Mumbai Founders Build A Cloud Kitchen Brand Selling Customised Biryani – Now Have 22 Stores In Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai; Eye Rs 100 Cr Revenue

When you hear the word “cloud kitchen,” you might think of quick delivery, fresh food, and trendy meals. But there is more: razor-thin margins, scalability hurdles, and relentless operational discipline.

This read might just change your perspective, layer by layer.

In 2022, Mohammed K. Bhol and Chef Mikhail Shahani decided to build a scalable biryani brand and do it via a cloud kitchen approach, where customisation and consistency do the magic. 

“Pizzas and ramen are global formats. Biryani still lives from region to region, and is mostly inconsistent and unpredictable. We set out to design a chef-curated, tech-enabled, customisable biryani bowl delivered consistently across cities,” Mohammed K. Bhol, co-founder of House of Biryan, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2022, House of Biryan is a popular cloud kitchen network with 22 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai. The brand clocked an annual revenue of Rs 33.90 crore in 2024. It projects to close 2025 with Rs 66 crore annual revenue.

In the near future, the biryani-special cloud kitchen brand is poised to expand to more international markets such as Australia, the United Kingdom, North America, and Japan. 

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Two minds rooted in the culinary world came together to complement each other’s skills and start House of Biryan – Mohammed K. Bhol and Chef Mikhail Shahani.

Hailing from Mumbai, Mohammed is a third-generation food entrepreneur who graduated from the Taj Institute of Hotel Management. Initially, he worked in professional kitchens and then transitioned into handling the business and operations side of the food industry. 

“I also trained under Gordon Ramsay in London. An experience that taught me exactly how to handle and thrive in high-pressure kitchen environments. You make food with competence, not anxious urgency. And this shows in the dish and its taste,” Mohammed tells Startup Pedia.

Thereafter, he launched multiple food businesses like Charcoal Eats and Go! Biryani. It was during this period that he realized that operational excellence is the secret sauce to scaling a food business.

On the other hand, Chef Mikhail Shahani graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, a world-renowned culinary and hospitality school based in Paris. Then, he became a chef for some of the world’s finest kitchens like those of 212 Bar & Grill and restaurants in Crowne Plaza, New Delhi.

Nearly 20 years ago, Mohammad, fresh out of his family’s catering business, met Mikhail, then a budding chef on track to Michelin stardom. They kept in touch until 2012, when they started working together at 212 Bar & Grill.

“As food lovers, we would often discuss the industry and its untapped opportunities. One gap particularly stood out: no brand had successfully scaled biryani. While pizza and ramen had gone global, biryani remained a region-specific thing where consumers craved consistency. We decided to build a biryani brand and scale it via the cloud kitchen way,” Chef Mikhail Shahani shares.

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WHY THE CLOUD KITCHEN WAY?

With an initial Rs 1.1 crore of investment from a private equity investor who believed they were not just selling a dream but building one, Mohammed and Mikhail decided to start House of Biryan in 2022 with a cloud kitchen and delivery-first model built on the foundation of conviction and flavour.

They had their reasons:

• The food entrepreneurs wanted to leverage the USPs of customisation and freshness in the biryani space.

• They knew biryani lovers were disappointed with the lack of consistency and standardization in the category.

“Anyone who loves biryani from one place wants their next order to have the same quality as the last one. Unfortunately, most restaurants have been unable to crack this. With House of Biryan, we decided to solve for this,”Mohammed K. Bhol explains.

• The cloud kitchen concept would help give consumers more control over their spices, choice of protein, and toppings in the biryani. This would make for a perfect blend of two things: the nostalgia and authentic flavour associated with biryani, and the logistics-backed reliability of a cloud kitchen model.

Initially, Mohammed and Mikhail started testing shared kitchens and pop-ups to test the market and garner feedback from the early adopters.

“This decision helped us refine our model and tweak our strategy accordingly – all without large-capex storefronts,” Mohammed tells Startup Pedia.

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

In December 2022, House of Biryan officially started setting up its cloud kitchens. The brand’s first launch was in the city of Mumbai.

While Chef Mikhail Shahani took up the scope of menu development, recipe systems, and kitchen standardization, Mohammed K. Bhol handled business strategy, partnerships, expansion and finance

Initially, the food entrepreneurs struggled mildly with visibility and control.

“I recall one incident where a store shut down for half a day without our knowledge, costing us nearly Rs 40,000. This was almost a full day’s sales at the time,”Chef Mikhail recounts.

To tackle issues like these, House of Biryan decided to focus on building its own tech stack from the ground up. The founders began investing heavily in building layers of backend technology that would bring clarity and control to every part of their operations, from supply chain and staff attendance to store uptime, order management, and customer feedback.

“The decision to own our tech, rather than outsource it, was a turning point. It remains one of our strongest operational moats to this day. Another decision we made was to sit down and talk to our first 400 customers. That unfiltered feedback was game-changing for us. It’s important that as chefs, we understand that our menus should excite the customer more than they excite us,” food entrepreneur and startup founder Mohammed remarks.

Apart from partnering with major aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy to build traction and market presence, House of Biryan focused on building its own direct ordering ecosystem.

“So we were not just creating a strong brand presence within aggregator platforms through standout packaging and content that stopped scrolls, but also developing our direct ordering system and a full tech stack that integrated ordering, feedback, and fullfilment. This directly and very tangibly gave us more control over customer experience and margins,” Mohammed shares with Startup Pedia.

