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ITC Food Tech, the food delivery and cloud kitchen arm of ITC Ltd, has scaled up to 60 cloud kitchens across five major Indian cities, marking a significant step in the conglomerate’s push into India’s fast-growing fresh foods and food delivery segment. The company plans to expand its footprint to Delhi later this year and reach 80 kitchens by December.
Launched in 2020 with a single kitchen in Bengaluru, ITC Food Tech now operates across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The division is being positioned as a “startup within ITC,” tapping into the group’s extensive procurement, packaging, and culinary capabilities to build a scalable, consumer-focused food business.
Rohit Bhalla, who leads the division, said the strategy has been to prioritize operational consistency over speed. “Cloud kitchens are operationally complex. We spent our first three years cracking Bengaluru before adding more cities,” he said. “Indian cuisines are hard to standardise and scale. That is the gap we want to solve.”
ITC Food Tech runs three primary brands catering to distinct market segments. Aashirvaad Soul Creations focuses on affordable, homestyle vegetarian thalis. ITC Master Chef Creations offers premium North Indian cuisine including butter chicken, kebabs, and dal makhani. Sunfeast Baked Creations extends the Sunfeast brand into breads, cookies, and desserts.
The company recently added Sansho, a Pan-Asian delivery brand, and acquired frozen food company Prasuma, further strengthening its gourmet and ready-to-cook offerings.
In addition to cloud kitchens, ITC is testing on-ground formats. Aashirvaad thalis are being piloted in five Bengaluru corporate food courts, and a café format under the Sunfeast Baked Creations banner is also in development.
Rather than competing on volume alone, ITC aims to differentiate through established brand equity and robust operational infrastructure. The model allows the company to target both value-seeking consumers and premium diners, addressing a wide spectrum of demand in India’s evolving food delivery landscape.
The food tech initiative marks a significant diversification for ITC, traditionally known for its dominance in FMCG and tobacco. With consumer demand for convenient, quality meals on the rise, ITC Food Tech is positioning itself to be a serious player in the competitive cloud kitchen space — one kitchen at a time.
