Engineering student’s device costs Rs. 1 lakh and can make 700 dosas a day
An egg puff costs you Rs. 10, a vegetable burger Rs. 20, but a dosa often costs you more than Rs. 25. A crispy red, hot masala dosa is arguably the most common food item in Tamil Nadu, but by no means one of the cheaper items. This prompted Eshwar Vikas, an engineering student, to think of a machine that could produce dosas in seconds and make them cheaper.
Dosas, pooris and chappatis are hand-made, while burgers and pizzas are manufactured. This explains the difference in pricing. Also, finding skilled dosa-makers is not easy, he says.
Two year ago, the electronics engineering student of SRM University here started working on a small dosa-maker. The table-top piece, approximately the size of a microwave oven, takes less than a minute to bring out a dosa. You can choose the kind you want — thick, thin, crispy, uthapam or kal dosa. The batter is spread and dispersed, and the cooked dosa is peeled and rolled out. After every dosa, the machine uses an internal mechanism and water to clean the hot plate.
The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has already produced an automated dosa machine, but Eshwar explains that he wants his prototype to be very different. “Those machines are very bulky and use a sophisticated mechanism to spread batter. They were mainly for use in hostels. We have used simple techniques with DC motors, sensors and valves,” he says. His ‘Dosamatic’, meant for smaller restaurants and retail outlets, will cost one-third the price of an existing automated dosa-making machine that costs around Rs. 3 lakh.
A native of Hyderabad, Eshwar always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Two months ago, an international bank offered him a plush job but he was not interested.
Eshwar has spent over Rs. 6 lakh on his Dosamatic, funded mainly by his earnings from internships. “Smaller restaurants make at least 400 dosas a day. This machine can make 700,” he says.
Keywords: Eshwar Vikas, automated dosa machine, CFTRI, SRM University, Dosamatic
My comment attracted a few responses. Mr. Arun compared it to the grinder and mixie. I think it is not yet comparable. People do not buy grinders for INR 1 lakh. Mr. Ajay mentioned that it will work abroad, where labour is expensive. Yes it may, but think about it – in any place where demand for dosas is 700 per day, will it be difficult to find an Indian who can work at a low wage?! Mr. Venkatesh mentioned the mentality of discouraging youngsters. That’s one way of looking at it. I look at it as opening the eyes of youngsters so that they don’t make costly errors. And Mr. Vignesh mentioned that others besides hotels would use the machine. Maybe, if they too find it difficult to find cheap labour and are willing to cough up INR 1 lakh.
My basic point is that automation will not work in a commonplace business environment where labour substitution for the automation is cheap. Disagree if you want, but ignore this insight at your peril. It’s the first thing a VC will ask Mr. Vikas.
Great entrepreneurial spirit shown here..Instead of accepting a good job,you took the rough path of entrepreneurship and achieved your dreams(success)....Hats off man :)
Good idea. It has to be marketed intelligently. Rather than expressing
rated capacity as 700 per day, we should look at it as 40 dosas an hour
(assuming restaurant works 15 hours a day) or a dosa every minute and a
half! Is it not more impactful?
Congrats Eshwar! This is a very nice innovation. One question I had was how the machine can be adapted to make different types of Dosas. From my limited experience, every time I order Dosas (even here in the US), there are at least 8-10 types with different fillings / spreads etc. So I am just curious how your machine can help with making different types of Dosas quickly - if not, it may still take human intervention at some point. Having said this, I still feel this machine will be highly relevant for basic Dosas at stands and small restaurants
Excellent first step. Congratulations. That is the to go for modern India. Invention and technology. The total system development is the next step.
But you can make money even with this first step and use the earnings to develop the total system from raw materials to dosa.
I appreciate your ambition and drive. We have your back Eshwar Vikas.
Kindly provide the contact details of persons for articles like this so that it reaches the end users while it benefits the innovator.
Good invention, please spread usage of this machine in India. We need good quality dosa at affordable prices. Please find a good marketing person and market this product well. All the best. Please give ur contact mobile no. i want to meet u to discuss and see how it works practically,then i decide to buy.
Congratulations to Eshwar! For the system to succeed, he needs to invent a complete package that includes devices to make Dosa dough and chutney. Mobile van Dosa makers will build upon that. He should get business help and develop franchises so that thousands of franchisees can start businesses using his machines. He may approach banks to finance the business. Good wishes.
