The NRAI Food Delivery Summit 2026 speaker line-up brings more than 70 names to Ahmedabad on 20 August, across a single day.
No owner can hear all of them. The useful question is which speakers match the problem you are trying to solve, so this page groups them by exactly that rather than by fame.
We have listed a selection below to help you plan your day. Check the official website for the full and latest line-up.
Key Takeaways
- More than 70 speakers are expected across the single summit day.
- Speakers are grouped into six business problems, each with its own anchor link.
- If you only have three hours, use the shortlist before the full grid.
- Carry your own delivery numbers so each panel becomes a real comparison.
How to Use This Planner
Names come from the official NRAI summit microsite and the summit’s speaker creatives, which list different subsets. The grid merges both.
Use it in three steps.
- Pick your biggest problem, not your job title. A cloud kitchen operator worried about franchise expansion should read the scaling block.
- Open that block from the table below. Each has its own anchor link, so you can share one segment rather than the page.
- Save or print the grid and carry it with you on the day.
| Your Problem Right Now | Go To This Block |
|---|---|
| Delivery-only kitchens, packaging, aggregator margin | Cloud kitchen speakers |
| Opening outlets two through ten, franchising | Scaling speakers |
| Beverage-led formats, small footprint, high footfall | Chai and coffee speakers |
| Chain operations, standardisation, supply chain | QSR and chain speakers |
| Guest experience, covers, premium pricing | Fine dine speakers |
| Funding, platform strategy, data and research | Platform and capital speakers |
Plan by the Hours You Can Give
Few owners can give the whole day. Pick the plan that matches the time you actually have.
| Time You Have | How to Spend It | What You Walk Out With |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 4 hours | Pick the single block below that matches your biggest problem and hear two or three speakers from it. Skip the exhibition floor. | One problem looked at properly, from people who have solved it at scale |
| 4 to 6 hours | Your block, plus one session from the platform and capital group, plus a walk of the stalls with a shortlist. | Your problem plus the platform view that shapes it, and two or three vendors worth following up |
| 6 to 10 hours | Two blocks rather than one, the full exhibition floor, and the networking evening on 19 August. | A cross-segment view, supplier conversations, and the contacts that usually matter more than the talks |
If you want a starting point regardless of time, these five map to the problems owners raise most.
| If Your Problem Is | Prioritise Hearing | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregator commission is eating margin | Rohit Kapoor, Swiggy | Heads the food delivery marketplace the commission is paid to |
| Delivery-only economics | Ankush Grover, Rebel Foods | Runs the world’s largest cloud kitchen company |
| Going from one outlet to many | Sameer Khetarpal, Jubilant FoodWorks | Operates Domino’s across India at chain scale |
| A small format that must scale | Nitin Saluja, Chaayos | Built a national chain on a single beverage category |
| Raising money for expansion | Arjun Vaidya, Verlinvest | Invests in Indian consumer brands for a living |
Cloud Kitchen and Delivery-First Speakers
This block suits you if most of your revenue arrives through an app and you have no dining room to fall back on. Margin, packaging and kitchen throughput are the recurring themes.
| Speaker | Brand | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ankush Grover | Rebel Foods | Runs the world’s largest cloud kitchen company, home to Faasos and Behrouz |
| Anshul Gupta | EatClub (BOX8) | Built a delivery-first multi-brand business from a single kitchen model |
| Arpita Aditi | Dil Foods | Works with small kitchen owners rather than opening company outlets |
| Paurav Rastogi | Speed Kitchen | Focused on kitchen infrastructure and throughput |
| Mahesh Reddy | GOPIZZA | Runs a delivery-led pizza chain built around speed of preparation |
If throughput is your bottleneck, our guide on cloud kitchen cost leaks covers the numbers these sessions assume you already track.
Scaling and Multi-Outlet Speakers
Come here if outlet one works and outlets two to ten are the problem. Franchise structure and menu control across sites dominate this group.
| Speaker | Brand | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ankit Patel | The Belgian Waffles Co. | Grew a dessert format into a national franchise network |
| Arjun Toor | Rolls King | Grew a rolls QSR from a food truck into a franchise network |
| Dhruv Kohli | Boba Bhai | Korean street food and bubble tea; 60+ outlets in under two years |
| Dr. Tapan Vaidya | Papa John’s | Runs an international pizza franchise inside the Indian market |
| Deepti Sarma | 22nd Parallel | Co-founded a South Indian kitchens business |
| Shakir Haq | NKP Empire Ventures | Runs a multi-brand hospitality group |
| Saili Jahagirdar | Zillionth Bistro, Billion Burgers | Operates two formats side by side |
The operational half is central kitchen management; the software half is multi-outlet menu management.
Chai and Coffee Speakers
Beverage formats run on small footprints, fast service and repeat visits. This group built national businesses on categories most people wrote off as roadside trade.
| Speaker | Brand | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Nitin Saluja | Chaayos | Turned chai into a national branded chain |
| Amuleek Singh Bijral | Chai Point | Founded 2010; runs IoT chai dispensers in corporate offices |
| Abhijeet Anand | abCoffee | Running a compact-format coffee chain |
| Darshan Dashani | Tea Post | Grew a chai chain out of Gujarat |
| Rahul Singh | The Beer Café | Built a beverage-led casual format across cities |
Beverage formats live on repeat visits rather than big bills, which makes billing speed and customer data the whole game. That side runs on your restaurant POS.
