partnership through 25 offline retail stores in the next 18-24 months.

Milapsinh Jadeja, Director, Shy Tiger welcomed Ghost Kitchens and said, “I have been closely observing Ghost Kitchens’ model and was specifically impressed by how they are leveraging technology to manage and optimize business. With their current team capabilities, process driven approach and in-house tech stack, they will be able to take Shy Tiger’s portfolio brands to pan India level. Hence, I decided to partner with the brand and invested in their current round, endorsing and validating their business model.”

Founded in 2019, Ghost Kitchens operates through 15+ company owned and operated cloud kitchens in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and 1200 internet restaurants across 40 cities in India. With the focus of growing its own company owned and operated footprint, launching celebrity brands and foraying into retail stores, the company aims to achieve annualised revenue of approximately 200 crores in the next 2 years.