To market their brand, the food entrepreneurs implemented a marketing strategy combining hyperlocal ads, influencer collaborations, and topical content that hit the right spot.

“Eventually, we noticed that we had earned organic word-of-mouth traction as well. All because our early adopters loved the taste we offered,” Chef Mikhail adds.

In just 36 months, House of Biryan began scaling and achieved 22 successful stores across Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai.

“We made our international debut in Dubai this year. Tapping into one of the most diverse and competitive food delivery markets in the world, we have new kitchens in Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) and Mirdif,” startup founder and chef Mikhail says.

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BUILT TO WIN - HOUSE OF BIRYAN

Now, down to the specifics – what did Mohammed K. Bhol and Chef Mikhail Shahani do differently? 

“Quite a lot, actually,” Mikhail laughs.

• Unlike most restaurants, House of Biryan decided to steer away from serving fixed recipes. This was a risk, but a calculated one.

“We built India’s first fully customisable biryani bowl format, where customers can personalize their order down to the last grain of rice. We said – Your Biryani, Your Way. And this build-your-own-bowl experience had customers drawn to us like nothing else,” food entrepreneur Mohammed K. Bhol says.

At House of Biryan, customers get to choose their spice level (spicy or mild), pick their protein (boiled egg, chicken, paneer, etc), select from single or double portions, add extra toppings, and choose the style of preparation (Kepsa, Kolkata, makhani, or Awadhi).

“This approach allows our customers to treat biryani like a mood, not a menu item. It fits perfectly with today’s need for personalised dining and appeals strongly to younger, digital-first foodies. Today, our Kepsa biryani and Jackfruit biryani have become bestsellers,” Chef Mikhail Shahani says.

• House of Biryan focused on repeatability instead of hype. Very strategically, each new kitchen was launched only after rigorous on-ground validation via pop-ups, tasting, and product-market-fit assessments.
• The cloud kitchen network ensured a tech-enabled consistency across kitchens. This automation allowed each kitchen to replicate the experience reliably.
• Despite the popularity, House of Biryan refrained from mimicking dine-in or multi-brand QSRs. It stuck to its platform model: cloud kitchens, direct delivery, customisation engine (“Your Biryani, Your Way”), and structured SOPs.
• Within a year of launching two kitchens in 2022, House of Biryan achieved Rs 20 crore in revenue. Funding rounds totalling $3M followed, but the cloud kitchen biryani brand was very disciplined with its scaling approach. New stores were established only after traction validated the model. A lean capital deployment approach was also adopted, with Mumbai operations set up within a budget of Rs 10 crore.
• House of Biryan’s cloud kitchens follow standardized recipes, layered with shared spice blends and batch processing. 

“Our ingredients like basmati rice, spices, and proteins are procured centrally, so we can ensure uniformity in flavour and portions across locations. Our SOPs, waste tracking systems, and inventory management processes are also all blended and unified,”food startup founder Mohammed K. Bhol says.

• Since 2022, House of Biryan has let customer patterns and repeat rates take the call when it comes to tweaking recipes and supply levels. This allows the cloud kitchen biryani brand to make operations both responsive and data-driven.
• House of Biryan has 80% to 85% orders coming in from Zomato and Swiggy, and has 10% to 15% orders coming in from direct platforms. Building these direct platforms has allowed the cloud kitchen biryani brand to have better margins and customer loyalty.

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GROWTH STORY

As of mid-2024, House of Biryan had served more than 1,50,000 loyal customers across Mumbai and Delhi alone. In terms of volume, the cloud kitchen biryani brand delivered more than 10 million biryani portions via its 22 cloud kitchens.

As of 2025, it fulfills close to 40,000 orders on a monthly basis with an average order value between Rs 700 and Rs 800.

According to founders Mohammed K. Bhol and Chef Mikhail Shahani, House of Biryan generates Rs 25 lakh per month per outlet. Roughly, this amounts to Rs 3.2 crore in annual revenue per kitchen.

As far as the brand’s profit per order is concerned:

• For the quarter of October to December 2024 (Q8), the most recent period with completed data, the cloud kitchen biryani brand reported an EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) of Rs 805,543 from 145,431 orders. 

This translates to an average profit (EBIT) of approximately Rs 5.54 per order.

• Looking ahead, for the projected quarter of October to December 2025 (Q12), House of Biryan anticipates a significant increase in profitability. The projected EBIT is Rs 14,335,662 from 250,365 orders. 

This would result in a projected average profit (EBIT) of approximately Rs 57.26 per order.

This increase will result from steps like introducing innovative models of serving, like the micro-cafe delivery model and boosting the cloud kitchen biryani brand’s direct ordering systems.

In 2024, House of Biryan raised a total of $3 million (Rs 24-25 crore), including a $2 million round led by Al Siraj Holdings, Angel Star Ventures, and high-net-worth backers. 

Since its inception, the cloud kitchen biryani brand has seen a consistent growth in its annual revenue: in 2023, it achieved Rs 8.88 crore, and in 2024, the figure zoomed to Rs 33.90 crore.

For 2025, House of Biryan is projected to close at Rs 66 crore in annual revenue.

For 2026, the cloud kitchen brand is targeting an expansion to 40+ kitchens, with each kitchen projected to generate an annual revenue of Rs 2.5 crore. With this, House of Biryan is anticipating an annual revenue of Rs 100 crore by 2026. 

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