In the battle of the biryanis , Arsalan’s potato-laden version has its staunch supporters. And sandesh isn’t the same unless it is from Balaram Mullick. The argument over who invented rosogolla can be solved over a couple of the sugar-soaked chhena dumplings — we can conclude that it simply doesn’t matter. With Durga Puja around the corner, Bengalis around the country don’t have to travel all the way to Kolkata to sample these signature dishes. JustMyRoots (JMR), a food-tech platform, offers to bridge the gap by shipping speciality dishes from iconic restaurants to 21 cities across the country.
CEO and founder Samiran Sengupta says the idea is to tap into the nostalgia that India’s largely migrant population have for the food of their hometown. Apart from the sweets, savouries and cooked dishes, their offerings include fresh fish like hilsa and produce like gondhoraj lebu. The platform has also partnered with restaurants in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Lucknow, with plans to expand to Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi, among other cities, by the end of the year.
Taste of home
The concept is simple: visit the website or app and order like you would on a food-delivery platform like Swiggy or Zomato. The only difference is that you have to wait a few days before it reaches you. However, Sengupta reiterates that the food reaches their customer within 24 hours of being prepared. Another option that JMR offers is Direct From Home. “This is a big hit with parents whose children stay in different cities. They can ship a home-cooked meal to their child for special occasions, or simply because they are missing home,” he explains. The food is picked up and packed much like it is from their restaurant partners, and delivered within the same time period.
Their other USP is the packaging, he says. Although other sites like PlaceOfOrigin.in ship sweets, snacks, dry fruits, namkeen, pickles, jams, tea and coffee, the fact that JMR deals with freshly-cooked dishes, put the focus on the supply chain. “We spent nine months to a year just perfecting the packaging based on both customer and partner restaurant feedback. We finally settled on a product from Israel, which maintains the temperature of the food between five and eight degree Celsius, which is ideal for transportation,’’ he says. Customers will have to heat the food before consuming, as it will be maintained at this optimal temperature while it is being shipped. Future plans include expanding to China and other South East Asian countries by the end of this year, or early 2020, to cater to the Indian Diaspora population. It is also close enough to fulfill their 24 hour promise.
Details: justmyroots.com
