What’s MasterChow’s Saucy Plan To Dominate The Indian Ready-To-Cook Market?

When engineer Vidur Kataria returned to India from the UK in 2014, he longed for authentic Chinese flavours but found them mostly confined to five-star hotels or select eateries. 

Seeing a gap in the market, he teamed up with his childhood friend Sidhant Madan to launch Wok Me, a QSR chain, in 2016. The business grew to six outlets, but the pandemic forced them to shut it down. Even after closing, customers kept reaching out, craving the signature flavours they had perfected. 

This sparked a new idea — if people couldn’t visit their restaurant, why not bring restaurant-quality Chinese flavours to their homes? In 2020, they launched MasterChow, a D2C brand offering ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat Chinese and pan-Asian foods.

Restaurant-Style Cooking At Home

MasterChow sets itself apart with authentic flavours, in-house production, and a diverse product range. What began with just six cooking sauces has now grown to 45 SKUs, including sauces, condiments, vinegar, noodles, and chilli oil.

Unlike mass-produced alternatives, MasterChow controls quality end-to-end by manufacturing in-house and sourcing fresh ingredients daily from local vendors. This ensures consistency and a premium taste. 

With a strong focus on product innovation and consumer education, the brand has made restaurant-style Asian meals easy to prepare at home, bringing an authentic dining experience to every kitchen.

MasterChow’s Nearly 300% Revenue Leap

MasterChow has achieved a staggering 296% revenue jump from INR 10.1 Cr in FY23 to over INR 40 Cr in FY24. Its customer base has grown exponentially to 10 Lakh, driven by a strong focus on authenticity and innovation in the Asian packaged food segment. Backed by Tanglin Ventures and Peak XV, MasterChow has raised over $9 Mn in funding. 

Some of the key milestones the brand achieved in 2024 include signing celebrity chef Ranveer Brar as its brand ambassador and launching new products like KChow Korean Ramen. The brand has also been actively refining its product-market fit, leveraging marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart, Blinkit, and Swiggy to reach a wider audience.

What’s More On MasterChow’s Menu?

The brand is on track to reach INR 100 Cr in revenue by the end of FY25 and aims to build a INR 200 Cr business by 2026 with deeper penetration into tier 2 cities. MasterChow is also rapidly scaling its operations, expanding both online and offline.

The brand is aggressively growing its offline presence. It is currently present at 2,500 offline outlets, including modern trade stores and self-service stores. Going forward, it aims to dominate the Asian packaged food category in India and expand to 10,000 stores.

[Authored By Pooja Yadav]