Love for Food is Opportunity for Startups!

Food has been a favorite pick up on any occasion. There can’t be celebrations, festivals, rituals without FOOD. Probably one of the most well satisfied senses in human body is Tongue. We can go to any limit to pamper this one. Young ones today want to experiment and try out new stuff. Food provides them with a good opportunity for playing around and trying out new stuff. With increasing penetration of technology, more and more ideas are emerging with convergence of technology and love for food.

With increasing number of start-ups coming out, this is one domain which is been gaining attraction of aspiring entrepreneurs & everyone else, “The Food domain”. Recently, lots of delectable startups have been cooked up in food domain which has gained a delightful sight of VC’s & investors and also been liked and supported by everyone.

A general survey showcases that 98% of people in this world dreams to open their own restaurant. Few of them succeed while few end up hoping or choosing a different path. I am sure you have many ideas while you read this piece around FOOD. Few things make this domain very unique:

Experimentation quotient is very high in Food domain
Food would always be a favorite way to appease ourselves
Possibility of Creativity & Innovation is high
The life cycle of Idea to reality is relatively short here
Does not require any significant domain skills/abilities
One of best ways to satisfy others is FOOD
As target customer is virtually any other Human, the scale factor is high
The ideas can be implemented with few thousands to many crores of rupees as per the appetite of the entrepreneurs

Here are few ideas that have been converted into success stories by sheer passion of founders and love for FOOD. There is no limit to ideas here. So give chance to your ideas, Friend!

1) Zomato: An online restaurant discovery guide providing information on home delivery, dinning out, cafes and night life’s in different cities of the world. Founded by the trio of Pankaj Chaddah, Deepinder Goyal and Gunjan Patidar the company was first named Foodiebay which was then changed to Zomato to avoid conflict between ebay. The company struggled in first few years but managed to raise its first funding in 2010 of US $1 million. Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah have started working on Foodiebay while they was full time employed at Bain & company which they later quit to focus on Foodiebay to make it a big story. Zomato is among the first few start-ups who launched in 2008 where people where thinking to start an internet start-up.

2) Foodpanda: Founded by Akhilesh Bali and Amit Kohli, Foodpanda is the new contact for you to order the food from different restaurants. It provides efficient and fast delivery to consumers by eliminating the struggle of finding the restaurant contact no. and placing order at different restaurant for ordering different cuisine food. Foodpanda orders the food on your behalf and the food is delivered hot and steamy at your doorsteps.

3) Travel Khana: TravelKhana is a marketplace that connects passengers with several restaurants on the Indian Rail network. It offers a variety of choices to a Railway passenger so that the passengers can order food as per their liking. Primarily a technology company, TravelKhana keeps a track of trains in realtime and manages the supply chain in such a way that the passengers get fresh food at the railway station of their choice.

4) Chai Point: Chai point brings a new flavour in the tea business. Amuleek Singh Bijral is the founder and CEO of Mountain Trail Foods Private Ltd and its brand, Chai Point. Chai point delivers you the tea the way you like in a hygienic and healthiest form. Giving a new jazzed up version to the tea business chai point brings variety of flavours for the customers from masala-tea to green tea with many more healthy forms of tea served on their tray.

5) Sattviko: Inspired from the Vedas, two IIT alumnus started a food venture by the name of Sattviko in order to serve their customers a more healthy food than the unhealthy fast food served at every corner of the street. Their menu comprises of an array of Indian, Mexican and Continental food with a twist of healthy nutrition. The meal is served without onions and garlic as suggested in Vedas thus the name sattviko as in “satvik”. The two outlets in Delhi are doing good and they plan to grow their business in global market competing with McDonald and Subway in order to provide healthy food to people all around the globe.

6) FRSH: FRSH, based in the capital and started by an alumnus of IIT Delhi, serves corporate clients in Gurgaon looking for healthy food — fresh salads, sandwiches and health juices. ‘Right now, FRSH serves corporate offices in Gurgaon. This unique concept of providing the working crowd a nutritious treat at their office desk has made them grow fast and accepted by many of their clients in Gurgoan.

7) Foodies Compass: At Foodies Compass, you can access and create extensive information related to your food, from what to eat at an untried restaurant with food pictures, ratings and reviews to uploading photographs of food you like.

Next could be yours! Explore opportunities near you to serve.

Find out what is missing, what is needed, what would satisfy ever hungry people, How could technology is used.

We could not have imagined ideas where no food is prepared but just served. This all is happening here. Anything crazy is most welcome in FOOD domain. Just go out and grab your pie !