Hats off to you dude! you have proved yourself as an engineer! congrats to that. I believe in this product, you have a lot of customers for this product!Dont give up!India needs you! @Rajeev Iyer-I dont accept your point, do you think hotels are the only places where this is needed? There hostels of educational institutions, social organizations, orphanages, big cultural events, etc.,where quality is the second factor compared to quantity. Think out of the box like Eshwar, you will find opportunities! And, you are not only a bad cook!
Easwar must now export his ideas of automatic dosa by machinhe to all the capitals of the country,viz Mombai, Delhi and Kalkautta and andra pradesh and also Gujarat (chappathi) whihc will spread in and outer india.and this will be greatly advantages to busy centre of catering as well.When u make dosa ,u can as well chappathi as well, more so well receed in northern part of india,including Punjab.Let him one by one.
Great story, great comments ( Except tht one by Rajeev Iyer who has typical Indian mentality of discouraging younsters) So what do I see as an innovation.. ? Yes the batter has to be man made. In our family when we have a dosa night we have to wait for our turn to get our dosa. For the one preparing ( my wife & I), it becomes a long process (simultaneous use of 2 pans helps but not much) Many critics may not appreaciate this limitation. Dosa is a continuous process while Idli & Vada, Pongal etc. are batch process. ) Yes that is the innovation , get them out in under a minute & address the issue of a long process of preaparation. Critics: Please see the positive. Pricing is an issue but the prices always come down with large volume of sale & if this performs as we wish it does, then great!! Otherwise Mr Eswar, please look at the failure as a stepping stone to the next idea you may have.
In the early 90s a company claimed to have made a machine for automated Dosa production and got wild funding from a high flying financial institution. The entrepreneur went to town hailing himself as 'Dosa King' and the institution quietly wrote down its investment. Looks like the quest for a dosa machine is emulating the 'perpetual engine'. All the best to the newest kid on the block.
Inspired by your entrepreneur spirit Eshwar. Keep improvising your model until it is ready to reach all Indian homes. I would love one which can make dosa and idli which are essential for a home.
Hi Rajeev Iyer. I can agree most of your views that automation fails when labor is cheap. But think of it this way, his machine has huge potential in the western countries where all of - labor cost, abundance of labor and cost of ingredients all work against common man. So, Eeshwar's innovation has enormous potential if he can look at marketing it in the right direction.
Good work Vikas. Could be a game changing one who knows..@Rajeev- ppl said this when one invented grinder and mixie too.
Congratulations to Eshwar and wishing him all the best for success in this project. Also congratulations to his parent for their support and SRM university in enabling students with innovative entrepreneur skills that this country really needs at this time.
For this project in-depth product specification or details are not covered in depth by the staff reporter. This is only a news report. There are many good advices and feedback from the readers in the comments that I sincerely hope Eshwar reads them and put them to good use. One should keep improving on an innovation to succeed!
You should not stop at just Dosa machine. Hope you will continue to work on many more innovative useful products in future.
All the best!
Great job Eswar :)
Don't pay heed to naysayers and keep your spirit of entrepreneurship strong. India needs engineers like you to move forward. Please try to apply for a patent as this might protect your time and intellectual property.
Hope to eat a dosa made by your invention soon.
All this is fine and his machine is probably an improvement on the CFTRI one, but the basic premise about the current price of the dosa being higher on account of it being hand-made needs serious reconsideration as is the contention that it is difficult to get dosa cooks. Making a dosa is one of the easiest things to do, and even I can make one, though I am otherwise a very bad cook. The key in dosa making is not the maker, but the batter, and the frying pan and the heat. This machine only replaces the human making the dosa, but the batter still has to be made the regular way. Hence the cost etc will not really come down, because as opposed to investing a lakh in the machine and then maintaining it regularly, the restaurant can easily get a novice cook from the rural areas at a dead cheap salary and train him in a week or so to make decent dosas.
Hence, Eshwar Vikas - Congrats on some nice engineering, but sorry about your poor business sense. Automation fails if labour is cheap.
All the very best to the budding entreprenur in Eshwar. Fantastic idea. Masala Dosa is one of the most desired of the Indian food abroad. But the foreign chefs don't have the expertise to make it crispy. I feel this machine will help in Indian restaurants all over the world.
