Rebel Foods growth slows in FY25, reports Rs 336 Cr loss

Cloud kitchen company Rebel Foods has been witnessing modest growth over the past couple of fiscal years. The Pune-based firm recorded a meagre 14% year-on-year rise in revenue during the fiscal year ending March 2025, while its losses declined by roughly the same proportion.

Rebel Foods’ revenue from operations grew to Rs 1,617 crore in FY25 from Rs 1,420 crore in FY24, as per its consolidated financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). 

Rebel Foods operates brands like Faasos, The Biryani Life, Lunch Box, Over Story, The Good Bowl, Behrouz and others. The company derives the bulk of its revenue from the sale of food products, which accounted for 97% of operating revenue, climbing to Rs 1,565 crore in FY25. Income from services rose 6.5% to Rs 33 crore in FY25 from Rs 31 crore in FY24.

Including non-operating revenue of Rs 41 crore, Rebel Foods’ total income stood at Rs 1,658 crore in the last fiscal year.

The cost of materials was its largest expense, which grew 11% to Rs 678.5 crore in FY25 from Rs 613 crore in FY24, forming 34% of total expenses. Employee benefit expenses saw a marginal decline of 2% to Rs 388 crore, while advertising costs increased 14% to Rs 153 crore. Brokerage and commission expenses were up 6% to Rs 243 crore.

Overall, the firm’s total costs rose 7% year-on-year to Rs 1,987 crore in FY25. For a more detailed expense breakup, head to TheKredible.

With the help of revenue outpacing the company’s expenses, Rebel Foods managed to control its loss by nearly 12% to Rs 336 crore in FY25. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin improved to -35.93% and -10.39% respectively.

On a unit level, Rebel Foods spent Rs 1.23 to earn a rupee of revenue in FY25, improving from Rs 1.31 in FY24. The company held cash and bank balances of Rs 56 crore at the end of March 2025, while its current assets stood at Rs 597 crore in the same period.

According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Rebel Foods has raised nearly $803 million of funding till date, having Peak XV Partners, Coatue, QIA and Lightbox as its lead investors. 

The continuing losses on moderating growth does not augur well for Rebel Foods, seen as a survivor from the pandemic shock to many cloud kitchen startups.  Its travails reflect the bigger issues confronting Barbecue Nation or other listed firms in the category, with only Domino’s  showing the resilience to keep growing profitably. We don’t see the situation improving significantly in the near future for the firm, which could portend significant restructuring and other changes to control costs further. It’s never a great place to be in, and remains to be seen if the firm can carry investors along for the next phase of the journey with more support,  considering its dwindling reserves.