“Tasya is a start up by seven women entrepreneurs in the city to empower women”, explains one of them, Devika Ramesh, who has a compressor business. These entrepreneurs have come together to help homemakers earn an income. They do this through a mobile app called Ms.Chef that connects homecooks to people who are looking to order healthy and home-made food.
“It is not easy to become a Ms. Chef. From over 60 entries, we narrowed it down to 20 after several rounds of interviews, food and kitchen audits by food consultants. Many women got rejected because of untidy kitchens,” explains Sashikala Sathiyamurthy, who runs an interior designing firm.
All the kitchens and chefs that come under Ms. Chef are approved by the quality standards set by FSSAI.
A clean kitchen is a prerequisite to become a Ms.Chef, along with a passion for cooking, reiterates Sashikala.
The 20 chefs on the app make around five dishes each and update it on the app. The customers’ orders on the app directly reaches the chef's kitchen. The Tasya team helps with home delivery.
Tasya curates and guides the chefs on the menu, taste, hygiene and food safety. The women whip up a variety from Hyderabadi chicken biriyani, and Kerala fish curry, to Italian and Mexican specialities. Shifa Arshad, a paediatric and preventive dentist says, “One of our chefs specialises in organic meals and the concept of food as medicine. Then there are those who make amazing snacks. Each chef decides on how many dishes she wants to make in a day. If she has time only to make a biriyani, she says so on the app. This helps the customers place orders accordingly,” explains Shifa.
With Deepavali around the corner, the app can be used to order traditional sweets, such as ellu urundai , saththu maavu urundai , and other sweets, some of them made from millets. “We have older chefs making sweets the way our grandmothers did. As their children and grand children are settled abroad this gives them an opportunity to revisit traditions and they are happy with it,” says Shifa. Tara Prasath who also has an interior designing firm adds that there are plans to include healthy nutritious meals for school going children through Ms.Chef. “Working couples can place orders for lunch for their children and we will deliver,” she says.
Another member of Tasya, wedding planner Reshma Srijay says, “Our objective is to have a meaningful dialogue with homemakers. “We are lucky we have the support of our families in our business, but there are many out there who are not. We want to reach out to them.”
The financial independence makes the women confident and artist Madhu Kannan gives her own example. “I was a homemaker for 18 years. When I got an opportunity to get back to work, it was liberating. I earned the respect of my family members. The Ms.Chef app is doing the same to so many other women.”
The recently launched app has crossed over 500 downloads and Devika says the plan is to take it pan India. “Any start up works when you have focus, and invest time and energy into it. We want to tell the home makers to empower themselves with this opportunity. We urge them to take charge and work independently. Men should involve women in financial decisions of the family. I never wanted to step out. My husband insisted I learn everything. Because of that, when I lost him three years ago, I was able to manage,” says Devika.
While Sashikala and Shifa recount how the journey exposed them to a variety of cuisines, Rachel Premnath, CEO of an IT company, says they ensure junk food is out. “We meet every Monday and brainstorm ideas. Late comers for the meeting attract a penalty,” she says. Tasya has seen a visible change in women they have reached out to.
They are forthcoming, share new ideas and are bold. This motivates Tasya to focus on its dream - of empowering one crore women by 2020.
To know more about the Ms Chef app, call 99439-90959, e-mail: tasyaindia@gmail.com or visit www.mschef.in You can download the app from Google playstore
