Arpita Aditi in Shark Tank India: From Biotech Engineer to Founder of Dil Foods
In the world of entrepreneurship, stories often emerge that capture the essence of innovation, determination and solving problems. Every year a lot of restaurants come in the business, but very few are able to stay with profit. The reason is high staff dependency and low profit. Recently, Arpita Aditi, the Founder of Dil Foods appeared in Shark Tank India. The company Dil Foods solves the issues faced by certain restaurants. It is a virtual restaurant operator.
Finding multibagger stocks is important for building wealth. Discover potential multibaggers at Sovrenn Discovery
Education and Early Days
Arpita was born and brought up in Ranchi, Jharkhand. She completed her engineering degree in biotech in 2014 from Manipal Institute of Technology. She worked in different companies in Bangalore which honed her skills.
She worked with Reliance General Insurance, Little Internet Private Ltd, Swiggy etc. The turning point in her life came when she was working with Swiggy - she worked there for 2 years as part of national partnership. She met with over 5000 restaurants and found the gap in standalone restaurants in the industry. This was the time when Arpita decided to leave her job and venture into this field in 2019.
First Venture Nutnbolt
Arpita's entrepreneurial story began with her first startup Nutnbolt in 2020. The idea of the business was to take care of all the online business of the company end to end. Nutnbolt was focused on business solutions for small and medium-sized restaurants to stand out, scale and grow. They used to take care of menu engineering, marketing, USP building, delivery aggregator management, business analytics, retention as well as engagement.
However, the business did not perform well due to problems in the stand-alone and underutilised restaurant ecosystem.
Investing has built huge wealth for several HNI investors. Learn investing FREE OF CHARGE at Sovrenn Education
Second Venture and Birth of Dil Foods
In April 2022, with more updates, Aditi decided to venture into a new startup “Dil Foods”. It emerged as a beacon of culinary excellence, offering a unique blend of traditional Indian flavours through its virtual kitchen model. Drawing from her diverse experience with companies like Himalayan Drugs, Reliance Capital, Swiggy and especially from her last venture, Arpita conceptualised Dil Foods as more than just a food business—it was a platform to empower local restaurants and create a sustainable ecosystem for the food industry.
They are connected to over 65 restaurants in a period of 1.5 years, from which they operate over 111 outlets.
In Shark Tank India
Arpita recently appeared in Shark Tank India, surprising sharks with the tastes and ideas. The sharks expressed a keen interest in collaboration with Arpita, impressed by Dil Foods’ and Arpita's confidence in her innovative model.
She asked for 50 lakhs for a 0.5% equity at a valuation of 100 crores. The Sharks were impressed by the unique model and Arpita's business spirit. The sharks expressed a keen interest in collaborating with Arpita, except Aman Gupta. All 4 sharks Radhika Gupta, Vineeta Singh, Peyush Bansal, and Ritesh Agarwal were interested in investing in her company. Eventually, a deal was made at Rs 2 crore for a 2.67% equity share, valuing Dil Foods at Rs 75 crore. Arpita accepted the offer.
Also Read: Mukul Agrawal's Journey, From a Mumbai local to a prominent Investor and Financial Maverick
About Dil Foods
Dil Foods stands out with its unique blend of traditional Indian flavours, offering eight virtual food brands, each representing authentic regional cuisines such as Punjabi, Bihari, Andhra, and more. The brand offers eight virtual food brands, including Dil Punjabi, Aahar, Bihari Bowl, Bhole ke Chole, The Chaat Cult, House of Andhra and Khichdi Bar. Each offers an authentic taste of regional India. During the pitch, Vineeta Singh and Ritesh appreciated the taste and freshness.
The brand, recipe and supply chain are all managed by Dil Foods. They preserve the powdered food and send it to partner restaurants. The restaurant chef only needs water to cook and make it fresh and delivered. They use the “Lyophilisation process” which is also known as freeze drying.
The first year (FY22-23) revenue of the company was 7 crore with one crore loss. And in FY23-24 till October they made sales of 13.2 crore with a profit of 87 lakhs. The approximate EBITDA is 5 %. The average rating of the brand is 4 stars.
In summary, the brand operates as a virtual brand built to take care of the daily meal requirements of people. The Brand also helps small and medium-sized restaurants increase their asset and resource utilization.
Also Read About Journey of Surender Singh Rajpurohit: Reviving "Turms" from Adversity to Success, surprised Shark Tank investor with its transformation
Written By Manvi