creme castle

Creme Castle (Crème Castle) is a Delhi NCR-based patisserie and custom cake brand that sells celebration cakes, designer and theme cakes, cheesecakes, cupcakes, tea cakes, pastries, éclairs, desserts, flowers and gifting hampers. Orders are placed through the company's website, with same-day fulfilment options advertised in two-, three- and six-hour windows, and the catalogue is organised by occasion (birthday, anniversary, baby shower, wedding, corporate), weight, shape, budget band and dietary type including vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free options. The company describes a catalogue of more than 5,000 designs and lists shops in Janakpuri (New Delhi), Sector 67 Noida, Greater Noida and Sector 24 Gurugram; the Greater Noida address is registered to Cremetech Tailored Foods Private Limited.

The business operates through retail outlets and cloud kitchens, with a first cloud kitchen opened in Noida in 2021 and a second in Gurgaon in 2024. As of mid-2024 it delivered across more than 20 pin codes and said it planned to scale into 15 new markets by FY2025, alongside stated ambitions to serve customers pan-India. Management has described a strategy of replacing chef-dependent production with a process-driven assembly line staffed by lower-cost trainees, positioning its cakes at prices it says are over 40% below competitors.

Founding story

Creme Castle was founded by Veena Mittal, who began baking from a home kitchen in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, developing recipes with limited ingredients. The company's own account places the start of the business in 2013 and describes it as founded by a mother-son duo; her son Pranjay Mittal, a graduate of IIT Delhi and FMS who previously worked at the CarDekho group, joined the family business in 2019 and introduced management processes and technology.

Business model

Creme Castle produces cakes and desserts in its own outlets and cloud kitchens and sells them direct to consumers online for delivery, as well as through food-delivery aggregators. It also handles custom designs, bulk orders and corporate cakes.

Revenue comes from product sales of cakes, desserts, flowers and hampers. As of June 2024 the company said more than half of revenue came from its own platform and the remainder from Zomato and Swiggy; at the time of its Shark Tank pitch it cited 70% from its own website. Reported unit economics included a 65% gross margin, roughly Rs 1,800 average order value, Rs 400 customer acquisition cost, 19% store-level EBITDA and 8% company-level EBITDA.

Traction

Reported revenue of Rs 3 crore in FY2020-21, Rs 5.2 crore in FY2021-22 and Rs 7.2 crore in FY2022-23, with Rs 88 lakh in September 2023 and a projection of Rs 13 crore for FY2023-24. The company reported over 5 lakh units sold, three Delhi NCR branches, about 3,000 new customers monthly, a 60% monthly repeat rate, and delivery across more than 20 pin codes as of mid-2024.

Latest developments

In June 2024 Creme Castle announced a Rs 7 crore seed round from V3 Ventures led by Arjun Vaidya, with Amit Jain and Indian Silicon Ventures participating, and said it intended to scale into 15 new markets by FY2025. It opened a Gurgaon cloud kitchen in 2024 and continues to run online ordering with same-day delivery and seasonal ranges such as Rakhi gifting and anime-theme cakes.