Our Founders, Bharat Bhalla (BB) and Varun Kapur (VK) love discovering new and delicious foods but remain conscious about what they eat (for the most part). Previously as investment professionals, they often led busy lifestyles with significant travel but tried not to compromise on the quality of foods they consumed. This passion for discovering wholesome foods that were easily accessible led them on a journey to re-imagine consumer packaged foods.

While exploring various food technologies, they identified a significantly advanced bio-chemistry process used in the 2020 NASA Space X mission to the International Space Station that provided healthy meals to its astronauts in outer space! The technology ensured that “space foods” were highly nutritious, contained zero preservatives or artificial ingredients and closely resembled freshly prepared foods. This technology allowed for packaged meals to be consumed hassle free by the astronauts all day, every day throughout the entire duration of the mission!

Our Founders BB and VK at Yu's foodlab in Gurgaon

The Ikayu Moment!

Their curiosity to better understand this advanced technology (called lyophilization or colloquially, freeze-drying) led them to invest in a small lab-scale equipment. Thus began the adventure of ingredient analysis, recipe formulation and product development alongside some of the best culinary chefs. Combining the best food science technology and culinary arts, they were able to re-imagine the future of consumer packaged foods – ‘Instant Meal Bowls’ that combine gourmet flavours and nutrition without the use of any preservatives or artificial ingredients!

What started in a 12 ft by 8 ft make-shift R&D facility with a small lab-scale equipment in mid-2020, has turned into a commercial scale fully integrated 12,000 sq ft advanced, state-of-art food-lab in Gurgaon, India. It’s here where culinary chefs, food technologists and most importantly, ultimate consumers come together to passionately craft ‘clean label’ instant meal bowls for everyday consumption by Yu – its customers.

Humble beginnings – Yu’s first 12 ft x 8 ft food-lab

Yu's fully integrated 12,000 sq ft foodlab combining culinary expertise with advanced bio-chemistry processes