Are you a foodie who loves cooking food?
Or a hi-flying professional tired of hopping countries and want to ‘settle down’ but scared of losing the fat monthly salary?
Or a homemaker who wants to venture out and begin earning?
If your answer to any of the above questions is in affirmative, Homefoodi is for you. Noida-based husband-wife duo, Narendra Singh and Dr Mona Dahiya, just launched a mobile app, Homefoodi, an e-commerce platform for home chefs with the aim to revolutionise the culture of eating. Already around 100 women, who love cooking, are selling healthy home food via this app.
“My children are settled in their lives and I have all the time to myself. So when the Homefoodi team approached me, I readily agreed,” says Jyotsna Jaswal, a 50+ resident of Sector 128, Noida.
But not all home chefs fall in the senior category. Both educational consultant Vimmi Baweja of Sector 120 and Shilpa Sinha of Sector 119, a teacher who quit her job, to begin this ‘home business’, are in their late 30s.
“By March 2020, we will have our presence across NCR and over the next two years, we will go pan-India,” says Dr Dahiya, adding the reason why over 75 per cent Indians are affected by chronic lifestyle diseases and over 20 per cent school students suffer from obesity is because they do not consume home food. “Ready-to-eat meals and fast food readily available in the market have no nutritional value. And there is no denying that home food is the most healthy and hygienic food.”
Apart from giving self-employment opportunity, the app offers healthy, home-cooked food to people hard-pressed for time and who do not want to visit or order food from commercial outlets.
Homefoodi has a chef app and a customer app for android phones on Google Play Store, and soon on iOS. The app gives chefs the freedom to decide their menu, the pricing, limit of orders and delivery/takeaway time slots, and allows consumers to pre-book orders.
“It is a great platform for women who are passionate about cooking and gives housewives an opportunity to become entrepreneurs,” says UP State Women Commission president Vimla Batham.
In a brief interview, Narendra Singh Dahiya, Founder & Director, Homefoodi, gave us
a lowdown on this aggregator app.
What made you start the Homefoodi app?
It started with a personal conviction to make a difference towards nation-building and creating a large-scale self-employment opportunity. As I put together a canvas of opportunity, and I asked myself ‘who?’ [needed help]. I realised women often end up as homemakers, not by choice but by circumstances. This led to ‘how?’ and it was evident that preparing food is a skill most women are blessed with. This led us to figure out the ‘what?’
Our research across metros with over 2,000 respondents, both homemakers and consumers, showed that over 10 per cent homemakers were keen to start a home kitchen if given a platform that addressed their challenges and helped them do business. Over 90 per cent respondents said they prefer home food over outside eating, while 97 per cent believed that home food is most healthy and hygienic. All this lead to the creation of Homefoodi.
Who can become a member?
Anyone who wishes to be an entrepreneur from home. She should be registered with the FSSAI, be passionate about cooking and be able to make healthy and tasty food. Also, her kitchen should be clean.
Are men allowed to join?
We are promoting the culture of home food and any man or woman, who can sprinkle magic in the food they cook are welcome to join us.
Please explain your modus operandi.
Selected home chefs are supported in all areas to manage their business professionally. We help them with FSSAI registration, food photography, packaging, delivery, and online payments and marketing. We give all the freedom to the chefs to decide their menu, pricing, timings, area of coverage, takeaway/delivery, and promotions.