In a bold and potentially industry-defining move, Kouzina Food Tech, one of India’s fastest growing digital-first food service platforms, has got an exclusive licensing agreement with Swiggy to operate, scale and own four of its flagship delivery-only food brands: The Bowl Company (TBC), Homely, Soul Rasa, and Istah.
The announcement was made today in a communication to both BSE and NSE.
A Phased Transition: From License to Ownership
Kouzina will take over operations, innovation and expansion of the four brands immediately. Full ownership will be transferred once certain performance and integration milestones are met. Once that happens, Kouzina will fully own brands that were till recently part of Swiggy’s proprietary F&B strategy.
“This further solidifies our position as a leading food services company in India and accelerates our growth,” said Gautam Balijepalli, Co-founder & CEO of Kouzina. He praised Swiggy’s brands, especially The Bowl Company, calling it the “gold standard in digital-first F&B” for its affordability, consistency and strong consumer recall.
Win-Win for Both
For Swiggy, this means a recalibration of its long-term strategy. Instead of operating full-stack food brands, the company is focusing more on its core delivery business and marketplace services. Arpit Mathur, VP at Swiggy, called this transition an evolution – one where Kouzina with its specialized infrastructure and digital-first mindset can take these brands to new heights and Swiggy can benefit from ecosystem growth.
“Swiggy’s food brands were launched to fill supply gaps and provide consumers more variety and convenience. Now with Kouzina’s platform and asset-light model, these brands can scale even faster,” said Mathur.
Flagship Brands First
The spotlight is on The Bowl Company, a brand Swiggy launched in 2017 and which became the gold standard for single-serve meals. Famous for ‘Peri Peri Chicken Rice Bowl’ and ‘Dhaba Style Dal Tadka Bowl’, the brand targeted busy urban professionals and students.
Besides TBC, the other brands—Homely (comfort food and thalis), Soul Rasa (regional Indian meals) and Istah (Mediterranean fast-casual)—have seen steady consumer traction and will now be under Kouzina’s wings.
Kouzina’s Grand Expansion Play Takes Shape
That acquisition—Kouzina’s latest—has catapulted its portfolio into one of the most diverse and formidable in India’s cloud kitchen sector. Think mass-market to premium, and local to global cuisines. The company now has over 250 kitchen partners in more than 100 cities. This deal should give its order volume and back-end efficiency a serious boost through deeper resource sharing and brand synergies.
Kouzina has been making waves lately with a string of acquisitions—Vasudev Adiga’s, that iconic South Indian chain, and a strategic investment in MOPP Foods, which got a shout-out on Shark Tank. Its aggressive franchise model and tech-enabled kitchen operations are at the heart of its growth story.
Kouzina is seeing an IPO within the next five years, this acquisition is just the fuel the company’s needs to keep growing.
Broader Market Implications
India’s food delivery and cloud kitchen segments are in the midst of a seismic shift. Changing consumer behavior, increased smartphone penetration and a culture of instant gratification are driving that shift. The food service market in India is projected to hit USD 100 billion (~INR 8.44 lakh crore) by 2030, with cloud kitchens leading the charge.
Swiggy is transferring its food brands to Kouzina, essentially monetizing those assets while freeing itself to focus on logistics, delivery intelligence and restaurant partnerships.
Kouzina is emerging as the archetype of the new-age food-tech enterprise: lean, multi-brand and laser-focused on scalability.
Final Words
Swiggy-Kouzina deal is more than just a licensing transaction. It’s a strategic realignment of two of India’s most prominent food-tech players—and a harbinger of deeper collaboration, consolidation and innovation in the years to come.
Investors, industry stakeholders and competitors would do well to keep a close eye on how this plays out. Because Kouzina just added some serious firepower to its kitchen—and that’s going to change the game.