Keep in mind once you moved out of your father or mother’s house for the primary time? The one factor, most of us dearly missed, apart from the heat of house, was home-cooked meals.
When Shekhar Mittal moved to Bengaluru for commencement with goals in his eyes, what he struggled with essentially the most was meals.
“Whereas I loved consuming South Indian delicacies, I craved my mom’s home-cooked scrumptious meals. I struggled to regulate to the meals, and shortly, I realised that I used to be not the one one. So I questioned, ‘How can we faucet this part of the meals business?’,” the 32-year-old tells The Higher India.
He finally found out a strategy to convey scrumptious homecooked meals from varied moms’ kitchens in Bengaluru and Aligarh. Along with his startup Maa ka Dulaar (mom’s care), Shekhar has incubated over 100 moms and homemakers. They prepare dinner their speciality meals and Shekhar delivers it to individuals’s doorstep by means of his catering service.
From mothers with plenty of dulaar
Born and introduced up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Shekhar was born a foodie. He cherished the spicy delicacies that North India gives.
“I moved to Bengaluru in 2008 for my commencement. I’ve at all times been a fan of North Indian meals and actually missed it initially. Once I missed it an excessive amount of within the hostel, I ordered from varied eating places, nonetheless, the restaurant meals was no match for the homecooked meals that I craved,” he says.
After finishing his commencement, he began working for Accenture. However the thought of creating homecooked meals out there to individuals saved pushing him to do one thing.
“In 2015, I satisfied a lady who was a homemaker and an acquaintance to prepare dinner some meals for me. I simply had a imprecise thought of what I needed to do. I requested a couple of of my associates in the event that they wish to strive some genuine homecooked meal, and so they willingly positioned orders. I did every thing from packing to delivering the meals,” he says.
He continues, “They completely cherished the meals and requested me — ‘Can we get this tomorrow too?’. This was all of the motivation I wanted to go forward with this enterprise. I continued to do that for a few years, however solely on weekends whereas I continued my day job.”
Quickly increasingly orders began to return in. An enormous turnaround occurred in 2020 when the pandemic peaked.
“I bear in mind when all different companies had been shutting down, my enterprise was flooded with orders. It was affecting my work, and I realised that it was the precise time to go full-time,” he shares.
Shekhar, in 2020, determined to give up his decade-long profession to turn into an entrepreneur. “I had understood that I can’t do every thing by myself and that I wanted a workforce,” he says.
However the resolution to depart his profession behind was not effectively acquired by his friends and household.
“The response, even again after I had began it as a part-time gig, was not in my favour. However after I determined to surrender my profession for good, the reception was not very motivating. The issues I might get to listen to had been, ‘Why did you research a lot should you needed to do that’, and they might name me ‘tiffinwala’. Nevertheless I knew that is the precise path for me,” he says.
Empowering homemakers of town
Bengaluru, being a hub of individuals migrating from totally different components of the nation, got here as a bonus to Shekhar’s enterprise.
“The homemakers who’re obsessed with cooking are at all times welcome to affix us. The very best half is, they prepare dinner what they like to prepare dinner. This fashion, our customers get the perfect home-cooked meals. If a mother is initially from Rajasthan, she’s going to prepare dinner her favorite Rajasthani delicacies,” he explains.
Maa ka Dulaar has served over one lakh meals thus far. The menu is a mixture of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals.
“We’ve additionally ventured into the catering enterprise now. We cater for enterprise occasions, birthday events, weddings and different social events too,” he says.
About how the enterprise works, he explains, “There’s a process {that a} candidate goes by means of to turn into a mother chef. It’s a fundamental high quality examine, and we additionally take a look at the assorted dishes she makes. Moreover, we concentrate on incubation mothers who’re obsessed with cooking however don’t know to make a profession out of it.”
“As for a shopper, they’ll merely go to our web site the place they’ll select from varied choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We additionally make pickles and sweets for particular events. For example, we make laddoos (candy) for Diwali and gujiya (candy fried snack) for Holi. This Holi, a mother chef was in a position to promote 60 kg of gujiya!” he provides, saying that his intention shouldn’t be solely to make homecooked meals out there but additionally to empower homemakers.
Preeti Agarwal, who has been a chef with the enterprise for practically six years says, “It is extremely empowering. I used to be a homemaker earlier than this and was doing a 24-hour job of being a mother. I used to be very obsessed with cooking, and this enterprise gave me a platform to turn into who I’m right this moment.”
She caters to no less than 50 orders a day and likewise cooks for features within the HSR structure space of Bengaluru. “The very best factor about it’s that I’m nonetheless a stay-at-home mother. I can maintain my children and handle my house whereas being profitable on the aspect. In a month with no particular events, I earn round Rs 50,000–60,000. The revenue goes upward when there’s a pageant in a month. The work has given me confidence and independence. I can purchase my daughter something with my very own cash,” she says, including that her kadhi chawal (curd curry with rice) and paneer (cottage cheese) starters are her greatest sellers.
Shreya Choudhary, an everyday shopper of Maa ka Dulaar says, “That is simply what was wanted for Bengaluru. The meals is scrumptious and really wholesome. It jogs my memory of my mom’s cooking that I’ve at all times missed. They’ve a very good selection and quick supply.”
The companies of Maa ka Dulaar are presently out there solely in Bengaluru and Aligarh, and orders will be positioned from their official web site. They get greater than 500 orders every day from each cities mixed.
“We get numerous enquiry calls from different cities, and for the long run, we wish to attain as many cities as we will. Additionally quickly, we’re launching bodily shops the place clients can instantly attain out to the homemakers for truffles, pastries, goodies, snacks, and lots of different wholesome home-made choices,” he says.
“Moreover, I wish to attain as many homemakers as we will. Many moms who had no monetary independence earlier name me to tell me how they had been in a position to purchase their children an iPhone or one thing they needed. This makes me really feel like my work has a goal. It motivates me and retains me going,” says Shekhar.
Edited by Pranita Bhat