“If I were only doing the restaurant business, probably I would be devastated. For one year, no one has been coming back,” says the celebrity chef. What keeps him going in times of COVID-19 are other ventures like Wonderchef, online courses, and endorsements. He has also signed up with two pharma companies on functional foods

Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor is no different from any one else in facing the serious reprecussions of Covid-19.
“When I tested positive, I did not know it would go that bad. I had to be hospitalised for 16 days, and, now, I am out of the hospital for more than a month but still on a rehab (rehabilitation) programme and still recovering. It is tough,” Kapoor told Fashion Herald.

Making things more tough for the chef is his restaurant business, which is under stress due to the Coronavirus-led lockdown. Kapoor operates a chain of restaurants under Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurants Pvt. Ltd., both in India and abroad. He has to his name restaurant chains like The Yellow Chilli, Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor, Khazana, Sura Vie, and Options by Sanjeev Kapoor.

Things changed for India’s restaurant business in 2020 when the pandemic hit the country. In the first 100 days of the lockdown last year, the restaurant business saw losses to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore, according to reports. The situation was no different for Kapoor either.

“That is a dead business. If I were only doing restaurant (business), probably I would be devastated because for one year, no one is coming back. That business is a complete write-off. There is no way you can make money. In fact, it is how much less you can lose. We are fortunate we have other divisions,” he said.

Here’s what’s working for Kapoor

When it comes to other divisions, Kapoor, who had launched Wonderchef, a cookware and appliances brand in 2009, said that things have been good on that front.

“After lockdown (last year), the first two months were very tough. We had organisational cost, overheads were huge and sales were zero. As soon as e-commerce started, everything changed. Pre-COVID, 20 percent turnover came from digital but because of the pandemic, I think, this year, we should see close to 50 percent (revenue) from digital sales. We were fortunate that the impact of the pandemic wasn’t negative for us,” he said.

Kapoor said that due to lockdown and restrictions because of the Coronavirus outbreak, many people were forced to cook, including him, he said. That helped the Rs 300 crore-company, Wonderchef, to grow. Just during the festive season last year, the appliances brand saw a 50 percent increase in revenues as compared to the same period in 2019.

“We saw a spike (in demand) in smaller markets because of e-commerce and delivery becoming easy. Sales from our own website went through the roof. If we were doing 2 lakh (units) a month, it went to 10 lakh a day. Plus, we saw 50 percent growth in our direct-to-home division. We have close to about 50,000 people who sell our products directly and that network is very strong for us,” he said.

Going Digital

Sanjeev Kapoor also recently started his online courses along with the existing business.

“We started the online cooking academy and we could generate cash flows to keep the restaurant business running. Currently, it is one of the worst times for restaurants. I have seen that in my career,” said Kapoor.

Sharing more details about Sanjeev Kapoor Academy, Kapoor said that, currently, there are three to four courses. “Because of the pandemic, we focussed on how to build immunity and the food and recipes for it. Then, there is a course on setting up food business from homes for restaurant-style food. The third course is on food business for home-style food. Here, we talk about the kind of permissions and registrations you need and the kind of recipes needed.”

“We are launching courses for professionals who need upskilling and even for students. So, there will be courses on basic, intermediate and advanced techniques. We will be launching something on nutrition also,” he said. The courses are available for Rs 2,000-2,500.

Ask Kapoor how many people have opted for the courses, he says the traction is attractive. However, the chef did not share details about bookings for the courses.

What he shared was the new idea he is working on.

“We have signed two agreements with two pharma companies to work on functional foods. We are also looking at medicines, which are made from food which are nutraceutical. We are coming up with interesting products. One would launch in a month’s time,” said Kapoor.

Brand Endrosements

He has also to focus on brand endorsements. Kapoor endorses a slew of brands. He has been endorsing Tata Sampann spices, dal and besan for the last five to seven years, and Daawat rice and Sugar Free for the last 10 years. Last year, he started endorsing ITC’s Nimwash.

“There is discussion happening (for brand endorsement), which I can’t disclose. I haven’t endorsed this category yet,” said Kapoor.

Future plans

For 2021, while his focus is functional foods, Wonderchef and brand endorsements, he is keen on expanding his restaurant business by launching more outlets.

“Fortunately, we have 50 percent of our restaurant presence outside India. There have been support from the government. In terms of expansion, in British Columbia, we started a new outlet, but currently it is only delivery and take away. We have verbally agreed for another outlet in Toronto. We are also working on a restaurant in New Jersey.”

Social Work

Kapoor is spending a lot of time on his businesses and is also taking out time to extend support to hospitals.“Last year, we provided food to hospitals. So, this year also, we started that initiative. We are supplying free food to hospitals in Sion, Mumbai, in Ahmedabad, two hospitals in Delhi, and one in Hyderabad. We are in discussion with a hospital in Vizag, two in Bengaluru, and two in Gurugram. I am spending most of my time on this, trying to scale this up and trying to get in touch with more needy hospitals.”