Licious lays off 3% of its workforce amid restructuring exercise

Delightful Gourmet, the parent company of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand Licious, has laid off 80 employees as part of an operational reset to sharpen its growth focus. This represents three per cent of its workforce.

The Bengaluru-based company had about 650 corporate staff and 2,350 people across production and supply chain functions. It pegged the total number of employees on payroll at around 3,000 as of January this year.

“We are reprioritising our cost outlays, considering the new growth levers. In doing this, it is unfortunate that we have to part with some employees who have been a part of our journey,” the company said in response to queries.

The affected employees were informed on Friday. Licious has offered two months of compensation, along with the variable payout for FY 2024, to the retrenched employees, said the company.

The company in the statement further said, “Licious, as a brand, sees significant scope in expanding the number of targeted households to further fuel the consumer transition from traditional markets to contemporary purchase formats.”

The eight-year-old startup, founded by Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, is tracking an annual revenue run rate currently of Rs 900 crore. It has more than Rs 800 crore in cash from previous funding rounds. The company statement also said that the online business is on track to achieve EBITDA profitability by the end of FY 2025.

The company will unveil a renewed market expansion plan, resetting the growth triggers in the coming weeks. “With significant investments in the brand, deeper backward integration, and an active pursuit of automation in the supply chain, Licious will focus on expanding the market potential and reach in the next financial year. Licious has already resurrected the marketing spending this year after recasting the growth levers,” said the statement.