Hungry? Food is now just a click away. Bhubaneswar seems to be having a growing appetite for online food ordering startups. Over the past two years, there has been an exponential growth in the number of such startups. Currently, the capital city has more than eight online food ordering startups that offer home delivery service.
The Dabawalas
Launched a year back, Dabawalas Lunch Box (www.dabawalas.org) is an innovative dining concept. The portal, which supplies food to major corporate houses in the Capital City, has so far delivered more than 15,000 meals. They offer Indian food in the form of buffet, lunch box and tray forms. The idea was initiated by three young industry experts – Susmita, Manoj Behera and Ritesh Nayak – having more than 20 years of experience in food profession. Ritesh said, “The concept of ordering from home has always been there. However, the idea of recreating the magic of dining out with the full-length menu at workplace was not, which made us start this venture.” To place an order, one can log on to the website or call their helpline number, 9040333838.
The team now plans to expand their services to Bengaluru as the city is home to a large number of corporates and youths. This apart, mobile food outlets will be set up at prime locations in Bhubaneswar, Rakesh added.
Zeroing In
www.0km.in (zerokm), an e-restaurant, a first of its kind in the region, provides details of more than 100 registered restaurants in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. Foodies of these three towns can get details like menu and price of every restaurant on the website. Food can be ordered by just keying the name of the restaurant and dishes on the site.
Set up by two brothers – Soumyaranjan Nayak and Biswa Nayak of the city – in August, 2014, the venture has no minimum order value policy. “This attracts people to use our service as they can order and get the delivery at their doorsteps,” said Biswa, CTO (Director).
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Soumyaranjan said, “After the customer places an order from a restaurant on our website or mobile app or helpline numbers, we call the respective restaurant and ask them to deliver the food. Currently, bills are collected at the time of delivery. Soon, online payment for food orders will be launched on the website.”
The response, he said, has been encouraging. “We have about 1000 registered users on the website, including top executives as well as youngsters in the 22-26 age groups and receive around 200 orders a day, he said. Food reviews on the website are also welcome.
Chai Time
www.ekcup.in is first of its kind online platform in India that specialises in serving just tea. The website, where you can choose from a variety of flavours, provides milk tea, lemon tea, masala tea, green tea and the traditional ‘Matka Chai’ served in terracotta cups.
Their services are available from 10 am to 5 pm and the cup price ranges from Rs.7 to Rs.10. Soon, they will introduce Kashmiri Kahwa (a Kashmiri green tea flavoured with cardamom) and Jasmine tea for its consumers.
Sukalyan Das, a founding member, and two of his friends quit their IT jobs and started the venture in January on an experimental basis. They officially launched Ekcup two months back. “We thought if pizzas can be delivered at the doorstep, why not chai? After all, chai is an integral part of our lives,” said 30-year-old Sukalyan. Currently, they receive around 500 orders a day. However, one has to place a minimum order of Rs.50 to get home delivery service. They also have a mobile application for Android phones to place orders. People who don’t have access to Internet can place orders through their landline numbers as well. In the next phase, Sukalyan plans to expand the services to Cuttack in the State besides, Bangalore and New Delhi. “Once we have good logistics support, we will start the services,” he added.
More Options
These online ventures apart, Food City (www.foodcitybhubaneswar.com), Delivery Doots(www.deliverydoots.com), Food Khoj(www.foofkhoj.com), Book Food Now (bookfoodnow.in) and Khana Online (www.khanaonline.in) offer home delivery of food items in Bhubaneswar. Most of these new ventures have their own kitchens and delivery systems.
Meanwhile, Foodpanda, a global mobile food delivery marketplace headquartered in Berlin and operating in 24 countries including India, has launched its service in the city.
