What is MasterChow’s bold plan to dominate the Indian ready-to-cook meal market?

Indians love Chinese cuisine so much that we have some of the tastiest Indo-Chinese fusions available in almost every restaurant or dining establishment in the country. In fact, Indo-Chinese cuisines are so loved that around 80% Indians indulge in this cuisine at least once or twice a month.

Not to mention, the fusion of the world’s two most loved cuisines has propelled the Indian ready-to-cook (RTC) market, which is expected to surpass $489 million by 2027by the storm.

While Capital Foods’ Ching’s Secret has dominated the Chinese free-cooking market since 1995, many smaller brands including Veeba, Gusto Foods, Bechef and Moi Soi, among others, are now racing against time due to the growing demand for Chinese food products.

MasterChow, a D2C brand specializing in ready-to-eat authentic Chinese and Asian meals, is looking to capture a significant share of this market. Founded in 2020 by Vidur Kataria and Sidhanth Mada, MasterChow offers a wide range of ready-to-eat food options including instant noodles, dipping sauces, sticky rice, and condiments, among others.

Apart from being available on Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart, Blinkit and Swiggy, the D2C brand is present across 2,500 physical outlets including marts and self-service stores. It aims to dominate the Asian packaged food sector in India and expand to 10,000 stores.

MasterChow’s customer base has grown from just 100 to 10 Lakh since its launch.

According to the founder, this growth has helped the company increase its revenue by 390% from INR 8.10 crore in FY23 to over INR 40 crore in FY24. By 2025, it aims to become a INR 100 crore revenue generating brand.

Speaking to Inc42, Kataria said that the brand has been able to achieve a lot in a short span of time because of its unique value proposition, which is, “Unlike other brands, MasterChow focuses on offering authentic flavours and artisanal sauces.”

Additionally, the brand’s line of specialty noodles and sauces, including gluten-free and vegan options, as well as meal kits with recipe cards for an enhanced cooking experience, add to its brand equity.

“However, there is currently only one major player offering a single type of sauce: Capital Foods. Beyond these players, there is a clear opportunity for market expansion. Our goal is to create a strong brand presence in homes and offer a variety of flavors to our consumers. We are trying to build a narrative that we are ‘Original“Chinese (Indochinese),” Kataria said.

What is MasterChow's bold plan to dominate the Indian ready-to-cook meal market?

The Ancient Legend of MasterChow

The story of MasterChow’s creation stems from Kataria’s craving for Chinese cuisine when he returned to India from the UK in 2015 after completing his engineering studies.

Missing the authentic international Chinese flavours and recognising a gap where high-quality Chinese meals in India were limited to five-star hotels or specific restaurants, Kataria estimated that at least 10,000 to 20,000 international travellers felt the same way.

With this idea in mind, he reached out to his close friend Madan (now co-founder). The duo decided to turn their passion for pan-Asian cuisine into a business by opening their first restaurant, Wok Me. Inspired by the QSR Subway chain, the two opened their first restaurant on Aurobindo Marg in Delhi in 2016.

“Before launching Wok Me, we spent six months perfecting 58 sauces and refining the flavours of the Chinese cuisine we offer. We then introduced six signature sauces, allowing customers to personalise their meals. After building trust with the first customers, we expanded our offering to multiple outlets,” said Kataria.

However, they were dealt a major blow by the Covid-19 pandemic just before they were due to open their sixth outlet and secure their first round of funding.

The co-founders quickly realized that even though customers couldn’t come to their homes during the peak of the pandemic, there was nothing stopping them from connecting with them. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they launched MasterChow, delivering their first order in June 2020.

“We then moved quickly on branding and packaging, in just seven days. My sister-in-law, a designer, led the work. Within three days, the branding was finalized, the stickers were printed and my house in Saket became a micro-factory where we sterilized the bottles, filled them, labeled them and shipped them,” said Kataria.

MasterChow’s Pandemic Puzzle

During the pandemic, while customer demand for unique foods inspired an innovative idea among the co-founders, it also proved to be the most challenging time for them as they were unsure about the future of MasterChow.

