Hyderabad :

Like several homemakers, Aruna Chaparala, who lives in Chandanagar that abuts the IT hub, cooks great food. But all these years, her culinary skills are by and large confined to her family and close kin. But she has just unlocked her skills.

She has become a Partner Chef with a tech start-up that finds a business model in tapping the skill hitherto not valued much outside confines of the house.

Founded by two techies, MakeMyDabba.com targets to address the need for proper dining places for techies and other migrant population in urban areas.

“When you live in a new city, you long for your ethnic food. There are not many options available, say, if someone wants Tamil, Gujarati or Kannada. On the other hand, you have thousands of homemakers who cook wonderful food. We find an opportunity here in this social enterprise,” Akkiraju Bhattiprolu, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of MakeMyDabba.com, told Business Line.

For homemakers, they can cook a few more meals, depending on orders on hand and have it delivered at the customer’s place.

“We have spread the word through pamphlets, explaining our concept. We could rope in 65 Partner Chefs (The term they use for those who supply food) and about 200 customers. We are using social platforms such as Facebook to spread the word,” he said.

This is not the first start-up founded by Akkiraju. He along with his Bay Area (San Francisco) friend Rohit Mathur, have founded YAssume (which throws up meaningful contacts to quicken the marketing operations) but shut it down recently.

HOW IT WORKS

Using information technology tools, the Web site throws possible dining options from Partner Chefs near to your place. A customer can try food from the vendors near by at a discounted price. “If you like it, you can order food (lunches or dinners) for a certain period,” Akkiraju said.

Rohit Mathur, the other founder and Chief Executive Officer, is moving back to India to work on expansion to other cities. “We are getting enquiries from places like Bangalore and Gurgaon. This is a testimony for our business idea – there is a need for ethnic food,” Akkiraju said.

The start-up has begun talks for funding from institutional investors. “We are planning to sign a deal soon,” he said.

kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Info-Tech / by K. V. Kurmanath / Hyderabad, April 16th, 2013