Food Commerce in India - Whose meal is it anyway?

On the next day that I wrote about Food, eating patterns and technology, I got a pamphlet along with the newspaper about ItsMyMeal. According to them, there are two types of people in India - people who eat oily food in the restaurants (or order online for home delivery) and those who eat at home, come what may. They are targeting the subset of the latter, who are unfortunately either not at home or lazy enough not to cook for themselves.

The concept is quite good - healthy food prepared in their kitchen taking into consideration balanced diet, nutrition and hygiene. One can register on their website at http://itsmymeal.in and after validation of the details, can start ordering food. The food is delivered at your doorstep in good containers, which are taken back after you are done with the meal. Menu and the prices are fixed and mentioned on the website. Beware, you need to order a minimum of 4 meals and any changes for the next day has to be mentioned in the site before 5 PM today (I pray not to fall sick suddenly, when I order food on this site!). The terms you would be hearing when someone talks about this company are - happy, tummy, meal, food-commerce, nutrition and hygiene.

The FAQ on their site gives a lot of details about the minimum number of meals to be ordered, service coverage areas, packaging details and refund of security deposit in case of cancellation. One phrase you cannot fail to notice in every answer is 'Please call customer care'. But interestingly one cannot place an order just by calling their customer care center (unless it's a bulk order for that go) !

The concept seems to be mainly targeted towards the corporate employees. I guess it is mainly the small and medium enterprises, where employees can order in bulk for multiple days in a month at one stretch. Would it work out as an economical option for the employees? Keeping aside my views on whether the model would succeed or not in the Indian context, I admire the application of technology for giving good food and convenience to those who seek them. According to the site, I can even analyze what kind of food I am having, based on the food ordered through their site.

If it is my meal, would I not be interested in having home-cooked food? Alternately, I can order from ItsMyMeal for similar quality food - so they say and term it as 'food commerce' !

Food, Eating Patterns and Technology

 

When I was a kid, my mom used to feed me. I grew-up to be able to pick-up food from my plate and eat for self; my mom patiently used to clear the mess. I went to college and got accustomed to canteens, fast-food joints and tea stalls. Got a job and with enough hard earned money to squander, I took to multi cuisine restaurants - South Indian, North Indian, Rajasthani and the like. Corporate world, for its own benefits, sent me abroad and I got a taste of Continental, Malay, Singaporean, Chinese and American (I used to eat bread only during fever earlier but realized that one man's fever-food is another man's bread later) food. So far, I was actively visiting the food places to enjoy my food.

If ever I ordered food for home delivery, that was over the phone. I could neither understand the language nor the words uttered by the restaurant folks. They would hardly be able to communicate the 3 page menu items in an understandable way. Now, technology has brought the convenience of menu at my finger-tips online in India. I could select a restaurant in my locality,  browse through the menu leisurely and order online when I prepare my mind. I can alter the menu umpteen times till I am utterly satisfied and then place the order. Try out http://justeat.in. If the reviews do not tickle your funny bone, read them again !

With technology, I could afford to become lazy and my eating pattern has changed again - food comes home and I do not need to go to food place anymore ! I guess that takes me to childhood when my mom used to bring me food :-) If you still prefer to visit the restaurant and eat, there is this option online to book your table conveniently.

Middlemen have always played a big role in trade. There are always two or three layers of middlemen between manufacturer and end-customer in any line of business. They are required in the ecosystem to bridge the obvious gap in supply-chain. The online middlemen like ebay, Amazon and justeat.in makes it even more interesting. Justeat.in does not own the restaurants, don't have delivery boys, do not decide the menus, do not take online payments and from the comments in the site I figure out that they take up very little responsibility through call center.

But their tie-ups with different restaurants gives variety in choice for end-customer (sweets, pizzas, sandwitches, biryani, rotis and what not !) and a bachelor foodie should be able to enjoy the feast at home while watching TV. With IPL coming shortly, this service should be really worth a try !