It is very important for any human being to eat healthy and fresh in order to sustain the hardship of everyday life. The world has transformed into a cutthroat competition and because of this many of us leave our families and move to other cities to give a complete transformation to ourselves. In
the midst of everything, among the various thing one misses is “Ma ke haath ka khana” definitely is on the top most.
It happened one day when Saurabh, the Chief Eating Officer (CEO) at Jab We Ate, was in Mumbai for an official trip and the most importantly he missed was his home cooked food. He thought there are so many people like him who leave their city and move to bigger cities for a better opportunity. His this thought gave birth to “Jab We Ate”. This food startup is founded and seed-funded by Saurabh Dhanuka himself who is enthusiast about digital marketing and have been worked in IT sector for quite a long time. He completed his Executive MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication too.
Saurabh started his startup journey in his hometown city of Kolkata and when asked about inspiration, he said, someone very close to him told him one day, “Love cannot be described, it must be tasted” and this statement gave rise to Jab We Ate, an online food delivery system, an initiative to fill the hungry bellies with most relished home-made food.
Saurabh said, “finding good home cooked food is very challenging for some while crisis for others where there is no time for people to cook and eat healthy home cooked food”. Jab We Ate is managed entirely by Saurabh himself along with his cousin Anuj, a CA by profession. He started Jab We Ate on a mission to solve the home cooked food delivery problem in Kolkata.
Jab We Ate is an on demand, food delivery startup where the main focus is on healthy, home-cooked delicacies which anyone can eat on a daily basis. It is a simple effort to bring home cooked food as opposed to exotic corporate class too. Jab We Ate is currently operational from Salt Lake and Lake Town area of Kolkata and delivers food in a major part of the cities covering entire of Northern and Southern Kolkata.
The USP of Jab We Ate is freshness and quality. They start preparing food only when the order is placed. Basically, they follow a zero inventory mechanism where food is cooked fresh every day and this theory of Saurabh makes him stand out with his competitors.
Saurabh said, “It was never a cake walk for me to start this. Neither I had any investors nor I had any good source in this industry who could mentor us.” He did his own R & D, met few companies from the same industry in Delhi and Mumbai, gathered lots of information, tested and then started Jab We Ate. He had to understand everything from the working of a kitchen to sourcing of the right ingredients. It took him almost a month to decide on the name of his startup along with its tagline and color combinations. Saurabh believes, “It’s all about a name game today and I wanted to have something very realistic and nothing funky and humorous”. Saurabh narrated us that he was going through lots of personal problems during the time when he was about to begin with his startup, but nothing stopped him from starting his entrepreneurial journey.
Jab We Ate specializes in the thali system offering different varieties of thalis from across the country like Punjabi Thali, Rajasthani Thali, Sindhi Thali, Hyderabadi Thali, Gujarati thali, Jain thali, Diet Thali and so on. Saurabh believes that thali is a course meal that is sufficient for one single person. Along with these thalis, they also serve various customized dishes along with combo dishes in Italian, Chinese and Mexican cuisine. The order is placed via phone/email and once they get the order, they start preparing the dishes and food is delivered right at the time. Saurabh added,”We don’t make any false commitment in terms of delivery. If we feel its gonna take 60 minutes, we tell the same to the client and they appreciate it”.
Saurabh said, “My Mom has been the best cook for me but I always felt that she did not get any platform to show her talent.” This thought of his made him start with an initiative which is called “Be Your Own Chef”. Here anyone can register themselves as a chef for Jab We Ate. For example, if someone is good in cooking Mix Sauce Pasta so we help them to find the right belly for their specialization. They prepare the food, our delivery boys go to them, pick up the food, pack it and deliver it. These chefs are paid on a monthly basis.
Jab We Ate also has a “Gift A Meal” concept. All you need to do fill up a requisite form with your details and the details of the person whom you want to gift a meal. The food is delivered with care with a personal hand written note.
Jab We Ate definitely looks like a welcome initiative for a lot of people craving for home cooked food. The biggest challenge of this industry is the quality of food, packaging of it and most importantly retaining of delivery boys. There has been a lot of time when Saurabh himself has delivered food to his customers. He added, “when I am very hungry and the food doesn’t reach to me on time, it feels miserable”. I don’t want my customers to face this issue ever.