Kavita Reddy on cloud kitchens, cookbooks, and the politics of "home-style"

TCA: Ammamma Kitchen started during the pandemic as a delivery-only operation. Two years later you’ve closed the cloud-kitchen side. Why?

Kavita: Because the food I cook doesn’t survive 35 minutes in a delivery bag. Coastal Andhra cooking depends on freshly tempered oils, on rice that’s eaten the moment it’s steamed. Putting that in a foam container and asking someone to eat it cold — I was doing my own food a disservice.

TCA: You ran cloud kitchens at scale though. What did you learn that more chefs should know?

Kavita: That the unit economics only work if you’re selling food designed for travel. Biriyani, kathi rolls, dry tandoor — sure. The aggregator commission of 22 to 28 percent doesn’t care that your aviyal is the best in town.

TCA: The cookbook. Tell us about it.

Kavita: It’s called The Salt-Water Kitchen. It covers the cooking of coastal Andhra and the Godavari delta — the cuisines I grew up eating. Not the restaurant version. The Sunday-at-my-grandmother’s version. There’s a politics to that distinction. So-called “home-style” food gets dismissed as not serious. It’s the most serious food we have.

TCA: What’s your line on chef-influencers right now?

Kavita: If a chef is teaching, sharing, mentoring — on whatever platform — I’m for it. If they’re monetising the appearance of expertise without actually cooking eight hours a day, I have less patience.