BiryaniByKilo grows 26% in FY21 even as Biryani Blues scale tanks

Biryani has pretty much established itself as one of the most loved foods in India and this could be evident from Swiggy’s 2021 wrap-up report which said that it was the most ordered food item on the online food ordering platform during last year. While there are plenty of Biryani specialised quick service restaurants in the market, BiryaniByKilo and Biryani Blues are two prominent QSR chains.

To understand their scale and growth, let’s look at the balance sheet of these two companies. Despite the pandemic, BiryaniByKilo has managed to grow its scale by 25.8% in FY21 to Rs 65.21 crore. The surge in scale was largely driven by online sales (via Swiggy, Zomato and its own website).

On the other hand, Biryani Blues faced a severe setback in FY21 due to the pandemic. Its operating revenue tanked 48% and fell to Rs 28 crore, as per the company’s annual financial statement with the RoC.

Sale of food and beverages were the only source of income for both companies.

Before digging deep into the balance sheet of the two companies, let’s gain some background about them. Founded in 2015, BiryaniByKilo has raised close to $47 million to date including a $35 million Series B round led by Alpha Wave in November 2021 while Biryani Blues raised a total sum of about $15 million since its inception in 2016.

Cost of materials were the largest cost center for both companies constituting 31.29% and 23.9% of the total cost in FY21. This cost grew 22.9% to Rs 25.76 crore in FY21 for BiryaniByKilo. The same cost element dwindled by 48.8% to Rs 9.43 crore for Biryani Blues as their scale shrank significantly.

Despite the surge in scale, BiryaniByKilo also managed to cut employee benefits cost by 4.1% to Rs 21.53 crore in FY21 while Biryani Blues’ costs on this front were down by a huge 36.6% to Rs 6.96 crore.

Expenditure on advertisement and promotion decreased 48.4% and 33% to Rs 5.29 crore and Rs 2.44 crore for BiryaniByKilo and Biryani Blues respectively.

BiryabyByKilo and Blues spent another Rs 12 crore and Rs 4.95 crore on rent & utility costs during the financial year ended March 2021 pushing their total cost to Rs 82.3 crore and 39.5 crore respectively.

With an expansion of 25.8% in FY21, BiryaniByKilo managed to control its losses by 30.4% to Rs 15.67 crore in FY21. On the other hand, Biryani Blues’ expenses declined by 39% and losses stood at Rs 11.5 crore in FY21.

On a unit level, BiryaniByKilo spent Rs 1.26 to earn a single unit of operating revenue in FY21 whereas the figures for the same were recorded at Rs 1.41 for Biryani Blues.

The broad correlation between revenues and expenses between both the firms indicates just how fine the margins are in the business currently. The big difference, ie, the extra funding raised by BiryaniByKilo seems to be coming in very useful, as it has clearly recovered better after the ravages of covid on the sector.