CYK Hospitalities is an F&B consulting company based in NCR, India. The company was started by the experts in the FnB space, Simranjeet Singh and Pulkit Arora in the year 2019. The company gives a one-stop solution to the people in the FnB and hospitality space, starting from ideation to execution of a restaurant.
Natives from Agra, Simranjeet Singh and Pulkit Arora attended the GLA University, Mathura, U.P. to pursue engineering and MCA respectively. Both from different batches and subjects, never knew they would venture into an entirely different field of business together. After passing out of college, they both started an FnB startup, which offered a healthy menu, in Agra and further expanded to Delhi and NCR. After running the business successfully and attaining a good experience they wished to go to the next level, and before venturing in to the new venture, they took a pause for a year. During this time, they researched and gained in-depth knowledge of the FnB business, analyzed the gaps and necessity of a good mentor. In 2019, they came up with CYK Hospitalities to fill this recognized gap and offer services from ideation to execution to run a restaurant, cafe, or any other hospitality venture. From there, there is no looking back!
CYK or Concept Your Kitchen provides on-time services such as leasing, location mapping & expansion, exposure & networking, hiring & training, competitor analysis, menu engineering, chef hiring, SOP formation, recipes, and food pricing, branding, logo designing, social media marketing, launching of the outlet, etc.
As of now, the consulting firm has offered to many reputed names like Starbucks, Made in Punjab, Twisting Scoops, House of Candy, The Belgian Fries, Fat Tiger, Burger King, KFC, Urban deck, Burger Singh, Rasna, Fifth Avenue, Chicago Pizza, Barco's, Chai Point, Select City Walk, Gaurs, Pacific, DLF, and Vegas Mall. The company operates PAN India and has recently expanded its horizon into the international market by servicing its Indian clients in the US, Sri Lanka and Canada. The company has its 70 plus projects in pipelines across the country.
An exclusive interview with Simranjeet Singh and Pulkit Arora, Director, CYK Hospitalities
1) When were you founded?
-> We started working on the F&B consulting business around 2015 but incorporated CYK Hospitalities in 2019.
2) How many employees do you have?
-> We currently have an in-house team of 22 people, which comprises Chefs, Designers, Social Media Marketers, Marketing, and Leasing people, and around 14 people as freelancers.
3) How do you get an idea to start this venture?
-> During our initial days of running our own food venture, when we were looking to get some support in terms of expanding the business, we were unable to find any consultants, and that is where we found this gap in F&B consulting. Then, during some late years, we observed there was no one in the market who was giving end-to-end F&B consulting, like a mall where you can go and shop everything under one roof. That is when CYK was born and incorporated each and every category from ideation to execution.
4) Is the company funded?
-> CYK Hospitalities is a bootstrapped company from our own savings.
5) Briefly explain about the business.
-> So, CYK Hospitalities provides end-to-end F&B consultancy in terms of leasing, franchising, brand expansion, market research, concept building, menu engineering, menu finalization, team hiring, SOP formation, kitchen layouting, interior designing, P&L of the restaurant, recipe standardization, beverage consulting, designing, branding, vendor finalization, social media marketing, launch, uniforms, and all other aspects related to opening up a new F&B business or expanding the existing ventures.
6) What is the future plan?
-> CYK is growing rapidly with the blessings of our clients. We value our client’s hard earned money a lot and believe in building a long-term relationship rather than doing a single project. That is why we get most of our business through word of mouth/referral. In terms of future plans, we are slowly and gradually increasing our service portfolio, doing continuous refinement in our team, getting exposure for all categories of F&B segments, etc. This will help us take on more diversified projects in the F&B space.
7) How different from others?
-> Everyone is doing good work in the industry; we never defame any of the consultants. It's all about, with whom the client synergizes himself/herself. The major differentiation is that we work from ideation to execution with most of the in-house team.
8) What’s your revenue?
-> With God's and our clients' blessings, we are a profitable company.
9) How fast are you growing?
-> Our clients' success is our report card. We are continuously increasing our portfolio, which gives steady growth to our company.
10) What are the skills you need to start the business?
-> The right approach to understanding clients requirement, vast experience in terms of the trending food elements, exposure to the kitchen and product basics.
11) Who’s on your leadership team and what’s their background?
-> Pulkit Arora, Director of the Company- I am heading the entire operations for all the domains, getting repeat clientele, and word of mouth is on me. I have done an MCA and come from an IT background. With regard to brand placements, Simranjeet’s visionary attitude has made the brands successful in the market. Simran Jeet Singh, Director of the company- I am seeing the business development and brand expansion part, placing brands in the right spots is my forte. I have done engineering in the civil domain. When it comes to the knowledge part, Pulkit’s knowledge is unmatched.
12) successful in this space? What’s unique about your leadership team?
-> Generally, F&B consultancy companies are owned by chefs; our directors come from a business background and have a dedicated and knowledgeable team in every domain of the company.
13) Why is your team perfect to solve the problems you’re tackling?
-> We go in-depth when it comes to market research and competitor analysis while designing any concept for our client keeping his interest intact, same is the case while expanding them we first understand their vision and accordingly frame up the strategy as per the clients' capabilities, that contributes in the growth of the business.
14) How did you get here?
-> We have already set up/consulted a couple of restaurant/QSR/Lounge/Dessert concepts etc. A few of our clients are Chelvies Coffee in sec 104 Noida, Urban Deck, Agra, Made In Punjab (Massive Restaurant) in Agra, House of Celeste in Gurgaon, Fifth Avenue Bakery, Gurgaon, Kai-Fu in Moradabad, Pandan in New Delhi, House of Wok in Gurgaon, Hit A Pint in Ghaziabad, Madam Mayo in Greater Noida, Devrana, Delhi-Dehradun Highway, The Belgian Fries, Sodhilicious Bakery (part of Sodhi's Super Market) in Gurgaon, etc.
The entire work is based on the decided scope of work decided as per the client's requirements. In terms of brand expansion, we have worked for Starbucks, Twisting Scoops, House of Candy, The Belgian Fries, Burger Singh, Made in Punjab, The Belgian Waffle, Fat Tiger, The Chocolate Room, Domino's, La Pinoz Pizza, Giani's, Baskin Robbins, Mad Over Donuts, Barista, etc. You can check out a few of our designing projects at: https://www.behance.net/conceptyourkitchen.
15) Who are your main competitors?
-> As mentioned there is nothing called competition, everyone follows a different approach in consulting, it all depends on how you synergize with the client
16) How much have you raised in total over how many rounds?
-> Nothing, as we are a bootstrapped company.
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