Good invention, please spread usage of this machine in India.
We need good quality dosa at affordable prices. Please find a good marketing person and market this product well. All the best.
Good...Time to create the product with affordable price.Congrats!!
Excellent .Keep it up.Indian homemakers will definetely bless you.
Some 20 years ago, a Chennai firm called Indian Fine Foods Fermentation said it had made a dosa machine called Dosa King. It even sold shares in the company, promising that dosais would be available for just five rupees and that the machine itself was compact. It was unable to convince hotels, hospitals and canteens to buy these desktop machines. Soon, the company went belly up. I hope Easwar is aware of these and has learnt from their failures. I wish him well.
Congatulations.
Wishing you a grand success with your innovation.
Letr this Dosa machine, be tried in all saravana bhvan, on a trial, andit will catch up other fast moving RFestaurents, adayar ananda bavan,
dasapraikash etc.Let there be encouragement fo rthis young talented engineer which will encourage to do other things in cluding Iddly makings as well.
Well Done Eshwar!. Your story is inspiring.
Way to go, good idea , but need to ensure it reaches those who need it.
Good innovation. But from the hoteliers point of view , when he just
invest few thousands as salary for a few employees, he needs to think
twice before investing around a lakh of rupees for this and who is going
to take care of the maintenance?
Wish him all the best
Great invention, Eshwar! Best wishes for a successful roll-out.
Way to go Eshwar! India needs you kind of talent that can create goods at cheaper price but with good productivity. Plz present this to state and other states also...hope you will be recognized at a wider audience.
Plz create a website and do demos. People will come forward to purchase this.
Appreciate your innovation and creativity.
Way to go. I am really proud of what Eshwar has done. People like Eshwar
will inspire others. It is a good start and I am confident that many
more Eshwar's will pop up and provide solutions to many of India's
unique problems.
Kindly provide the contact details of persons for articles like this so
that it reaches the end users while it benefits the innovator.
Instead of lucrative jobs, spending time on such an innovative ideas is to be encouraged.
Hats Off!! Keep the pace going Mr. Eshwar.
Good job dude !! If you can actually bring up a smaller version which can be used at home it
will be great ! India needs entrepreneurs like you !! I hope you find a right sponsor or
investment banker to make this a better product and a brand of your own ! Since I generally
avoid making Rosas because of the time it takes to make them , I will be one of your first
customers when a smaller version is out .
I appreciate the efforts of Eshwar Vikas. However, the report might do him a disservice by wrongly using cost factor. The price of a pizza is more than Rs.100. While the price of a dosa is about Rs. 50. In a lower end version, the pizza might cost Rs. 50 and a dosa could cost Rs. 25. The point is: As such, South Indian food varieties are much cheaper than the western counterparts. (A south indian meal with many courses will cost just Rs.100 - while western ones are costly.) The benefit of Eshwar's effort is indeed automation in times of finding a good Dosa master.
Eshwar, Keep up your great work. We need people like you in India.
It is really exciting and this machine will have great demand.Well done!
All the best....smaller ones may not show interest as dosa is always made to order..never
mass manufactured like other dishes..no one stocks dosai and reheating it will spoil the its
structure and make it rubbery and difficult to eat..I think Eshwar, the inventor has
thought about these.he may have a trial run at one of the so many restaurants in
Hyderabad/secunderabad and then patent it
This Dosa made in a Jiffy as proclaimed by the inventor of the Machine can be termed the Instant Dosa like Instant Coffee,Noodles et al. The Food Industry is making rapid advances.Soon everything will be so automated that restaurants will be able to increase business twice or thrice over because of the very little time taken for preparation.
A machine that makes dosas in a jiffy: This great! We need innovators like this. I admit, I am more western than Indian, but my family loves dosai, and Masala dosa is their favorite. When we go to India, we prefer going to dosa special restaurants than McDonald's or Pizza Hut. Hot foods like idly and dosa also eliminates water-borne problems.
Congrats Eshwar ! Well done - good use of your engineering skills.
Stands as inspiration to many engineering students. Appreciate The
Hindu also for publishing these kind of inspiring articles.
A good idea. He must get patented before others copy it and leave him out in the cold.
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