The many struggles of FreshMenu

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Editor's note: A comparison should help set this story up right away. Take Rebel Foods, for instance. Last year, the cloud kitchen company raised $75 million, or around Rs 540 crore, in funding and doubled down on its business with missionary zeal. As if the pain it had endured during the COVID-19 pandemic had given it a fresh lease of life. The months on end of lockdown when people stopped ordering food and dabbled in experimental cooking. It’s a very different story at FreshMenu though. Till recently, this company was seen by most as a bright prospect in the cloud kitchen business. But it will be fair to say that today it is a pale shadow of its former self. The company reported operating revenue of Rs 105 crore in fiscal 2019-20, a steep drop from Rs 141 crore in 2018-19, and a loss of Rs 11 crore. A few months back it raised Rs 3.5 crore from its existing investors at a valuation of $30 million. This money came in after a long period of trying, even as the company’s valuation …