THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have led to massive unemployment, especially in the hospitality and tourism sectors. The displaced workers from these industries are now looking for alternatives. Suraj Khan, who was formerly working in one of the leading scuba diving centres in Kovalam, has now started an online delivery platform, ‘Fresh Box Daily’, that delivers fish, poultry and meat at doorsteps at a time when heading to the grocery store could be dangerous.The month-old venture is an initiative to provide chemical-free fresh fish, meat and poultry to city-dwellers.
“I was working with an accomplished diving instructing company. However, due to the Covid-19 crisis, the company wasn’t able to pay our salaries and had to shut down,” says Suraj Khan, co-founder of the service. Besides him, the venture is being operated by eight other members – Ajai Chandra R, Vincent Ambrose, Shiju R, Revathi Das, Mallika M, Santhy Mathews, Shabeeth Baker and Babu Mathew.
“The idea of starting an online delivery platform occurred to us during the first lockdown in March. We realised that we cannot sit idle until the pandemic is over. After several brainstorming sessions with my friends, we thought of coming up with an online food delivery platform providing fresh fish and meat to the customers,” says Suraj.
“To stay on top of the competition, we created a mobile application and a website, www.freshboxdaily.com, to make the process more coordinated and to allow bookings. Sometimes, the meat or fish sold in the local market may be a day or two old and kept in cold storages. Also, many may not prefer packed frozen meat. Our aim is to provide good quality meat, fish and poultry to the customers. We source them locally each day,” says Suraj.
Since its inception, ‘Fresh Box Daily’ has been able to cater to more than 200 people in the city. “We have received good feedback from our customers. Besides fish, meat and poultry, we are also planning to deliver vegetables and fruits soon,” he says. Due to the triple lockdown in the district and restrictions ordered by the district collector, the services have been halted until further notice. Once the lockdown is eased, the team plans to get back in business, and continue it even post lockdown.