“Our entire business model went from planning to open six outlets by 2020 to making unplanned adjustments during the pandemic,” Kataria said.

Despite the fundraising, the founders said they were unsure where and how to allocate the funds. However, the encouragement from their investors pushed them to take risks, which prompted Kataria to take a more proactive business approach.

“We didn’t foresee what MasterChow would become, but it was crucial to stay afloat during the tough times. We made sure to pay salaries out of our own pockets, refusing to let anyone go,” Kataria added.

What is MasterChow's bold plan to dominate the Indian ready-to-cook meal market?

While Madan managed orders via WhatsApp, his wife helped him with the management and they ran their micro-factory from home, packing orders late at night for morning delivery with the help of a Domino’s delivery boy.

“Covid has presented unique challenges: from managing orders to reaching our first milestone of 250 orders during Rakhi, it has become a family affair with everyone involved. From producing 12 bottles a day at home, we have moved to producing close to 10,000 bottles a day in the last three years,” Kataria said.

MasterChow Customer Acquisition Strategy

Initially, the co-founders had decided to operate only through their website. However, managing D2C was not easy, as it required ensuring punctual orders and a solid communication strategy.

They then decided to strategize to enable same-day or next-day deliveries outside Delhi, leveraging Amazon for fast fulfillment. In November 2020, they started with Amazon’s Easy Ship model, simplifying order processing and shipping. When fast shipping gained momentum towards the end of 2021, MasterChow’s founders decided to make the switch to expand their user base.

According to the co-founder, the main goal at the time was to figure out how to reach the maximum number of homes and increase the distribution network.

“We initially started with six SKUs, focusing only on cooking sauces. While this was a good starting point, it wasn’t ideal for a large-scale expansion strategy. We needed to make people understand what MasterChow was and how we would introduce them to its flavours,” Kataria said.

So they launched a line of condiments with chili oil which has become one of their flagship products. Currently, MasterChow has 36 products and offers sauces in four categories, ranging from chowmein and manchurian sauce to condiments and vinegar. Their fifth category is stick noodles.

Another strategy the founders employed was content. They built a community by sharing authentic and relevant content that showcased their journey, including their successes and mistakes. They created ads that incorporated humor to engage people and make the brand more relatable. Recipes played a key role, leading to the launch of MasterChow Mondays, a weekly initiative where the co-founder himself uploads videos of him making new recipes using MasterChow sauces.

Kataria shares a recipe video every Monday. “Our growth on Instagram is completely organic and we don’t spend a dime on advertising,” he added.

In April this year, MasterChow brought in celebrity chef Ranveer Brar as its brand ambassador to establish itself as the premier choice for ‘Chinese Asli’ cuisine.

By leveraging digital platforms like Instagram, Meta and Amazon Marketplace, as well as strategic collaborations with influencers, the brand seeks to further strengthen its market presence and establish itself as a household name.

MasterChow’s Big Projects

Currently, the startup is focused on differentiating itself by offering freshly prepared sauces with little to no additives. Additionally, Master Chow aims to differentiate itself by offering a variety of high-quality products to appeal to health-conscious consumers interested in innovative Asian culinary options.

“Our goal is to deliver high-quality products, even if it means a shorter shelf life of our products. We aim to minimize additives and preservatives and become 100% preservative-free. Our strategy is to deliver superior taste and variety, leveraging extensive testing activities on offline touchpoints and sampling initiatives to introduce our products to consumers,” the co-founders said.

In the future, they plan to intensify their sampling activities. They also want to increase offline touchpoints to 10,000 stores, including self-service grocery stores and supermarkets.

The company has set a target of reaching INR 100 crore in revenue by FY25.

“Over the last four months, MasterChow has grown by 20% over the previous month. We are already 60% of our target and well on track to hit the INR 100 crore mark on a monthly basis,” Kataria said.

Apart from this, the brand will soon be launching several marketing campaigns and partnering with major national brands for new product collaborations, including the onboarding of a new chef.

With a goal of offering authentic Chinese cuisine, it will be interesting to see how MasterChow plans to capture market share from competitors like Veeba, Nomad Food and others in the years to come.

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