NYUCT Design Labs Launches Edible Ventures for Food Brands

NYUCT Design Labs debuts turnkey design and development platform for food brands.

NYUCT Design Labs, India's first Venture Design and Experience Innovation Collective, launched Edible Ventures, a full-stack design and development cell for culinary ventures, restaurants, and premium food experiences. The turnkey development cell works as a strategic growth partner with hospitality chains, founders, chef-entrepreneurs, brands, and institutions to design, build, launch, and scale food ventures through an integrated approach.

Edible Ventures operates with researchers, food scientists, product developers, menu engineers, architects, spatial designers, business designers, branding experts, experience designers, and a community of makers. The team ensures agile development of food ventures and brands through system design rather than fragmented components. This approach transforms original ideas into profitable, desirable, and scalable food businesses while maintaining cultural depth, operational clarity, branding rigor, and execution discipline.

Addressing Industry Gaps

The specialized cell addresses structural gaps in the food and hospitality industry by working as a strategic partner where sourcing, menus, operations, spaces, brand, experience, and economics are designed together rather than assembled in fragments. The team brings deep, hands-on experience to help food investors, entrepreneurs, and hospitality businesses move from intent to execution with an integrated cell.

"The business of food isn't just about flavour or service. Edible Ventures is a unique, turnkey venture development cell to help food businesses and brands move from instinct-driven decisions to intentional, well-designed ventures and premium experiences. It's about system design, and how original concepts and ideas can translate into high quality experiences and brands that drive growth and leverage our unique culinary heritage," said Manojeet Bhujabal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at NYUCT Design Labs.

Current Projects and Focus Areas

Edible Ventures currently works with luxury hospitality chains, food entrepreneurs, and distillers to develop unique experiences and brands. The team has developed ventures for Himmaleh Distillery, positioned and designed brands for luxury hospitality chains, incubated micro-ventures like Dongaon Local Ghee, and is incubating a social agro-led brand at Ratnagiri with a community of 1,000 women.

The cell also engages with state governments to build capabilities in culinary tourism, revive lost cuisines, and conceptualize unique visitor experiences around food, community, and culture. The team views food as valuable heritage and a means to unlock entrepreneurship.

Edible Ventures focuses on four main areas. First, it collaborates with large hospitality chains and real estate businesses to create and design new restaurant brands, innovations, and experiences with support from a maker community. Second, it enables food entrepreneurs and chef-preneurs to build, brand, and scale with professional expertise in product development, design, branding, marketing, digital applications, and innovations. Third, it helps brands with market positioning, development, and experience creation. Fourth, it assists state governments and tourism departments in developing strategic capabilities, shaping culinary heritage, building local brands, and designing visitor experiences.

Comprehensive Approach

Unlike traditional consultants or creative houses, Edible Ventures spans the full spectrum of a food venture from product research and opportunity mapping to shaping concepts, aligning food-to-table realities, designing operations, branding and experience design, and building systems that scale across formats, locations, or time.

"A well-designed food venture doesn't just launch. It builds an ecosystem of desire, authenticity, consistency, and repeatability. What's often missing in the food and hospitality industry is continuity between idea, execution, and scale. Edible Ventures bridges that gap by integrating creative thinking with operational excellence and brand focus," said Dr. Samir Mulaokar, Patron Chef, Operations Lead and Partner at Edible Ventures.

Market Opportunity

India's food services market estimated at $66 billion is projected to reach between $110 billion and $125 billion by 2030. The Online Food Delivery market in India was estimated at $43.78 billion in 2024 and projected at $91.88 billion by 2029 with an expected compound annual growth rate of 15.98 percent for 2024-2029.

Urban residents with rising disposable incomes are seeking premium food and dining experiences, rediscovering heritage cuisine, and expecting immersive restaurants. The addressable customer base is expected to grow to 430 million from the current 340 million. Strong growth, surge in cloud kitchens, and increasing distribution penetration through delivery platforms make this an attractive investment space. Zomato made 640 million deliveries across 800 cities in 2022-2023.

Partner and Hospitality Lead Shifaali Sinha, who has led large-scale growth mandates at Taj, Marriott, and amã Stays & Trails, said, "We partner with founders and institutions building future-ready food businesses, shaping premium brands that are commercially robust, strategically positioned, and designed for long-term relevance."

Edible Ventures represents a specialized extension of NYUCT Design Labs' Venture Design and Innovation practice, bringing the firm's multidisciplinary, maker-led approach into the food and hospitality domain. NYUCT Design Labs has previously worked across ventures intersecting food, culture, experience design, and brand development including Outpost 12 in Kanha and Himmaleh Spirits.

Businesses or founders seeking strategic partnership can reach out through edibleventures.co.

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