QSR and Large Chain Speakers
These operators run standardisation at a scale most owners will never reach, which is why their process discipline transfers downward.
| Speaker | Brand | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sameer Khetarpal | Jubilant FoodWorks | Operates Domino’s in India |
| Saurabh Kalra | Westlife Foodworld | Runs McDonald’s across west and south India |
| Sagar Daryani | Wow! Momo | Scaled a single snack item into a national chain |
| Sanam Kapoor | La Pino’z Pizza | Built a large domestic pizza franchise network |
| Mohit Khattar | Graviss Foods (Baskin Robbins) | Runs a national ice cream franchise business |
| Ankit Chona | Hocco Ice Cream | Building an ice cream brand out of Ahmedabad |
| Vijay Gupta | Honest | Grew a Gujarati fast food chain into a franchise network |
Chain operations live or die on counter speed. Our token management system guide covers the queue mechanics they have already solved.
Fine Dine and Casual Dining Speakers
The largest group on the list. Useful if your problem is covers, guest experience or holding a premium price while delivery pulls the market towards discounts. It also holds three NRAI office bearers, including the current president, so this is the block to sit in if you want to raise something with the association itself.
| Speaker | Brand | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Zorawar Kalra | Massive Restaurants | Runs a portfolio of premium Indian dining brands |
| Riyaaz Amlani | Impresario Hospitality | Operates Social and other multi-city formats |
| A.D. Singh | Olive Bar & Kitchen | One of the earliest builders of Indian fine dining |
| Kabir Suri | Azure Hospitality | Current NRAI president; co-founded Mamagoto and Dhaba by Claridges |
| Anurag Katriar | Indigo Hospitality | Former NRAI president, now runs Indigo Delicatessen and Neel |
| Pranav Rungta | Mint Hospitality | NRAI vice president and Mumbai fine dine operator |
| Narendra Somani | TGB Group | Chairs the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Gujarat |
| Gauri Devidayal | Food Matters India | Co-founded The Table in Mumbai |
| Yash Bhanage | Hunger Inc. Hospitality | Co-founded Hunger Inc, which launched The Bombay Canteen |
| Rushad Ginwala | Ahura Restaurants | Runs long-running Mumbai institutions |
| Kabir Chugh | The Turkey Project, Nizams Kathi Kabab | Co-owns one format and partners in a heritage Kolkata brand |
| Amit Gupta | Bento B, Noboru | Runs multiple independent restaurant formats |
| Akhil Iyer | Benne Bombay | Co-owns a regional South Indian format |
Table turnaround is where most of this group’s margin sits. See splitting bills and merging tables for the counter-side version.
Platform and Capital Speakers
The people who are not running a restaurant, and therefore see the industry from outside it. Worth your time if your question is about money, platforms or evidence.
| Speaker | Organisation | Why They Are Worth Your Time |
|---|---|---|
| Rohit Kapoor | Swiggy | Heads Swiggy’s food delivery marketplace |
| Arjun Vaidya | Verlinvest | Invests in Indian consumer and F&B brands |
| Prof. Debjit Roy | IIM Ahmedabad | Researches operations and decision sciences |
| Amin Ali | Food media | Senior editor and industry advisor |
| Gurpreet Singh Tikku | Mister Tikku | Food content creator with a large following |
| Chef Aanal Kotak | Celebrity chef | Ahmedabad-based chef and restaurateur |
Before the funding sessions, it helps to know your own numbers. Pull them using our restaurant P&L guide and size your aggregator load with the Swiggy and Zomato commission calculator.
Save This Grid Before You Travel
Print or save this page and take it with you. Tick off each speaker as you hear them, and mark the two or three whose points you want to act on.
First-party data means the customer details you collect yourself, such as phone numbers, order history and feedback, rather than the data an aggregator holds on your behalf. It comes up in most delivery sessions, so it helps to know the term going in.
Pair the grid with our restaurant P&L template so you carry your own numbers alongside the speaker list.
Two practical notes for the day itself. Photograph every slide that has a number on it, because those figures rarely make it into the recap. And write the speaker’s name next to any note you take, since panels blur together by the evening.
Conclusion
More than 70 speakers are expected across the day, spanning cloud kitchen platforms, national chains, beverage brands and the founders who built Indian F&B early.
The value of a summit is not how many talks you attend. It is whether you leave able to change one thing in your own outlet. Pick the block that matches your problem, hear those three or four people properly, and skip the rest.
If the change you want is on the delivery side, Petpooja POSS handles online orders, menu sync, billing and reporting from one screen for over 1,00,000 restaurants.
Frequently Asked Questions
More than 70 speakers are expected across the single summit day. For background on the association behind the event, see our explainer on what NRAI is.
Prices and offers change through the run-up to the event, so check the official website for the updated price before booking. You can register for the summit online in a couple of minutes.
Yes. The segments here are a planning aid, not a restriction. A cloud kitchen operator can learn pricing discipline from a QSR chain.
Several have Gujarat roots, including Narendra Somani of TGB Group, Ankit Chona of Hocco Ice Cream, Darshan Dashani of Tea Post, Vijay Gupta of Honest and Chef Aanal Kotak.
Carry your own numbers. Delivery share of revenue, net payout after commission and repeat-order rate turn a general panel into a specific comparison. If your menu differs across channels, fix Swiggy and Zomato menu sync first.
