After seed funding, here’s how India’s EatTreat aims to build a culinary e-treasure chest

Once the food industry in India caught on to social media, it sparked an interesting exchange of ideas and information. Up until 10 years ago, most local foodies knew only about restaurants offering Indian and Chinese cuisine – which we all know, is usually not authentic Chinese, in India. Now, in places like Bangalore, we have Vietnamese restaurants importing ingredients directly from Vietnam and tearooms with 20 different kinds of teas from all around the world.

New Delhi-based startup EatTreat has built a chatty community centered around sharing the latest eats. It began as a closed group on Facebook three years ago that posted recipes, restaurant reviews, and articles on cookbooks, along with other food-related content. “We were careful with our membership, about the kind of people who joined the group and hence, the content was very curated,” Arjun Sawhney, founder at EatTreat, tells Tech in Asia.

As the number of members in the group burgeoned to over 50,000, the quality of the content improved and restaurants started reaching out to EatTreat for reviews and recommendations. Companies in the culinary sector approached EatTreat requesting access to their users for food sampling. They sought EatTreat’s advice on launching new products based on its outlook on the market. According to Sawhney, the group became a small culinary ecosystem in its own right.

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The food content landscape in India has potential to develop. Although India is seeing an explosion of food delivery apps and websites, it still lacks a medium to talk about food and everything that goes into creating it. “There were no websites that we could point out that took a holistic approach on food. Over 300 websites across India sell quality ingredients online and being in a country like ours, where every state has its own exceptional dishes and its signature, we need a platform to discuss and promote this,” adds Sawhney.

According to Sawhney, EatTreat is the first of its kind in india. He claims there are no competitors and the growth experienced by EatTreat led him to consider launching a website that would be a social medium for food lovers. This motivated the startup to acquire external funding. Consequently, EatTreat received US$350,000 in June 2015 from a group of investors including local filmmaker Homi Adajania, angel investors Jaideep and Sonali Mathur, and Vogue fashion editor Bandana Tewari. “The funding raised will be utilized for building the website and making key hires for the infrastructure of the company”, Sawhney told reporters.

EatTreat’s new website will launch in three phases. In phase one, the site will go live by the end of July. Sawhney gives a brief overview of what the website will look like. “We are going to cover topics from alcohol and drinks to nutrition and wellness. Once the user registers, they will be able to save recipes, menus and articles, and also publish recipes.” The website will feature interviews with TV hosts, chefs, and even actors engaged in the food industry. EatTreat now has a team of 18, including editorial, tech and design, sales and marketing, stylists, photographers, and of course, chefs.

As for the future of EatTreat, the group aims to launch phases two and three of the website and a mobile app by the end of the year. The website will include a search engine that connects end users with service providers. The company will also continue to be big on events, featuring new innovations in food.

In an epicurean society like India, comprised of people with remarkably unique tastes in food, a venture like EatTreat may not only spur information symmetry about food but also encourage a more culinarily savvy community.

Lead image by Ted Bigham