How to open a cloud kitchen on Zomato is a KYC problem sitting on top of a margin problem. The listing is 14–21 days of documents. The business fails when you go live with 22–25% commission, 5–8% packaging, and a biryani you never recipe-costed. Do the paperwork and the rupee maths in that order.
Documents Zomato KYC actually wants
- FSSAI — usually a State licence on the kitchen address, displayed in photos. Basic/petty registration is a weak fit for a cloud-kitchen listing.
- GST + PAN + cancelled cheque — payouts will not start without them.
- Kitchen photos — prep line, cooking, wash, packaging, fire extinguisher. A residential stove set fails KYC or fails the first complaint.
- Menu + dish photos — names, prices, veg/non-veg marks, and photos that match what you will pack.
- Packaging spec — tamper seal, leak-proof containers. Refunds for spills are how new cloud kitchens lose ranking.
Start the aggregator application the day FSSAI is issued — you cannot go live without it. File the rest of the municipal stack in parallel: licences required for a restaurant in India.
Timeline: 14–21 days after FSSAI, not after you ‘decide’
- Day 0 — FSSAI issued; GST live; bank account in the trade name.
- Day 1–3 — kitchen and dish photography; menu CSV; packaging samples.
- Day 3–7 — Zomato for Business form + KYC upload. Swiggy in parallel if you want both.
- Day 7–21 — listing review, menu mapping, test order. Fix rejected photos immediately; they add a week.
- Go-live week — cap ads. Watch refund rate and contribution per order daily.
Commission, ads, and true profit per order
Plan for 18–26% commission, 5–8% packaging, and 6–12% ads if you buy visibility in a crowded cuisine. Food cost still needs to sit ~28–33%. That is why cloud kitchens can show 15–25% net in a good month and still lose money on the hero SKU. Work the numbers in the true profit per Zomato order post and the profit calculator.
Do not go live with a dish whose food + packaging + commission exceeds ~65% of the listed price. You cannot advertise your way out of a negative contribution margin.
Home kitchen vs commercial listing
If you are still cooking from a flat, read how to start a cloud kitchen from home first. Zomato KYC is built for a commercial premises. Budget ₹12–22 lakh for a real cloud kitchen before you spend on ads.
Check net profit after commission →