Asmita Mukherjee | Hyderabad 
CaterNinja sets itself apart from traditional catering services with several innovative approaches. By utilising technology and algorithms, the company simplifies the ordering process, ensuring it is both hassle-free and transparent. Catering to smaller groups, CaterNinja offers specialised solutions such as NinjaBox for bulk deliveries and NinjaBuffet for home and office catering. Asmita Mukherjee spoke with Anup Agarwal, Co-founder of CaterNinja, to delve into their unique offerings for different market segments.
What was the inspiration behind introducing bulk food delivery as a standardised product, and how has it been received by the market?
There is a remarkable shift in the social behaviours in the recent past. Our communities are becoming smaller and the frequency of these micro gatherings are increasing. This change has led to a significant increase in demand for food solutions for a gathering of 10-25 people. We were early in identifying these trends and capitalised on this opportunity with CaterNinja being one of India’s 1st customised and tailored digital bulk delivery solution / catering company.
Today the consumers are looking for convenience and comfort thus the home and club houses are becoming the natural setting for these social micro gatherings. Our Solutions which tap into these latent needs have seen manifold growth and great customer love demonstrated both in our growth across geographies and in the customer loyalty we are able to establish with them.
Can you elaborate on the specific solutions that differentiate CaterNinja from traditional catering services?
For a consumer, the typical process to place a catering order is very confusing, time consuming, lacks transparency and mostly heavy on pocket, that’s the reason it is mis-understood as an affluent class service offering and priced very aggressively.
However, our innovative and path breaking solutions have broken this myth and today we have people across demography and society ordering with us.
We are disrupting the traditional catering services industry at 3 levels:
a. Significant use of technology / algorithms to assist the user journey and make it hassle free to place a catering order
b. Catering to smaller groups of 10-25 people, non-serviceable by traditionally players
c. Offering specialized solutions to service requirements in confined spaces like home and office – through innovative solutions like NinjaBox (specialized bulk delivery solution) and NinjaBuffet (specialized buffet services for homes and offices)
Can you walk us through the functionalities of your online menu builder? How does it leverage technology and algorithms to enhance the user experience?
Our Online menu builder takes various inputs like guest count, nature of event, meal / cuisine preference, time of consumption and then assist the hosts in identifying the right menu and quantity for their specific event, without the need of human interactions. Further, by focusing on optimizing the quantity ordered we are able to reduce significant food waste and promote sustainability.
Almost all D2C brands today are add to cart solutions. However, catering orders are far more complex with no easy identifiable tech solutions. Requiring long and painful menu discussions and price negotiations. We have disrupted that pain point. We developed our proprietary tech stack which leverages the learnings of having serviced 25,000+ orders and plug it back to improve these algorithms and make better and more accurate recommendations to the hosts to delight their guests. Today a couple can sit at night with their laptop and make 20 menu iterations and get instant menu and quantity recommendations along with price without having a need to speak to anyone and get the best solution for their specific bulk food need.
What strategies are in place to handle over 10,000 complex catering queries without human interaction, while still ensuring customer satisfaction?
Technology and Operational Standardization is at interplay to address this growing scale with no let up on customer focus.
Our systems ensure that every small details of the order is communicated to each stakeholder without any slippages. So whether its desired spice level communications that needs to go to the chef or the delivery timelines that needs to be ensured by the operation managers or the special requests for a live services handled by our captains. Everyone is focused on their respective responsibilities to ensure the event is a hassle free and joyous experience every time for our patrons.
With a vast, unorganised catering market in India, what strategies are in place to capture a significant market share and establish CaterNinja as a leading brand? Can you share some examples or future initiatives that exemplify this vision?
Even while we are closing in on 1000 catering orders a month, our plan is underway to reach 10,000 catering orders a month within next few years. We can achieve this by focusing on these 20 cities and yet we believe we would be just skimming the surface and as we continue to invest and build our Brand the penetration in these market and tapping into more cities will bear fruits.
Today everyone thinks of the traditional delivery platforms when they think of food. I think we will be able to add to that. I see ourselves as being an alternate, albeit, for a different need but definitely when anyone in India will think of foodtainment they will think of Caterninja.
