Brands
ITC’s Cloud kitchen business expands its horizon across cities
Mumbai – As per media reports, the ITC (India Tobacco Company Limited) Group conglomerate decided to scale up its cloud kitchen business in metro cities, particularly Chennai. ITC is currently offering North Indian lunch and dinner and other bakery products online, the company decided to expand its horizon for the food business to cater to foodies. The company plans to roll out ventures including in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata city.
As of now, ITC Ashirwad, ITC Master Chef, and ITC Sunfeast Baked Creations are there brands running in the food business under ITC brand.
The company has an expansion strategy to leverage the brand through platforms of food technology-based apps like Zomato, and Swingy. ITC cloud kitchens have a centralized and decentralised platform to serve consumer needs. As per media reports, 90 per cent of orders in food delivery apps are placed in dining hotels whereas the rest are from cloud kitchens. For serving premium food with standardisation of food company have plans to digitise the food business at pan India.
While speaking to the media ITC executive director Hemant Malik said, “The tech-learning needed for the business comes from our focus on digitalisation. The model involves setting up the central kitchen and satellite kitchens in cities where we operate. We are already the market leader in Bengaluru in the premium space within two years of operation and will now scale up in other cities,”
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
