Masalabox is a unique concept. It is a healthy tiffin delivery service that operates both in Bangalore and Kochi. It satisfies cravings of its customers without compromising on health. They deliver both South Indian/North Indian and Vegetarian/Non-vegetarian meals. Home cooked meals are in demand with people trying to make sure they eat healthy even when they can’t cook at home themselves, Masalabox is the solution to this problem.
Masalabox is envisioned as a business with huge social impact. It not only provides customers with much needed home made food but also provides a sustainable income stream for homemakers.
Tell us about MasalaBox. What is the inspiration behind it?
Masalabox was started in 2014 with the aim of providing healthy home-made food to customers and empowering Home makers. While our Founder Harsha Thachery was pregnant, she was trying to find avenues to fulfill her cravings for a tasty meal, but often had to trade off health for taste at the local restaurants. Only restaurants offered home delivery at that time. And that’s when she first discussed the idea of getting freshly-cooked home food delivered.
The food is procured from our network of home chefs, who prepare decadent dishes in home kitchens that are compliant with the sanitization guidelines. Once prepared and packaged, our delivery team takes over and arranges for timely delivery so that our customers get to enjoy fresh, tasty, homemade meals, served straight from the kitchen to table.
What makes us unique, if you ask?
Our food is made in small quantities and love & passion are the only additives that go into it!
Masalabox is envisioned as a business with huge social impact. It not only provides customers with much needed home made food but also provides a sustainable income stream for homemakers.
Where is MasalaBox based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?
Masalabox is based in Cochin, and operates in Bangalore.
We started out from Cochin. The idea was to run a live pilot wherein we go through the entire process of onboarding and upskilling the chefs and then delivering superior quality food to the customer. We have had multiple iterations taking into account the customer and chef feedback and have now arrived at a streamline model. Once these and the unit economics were figured, we decided to go live in Bangalore.
With the subscription model, we have also been able to take the logistic challenge head on and come on top. Since Bangalore has people from different regions, there is always a need for homemade delicacies and cuisines. Also we have chefs from different regions to cater these regional cuisine demands.
We have aggressive plans for the future and intend to open business in other major cities as well.
What are the places to which you provide your services?
Karnataka:
- HSR Layout
- Indiranagar
- Marathahalli
- Whitefield
Swiggy, Potafo and Zomato are the names that come into one’s mind when they think about food delivery; these services allow people to choose from a variety of options. In such a time why do you think people will opt to order with MasalaBox?
Masalabox is not about bulk-produced restaurant food which is sold as a food product on platforms. Each product is cooked based on customer preference and cooked in small quantities for the specific customer. From Breakfast to Dinner, we have a curated menu from home chefs which our customers use to pre-order from our app or website. Each dish is cooked with love and passion and we believe in serving quality food.
We take party orders as well.
Our meals and delicacies are 100% homemade. We are making 2 platforms through masalabox : 1st for people who miss Mom’s food and prefer Home made food over any other option. 2nd for home chefs who have a passion for cooking. We are providing them a platform to explore their cooking skills further and serve Ghar Ka Khana.
How do you empower women through MasalaBox?
Every meal purchased empowers a home chef who is passionate about cooking. Chefs are not only getting monetary benefits, they also receive recognition based on feedbacks
We consider them as homechef partners, and we have on boarded more than 500 homechefs till date.
How has Covid-19 and the lockdown affected your business?
As a team, initially it affected us badly, and we faced many challenges in coordinating and getting hold of lockdown deliveries. The Supply chain was affected the most during this time. Many homechefs couldn’t continue with us because of lack/ access to raw materials and our Delivery Executives had faced barricades in many places.
We are taking all safety measures and our home chefs are also very careful by sanitizing the kitchen and cleaning food materials before cooking. We trained our delivery team as well on taking extra measures making sure the food is delivered safely to customers.
As a team we have been working and trying to make homemade food available to maximum possible customers.
During this pandemic, it’s really uncertain for a person to order from a hotel and a single plate of food might involve multiple people from start to end. We as a homemade food delivery service, tried to deliver homemade food to all subscribers in need; in short, making homemade food even more accessible during these tough times.
Have you faced any challenges to manage logistics?
Initially, yes. With the shops being closed and roads being barricaded, it was a bit difficult to manage the supply chain. Apart from that, the homechefs found it difficult to cope up with the demand due to the lack of access to raw materials.
But soon, we were able to overcome it with the support of our trusted vendors and dedicated delivery team.
Who are your customer base?
Our customer base is basically everyone who is a patron of home cooking. Everyone who wants to order home made food or wants to do home cooking or spread the love about home cooking is our target user-base.
Can you explain the process of ordering at MasalaBox?
Placing an order on Masala Box is quite simple. We have 5 meal menus for subscriptions and meal size options from 5 days to 30 days.
- Deluxe Combo
- Classic Combo
- Bread Combo
- Mini Meals Combo
- 3 – in – 1 Combo
Within the above meal plan options, the customer can choose his preference on Veg or Non-Veg, poultry, South Indian cuisine or North Indian cuisine. Further, with the help of our app/website, you can even choose your delivery slot, choose the ideal meal plan as per your budget and lifestyle, and even choose the number of days of the plan.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?
Because it’s an online platform for ordering food, many people think it’s a normal dabbawala service or a restaurant based app.
But what stands out is our 100% home made meals and delicacies which are not precooked for customers and we partner with homechefs instead of partnering with any restaurant chains. The product is cooked after we
receive the order and for this reason, our deliveries are minimum 2 days after the order date, ensuring no wastage of food at the same time.
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