Cooktube: Siddhant Gupta on Revolutionizing Digital Food Content and Monetizing Passion
The journey from a prestigious hospitality school in Switzerland to the grit of the Indian startup scene is rarely a straight line. For Siddhant Gupta, the Founder of Cooktube, the path was paved with the closing of two failed restaurants. However, it was within those failures that he found his true passion: the cooking itself. Today, Cooktube is a digital media powerhouse, boasting over 100 million views and a million-strong community of home cooks.
The Failure That Fed Success
Siddhant's academic background is elite—he attended Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland, ranked among the top three in the world. But global rankings don't always translate to local market success. "I started two restaurants without any industry experience, and they failed terribly," Siddhant admits. "But while closing the second one, I realized I was more interested in the kitchen than the management side. That’s where the idea for a recipe platform came from."
Cooktube was born out of a simple philosophy: cooking should be accessible. Instead of complex, chef-driven recipes requiring industrial equipment, Cooktube focuses on short, engaging videos using ingredients already in the Indian kitchen and methods that can be performed on a single gas stove.
The 'Pivoting' Power: From Website to Video First
Launched in 2015 with childhood friend Gaurav Monga, Cooktube didn't see immediate success. The first two years were a struggle of technical glitches and zero revenue. They were close to shutting down when they decided to hire one video editor and try a "video-first" approach on social media.
The Cooktube USP
- Hyper-Local Ingredients: Recipes using what is already in your pantry.
- Single Stove Simplicity: No oven or complex equipment required.
- Short-Form Engagement: Recipes optimized for the attention span of social media users.
- Fusion Focus: Combining traditional Indian methods with modern global trends.
Monetizing Digital Content: Beyond Just Ads
While many content creators rely solely on platform ad revenue (YouTube/Facebook), Siddhant built a diversified business model that transformed Cooktube into a B2B partner for major food brands.
The Business of Food Content
- Product Placement: Integrating food brands naturally into high-quality recipe videos.
- Production Services: Creating professional video content for national food companies who don't have their own studios.
- Food Styling: Providing expert styling for TV commercials and high-end advertising campaigns.
- Reach: Over 100 million collective views across all social media platforms.
The MVP Mindset: Bootstrapping in a Backyard
The first Cooktube "studio" was actually set up in Gaurav's backyard. "We didn't know anything about filmmaking," Siddhant laughs. "The first few videos failed because we couldn't get the quality we wanted." They eventually moved to a basement office and built a professional in-house studio, ensuring their content stood out from the sea of mobile-phone bloggers.
Lessons in Content Entrepreneurship
- Find Your Passion: Identify what you can do for hours without getting tired.
- Start Small (MVP): Don't invest lakhs at the start. Build a Minimum Viable Product and test the market.
- Consistency is Key: In content, you must be consistent to build a loyal fanbase.
- Analyze and Pivot: If something isn't working, don't just keep pushing. Analyze why, and change direction.
A Future Beyond the Screen
Siddhant’s vision for Cooktube is expansive. While they've dominated the short-form video space, the next goal is to build a dedicated mobile application and explore external funding to scale even faster. "We are in the expansion stage," he notes. "We want to create new revenue streams and reach every kitchen in India."
His final message to potential founders is one of grit: "Perseverance and consistency are everything. You will make mistakes, you will fail somewhere. Just improve and keep moving forward. That is the only way to become a successful entrepreneur."