If You Are Looking Inspiration To start Food Delivery Start-Up: Read About This One
Lockdown has turned many people into a master chef. Even those who didn’t know where the kitchen was in the house, were seen posting their cooking videos on Instagram. The whole world was under lockdown and there was nothing sort of home delivery available for them.
By Vibhakar Kumar
Even when unlock started, the situation worsens. As the working class got back to work and needed something to eat in offices. But, they were skeptical too about outside food, if there was available any.
Seeing this, two graduates fromBhuvaneshwar, Suryanshu Panda, and Epari Pritam started their own start-up called ‘ChefJunction.’ Chef Junction provides homemade food to office goers or even to residents.
WHAT THIS START-UP IS ALL ABOUT AND HOW IT STARTED
“We are a food delivery platform from where customers can order hygienic home-cooked food, prepared by home chefs, through our website. Our struggle in the hostel to get good food, the craving for “Ghar ka khaana”, and eventually the hesitancy to order from restaurants during the pandemic paved the way to the birth of ChefJunction.” Suryanshu tells.
They started out this venture in August 2020 by pooling Rs.1.5 lakhs from their families.
Cooks from across the city working with ChefJunction prepare homemade food and give it to delivery boys, who then distribute it to customers.
“Before we sign a person for cooking food for our customers, the first thing we see is what kind of oils and spices they are using. If a cook wants to join, they call us and we get to taste their food. If we like it, we get them a license under the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which is mandatory for any food business operator under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The license remains valid for 1 year.” Suryanshu says.
EARLY SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY
Till now the start-up has signed 30 home cooks across the city of Bhuvaneshwar and has 12 delivery boys working for them, who deliver the food on bikes. Within a month of start, they delivered food to more than 1200 orders.
The revenue system of the company is very simple. They charge a 15 to 20 percent margin on the food provided by the home chefs.
MAKING THEIR WAY TO EXTEND THE BUSINESS
Chef Junction is looking forward to extending their business in other major towns of Odisha, and also into the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. They have also planned to launch their own Android and IOS app.
Both Suryanshu and Epari are confident about raising the fund for their newly found start-up.
“We are looking for investors and are planning to pitch our business idea to them to generate funds for our future plans,” Suryanshu says.
Chef Junction is really ready to challenge food delivery companies like Zomato and Swiggy. “In the long run, it’s mainly about creating a sustainable business model for ChefJunction and serving as a platform to cater to the needs of the larger community. Since the market is volatile and ever-changing, we want our venture to be agile and ready to face the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) market without compromising with our values,” he adds.
If it happens, it would really be a great win for a vocal for local and Aatmanirbhar Bharat's mission.
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