Govt, stakeholders to meet, draw up cloud kitchen plan

To facilitate the growth of cloud kitchen businesses in the national capital and to further enhance employment opportunities, the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of Delhi, the policy think tank of the Delhi government, in collaboration with the department of Industries, will brainstorm with cloud kitchen operators on Tuesday and come up with a Delhi Cloud Kitchen Policy.

The move is part of the government’s ambitious plan to generate two million jobs in the next five years as outlined in annual budget 2022-23. The government eyes to create 30,000 jobs by facilitating cloud kitchens through handholding and reducing regulatory compliance burden.

“The number of cloud kitchens in Delhi is growing at a rate of over 20% every year. There are over 20,000 cloud kitchens currently active in the city, and they provide direct employment to around 200,000 people and indirect employment to at least 50,000 people,” the Delhi government said in a statement.

The meeting on Tuesday will deliberate on the provision of land and other incentives to cloud kitchens, easing of licensing regulations for such units and the setting up of cloud kitchen clusters with plug and play features across different land parcels in the city.

Brijesh Goyal, chairman, Chamber of Trade and Industry, said the cloud kitchen segment witnessed a significant boom during the coronavirus pandemic. “Many restaurants pivoted to focus on cloud kitchen setups, which are built on food delivery rather than dine-in facilities during the pandemic,” said Goyal.

DDC has invited all major cloud kitchen operators and food delivery aggregators to the policy consultation on Tuesday which will be chaired by DDC vice-chairman Jasmine Shah.

“This is the first time that a state government has recognised cloud kitchens as significant contributors to the food and beverages industry. Cloud kitchens have a huge potential to attract investments, increase the size of the food and beverages sector and generate large-scale direct and indirect jobs,” said Shah.