HungerBox's real-time platform connects food vendors, corporate employees

“We are now able to track, analyse and improve cafeteria experience for employees based on the elaborate data captured on their dashboards,” says Amit Dhabai, senior logistics leader of Genpact, referring to the Bengaluru-based start-up HungerBox, an online platform that connects caterers and corporate.

“HungerBox’s cafeteria management platform has helped automate our cafeteria,” he adds.

Founded in 2016 by veterans of the food-tech space Sandipan Mitra and Uttam Kumar, the B2B food-tech company has recently announced the closing of $2.5 million in pre-series A funding. The funding was led by Lionrock Capital and Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder, Infosys.

“There is a tremendous potential for innovation in the B2B food-tech arena as corporate spends on F&B (food and beverage) are already massive and growing year-on-year. HungerBox addresses this large space with an easily scalable model and an end-to-end solution,” says Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder, Infosys.

Product concept

HungerBox’s technology platform connects food vendors, corporate employees and the company administration in real time, through a customised employee app tailor-made for respective corporates.

It leverages the latest technology advancements like IoT (internet of things) to connect the vendor-side hardware and the employees, to communicate in real-time. “Using the app, employees can view the F&B menu provided by all enlisted food vendors at their workplace cafés, place orders and track delivery. They can also give ratings and feedback,” says Mitra.

More than 50 payment methods are also integrated into the service offering, including in-app purchases by an employee, payment via smart cards, m-wallets and self-serve kiosks at cafés.

The platform also provides features like personalised recommendations to employees through  AI-driven setup, health mode for the health conscious employees and other features. 

Its leading corporate clients include Qualcomm, Microsoft, FirstSource, Accenture, CapGemini and Genpact.

The biggest benefit the company claims to have brought to the partner vendors is the reduction in cash pilferage from the 15-22 per cent  mark to zero per cent through the use of the HungerBox technology.

HungerBox, which does a mix of food and technology, feels that it does not have a direct competitor. “We offer a comprehensive solution to companies for better F&B management,” he adds.

It operates 130 digital cafeterias for 68 corporate clients. Over the last 15 months, HungerBox has nearly seven million orders placed on their platform. The company now has 445 vendors on its board and manages around 1,500 counters.

Opportunity

The food tech start-up is betting big on the B2B food-tech market, which  is estimated to be a $15 billion market growing at a rate of over 10 per cent y-o-y (year-on-year). To tap this opportunity, HungerBox enters into long-term contracts (typically three to five years) with corporates to run their cafeterias and turn them 100 per cent digital.

Its target group is any company having 500 or more employees.

Revenue model

Its revenue model varies client to client, based on the nature of customisations that the company wants to bring into the technology as per the latter’s requirements.  “We sometimes work with food vendors on a commission basis or charge a management fee to the corporate or a combination of the two,” says the founder.  The commission charged on sales is around 10 per cent.

Road ahead

After setting up a strong base in Bengaluru, it plans to penetrate deep into Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi/ NCR & Kolkata this year. “We are profitable in Bengaluru, and we aim to break-even in each of the cities by end of this year," says Mitra.

It plans to go international with a focus on south-east Asia in 2019.

Expert Take: Model with a different approach
 
Food-tech business models, which were very hot in 2014 and 2015, became pariahs later due to high customer acquisition costs, poor unit metrics, lack of a clear path to profitability and other reasons. It is refreshing to see HungerBox’s business model with a different approach that addresses all these areas. By ensuring a platform for on-boarding caterers and continuous monitoring/review, they provide great service to corporates.  There are some challenges to the business model that need to be addressed. Given this is a cafeteria management solution, the market size is limited to customers who have a cafeteria in-house, so essentially top corporates and MNCs. The typical spend inside a cafeteria is limited to per employee per day and unlikely to change, except for inflation. Hence, the company has to constantly add new clients. As a suggestion, Hunger Box has an extensive base of corporate employees using their app. Leveraging the data they have, the company can provide many more services to employees. They can also start addressing other needs of corporate employees like gifting, parties and celebrations inside the office.
 
Jyotsna Pattabiraman, Founder and CEO, GrowFit