Siddharth Dhoka has had his fourth cupcake for the day. A roll awaits on the nearby table. He sure can’t have another bite. Luckily, Rahul, his elder brother, offers to help out.
The siblings have only recently ventured into the food business with an app called Food Palette. It brings together a number of home chefs and bakers and gives them a platform to showcase their goodies.
After five months of R&D, the app was launched on Valentine’s Day this year. Constant sampling of all the food the home chefs make is also part of the research.
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“My metabolism is really fast,” laughs 23-year-old Siddharth, and adds: “We love desserts and are always up for trying something new. We were beginning to get bored of the usual stuff available at bakeries. And, sometimes, it is a challenge to get new varieties of quality desserts.” This led them to come up with a platform that allows people to buy from talented home chefs around town.
The brothers are sticklers for quality. After shortlisting from the many applications, they featured six bakers and two chefs on the app. They are scouting for more promising cooks, but are conscious of not adding just about anybody and compromising on the quality.
Food Palette currently has 12 categories, including breads, vegan food and dips. “We try and add unique products that are not available in retail stores and in bakeries, restaurants or cafes,” he says. The plan is to launch in other cities as well.
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Siddharth and Rahul enjoy cooking. Siddharth often spent time in the kitchen when he was working in Bangalore. Rahul (29), during his student days in Warwick, U.K., used to be quite the popular cook among his friends, with his vegetable biryani and extra-cheesy pasta.
Even now, as quality control, they visit the kitchens of all the cooks who wish to be featured on the app to understand their cooking techniques and the ingredients they use.
“We guarantee freshness as everything is made to order after the user places an order. They can customise the products by calling the baker/chef directly through the app. We follow a minimum one-day delivery schedule, and the user cannot place an order for same-day delivery,” explains Siddharth.
In case you’re wondering what to order, the most popular goodies available on Food Palette are Filter Coffee Cupcakes, Rasmalai Cheese Cake and Chocolate-Coated Oreos.