In Conversation with Mrunmayee Prabhu , General Counsel (Global) And Company Secretary, Rebel Foods, World’s Largest Internet Restaurant Company

Please allow us a peek into your illustrious journey in law. Where did this journey begin, who were your mentors, and what keeps you busy when you’re not working (hobbies)

I started my career with Godrej Nature’s Basket post the completion of my Company Secretary (CS). I was simultaneously pursuing my LLB course. Initially, I took up law because I thought it will be a value addition to CS course. Also since in LLB course, there is no specialisation, whether you want to pursue litigation or corporate law the curriculum is the same, it was difficult to ascertain what to choose. So after learning the nuts & bolts of a secretarial position in a large organization, I decided to join ‘Rebel Foods’, a young food tech startup then. That’s where I developed a keen interest in corporate law. I have since spent 5 years with the company, however, I have had learning equivalent to a couple of decades as the then young and small food company is now the Worlds’ Largest Internet Restaurant company operational in 7 countries with 4000+ restaurants, with a portfolio of 15+ food brands.  

My role at Rebel Foods has involved fundraising from Series C to Series E, complying with the regulatory authorities, expanding in 6 international geographies, acquiring other companies, reviewing business-related and commercial contracts, assessing pre-litigation matters and coordination with external counsels. Recently we brought the World’s 3rd largest Burger brand to Rebel Foods platform. I have had the fortune to work with and learn from the entire leadership team at Rebel Foods, particularly Ravi Golani (Chief Strategy Officer) & Jaydeep Barman (CEO & Co-founder) who have always believed in my potential and put trust in me to lead the legal as we grew the organization from 1000 to 8000 in 1 country to 7 countries.

So far I never had a specific person as my mentor, I have always learned the techniques and skills from people around me and with whom I am working. I kind of believe in self mentoring like interacting with people and understanding their experiences.  This helps me to learn, understand and see things from a different perspective and then develop and keep on upgrading my own personality. 

I have a keen interest in mandala art (It’s an art in a geometric design that holds a great deal of symbolism). It has been perceived as art therapy to help soothe one’s thoughts. It’s a very relaxing technique and something different from the usual routine. 

What does a day in your shoes look like in your current role?

Every day is quite challenging, dynamic and brings its own set of problems that needs my attention. This is more so because of the breakneck speed of expansion (Both Geographically and Newer Business Verticals) and innovation at Rebel Foods. It’s very fulfilling as it helps me to make an impact on a large scale and learn ambitiously.

Generally, I divide my week into 3 categories of work and this has significantly evolved over the last 5 years. Initially, it was more about solving for immediate business requirements and gradually, the role is to morphing to solve for the long term business requirements, for example, it took us about 6-8 months to bring Wendy’s to the Rebel Network.

So the start of the quarter involves working with the leadership team to align on the quarterly OKRs of the company and then the rest of the month is for execution and problem solving, for example, how do we launch a New Business Vertical such as Ready to Cook Meal kits on our network.

I start my day by preparing a to-do list and assigning the priority against it. Then I have one on one catch up sessions with my team members. Since we work in a very challenging and dynamic environment, these sessions are super helpful for us to ensure we all are aligned and on top of things. In these sessions, we discuss the task status, new tasks, challenges being faced and then accordingly freeze the priorities. Then day continues with meetings and calls with internal and external stakeholders, reviewing critical documents and attending to impromptu queries and urgent requests from business team.

What do you exactly mean when you say that your Company is a food tech Company? What are the major challenges/risks that you have faced due to Covid? What measures have to adopt during these times? 

So basically we are into the food business and we even have our own technology backend. To give you a background, we operate internet restaurants under our brands such as Faasos, Behrouz, Oven Story, Lunch box, Mandarin Oak, Firangi Bake etc. We are also the exclusive franchisees for Slay Coffee and Wendy’s (for internet restaurants). We have recently even ventured into food marketplace business. The true power is the Rebel Operating System – a culmination of culinary craft, technology backend and robotics/automation. This helps us scale any brand on a global scale.

The pandemic adversely affected our business. When the lockdown was announced we had to overnight seize and reduce operations at various locations as a result of one of the many ramifications of the orders passed by the government authorities. The primary challenge we faced in business was to get the pre-Covid number of internet kitchens operational. Also at the same time, we had to ensure that our employees are well equipped with all the required facilities that can contribute to their safety and wellbeing. The safety of our employees and our customers is of paramount importance to us. 

We initiated various protocols regarding safety and hygiene including taking continuous temperature logs of our employees. The temperature of the staff involved in preparing food is also available at our app to the Customers. Further, we send the temperature details along with the invoice. Back end team monitors the live tracking in all the internet restaurants. Since we operate internet restaurants, the entry of people is restricted only employees are allowed inside it. These employees were checked for symptoms on frequent intervals.   Since it was not only the business but the whole community was suffering, we initiated food for the good concept to help the community in these difficult times by serving daily wagers with hygienic food across the nation in cooperation with Government and NGOs. Also, we have started an initiative-"share meal, share hope' to support the underprivileged and affected section of the society to battle with COVID-19. 

Are lean legal departments the future of in-house teams? As companies become more and more cost-conscious, has business automation found more acceptance with in-house legal departments? How does your organisation leverage AI and LegalTech within the legal function?

I think in-house legal teams are facing mounting pressure to both improve the efficiency of their own operations while tackling a more expansive workload and also reducing the amount they spend on legal fees on outside counsel. Also, this pressure is compounded by an evolving global economy that brings with it stricter regulatory regimes and greater compliance risk. In house, teams are continually grappled with how to do more with less. 

Above factors and AI coming in will definitely lead to lean legal department in future. AI in legal field has been seen in the recent past as a method for automating tasks via software to achieve the same outcome as if a law practitioner had done the work. Now, we are beginning to see the merits of using technology to automate some tasks. Having said that I think set process and contract management can be solved through technology but drafting and reviewing requires customisation specifically if you are working in a dynamic culture. It might take some time for AI to crack the customisation bit. Standard drafts don’t do justice in complex transactions, they need to be blended for the depicting the essence of the transaction.  Also negotiations and relevant arguments will be difficult to embed through AI.

In our organisation, specifically to the legal department, we use technology as support to complete our tasks. We are yet to explore AI in the team.

Your message to the new crop of lawyers wanting to make a mark for themselves in this industry. What other than hard work is a mantra to success?

One advice which I had received from my professor that I think is worth sharing is, he said, “Everyone, be it a big shot lawyer or the one who does notary outside the court, has read the same law during their law school but the humongous difference in their position is because of their interpretation, application and demonstration of the law. Know your basics, be curious, ask questions and bring the change which you want to. To succeed you just need to be upgrading yourself to be the better version of you.”

As a final note, would you please recommend to our readers your favourite book or movie/series that left a lasting impression on you.

The Wit and Wisdom of Nani A. Palkhivala. This book contains select quotations from his writings and speeches over decades of his working life. Another book which is keeping me engaged these days is ‘Why Nation Fails’ by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, an interesting read on the evolution of world economies.

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