Gowri Lakshmi Ramakrishnan’s day started at 5:00 am today. She is a home-maker based in R S Puram and says, “I cooked three kilograms of beans poriyal , four litres of vendakkai sambar and 60 paniyarams and packed them in steel containers. I can’t wait for people to try my dishes.” Gowri is among the 15 women who work with Momade. The Coimbatore based start-up, founded by Sujay MC, Reni Auriliya and Preethi Sridharan in February, provides vegetarian meals for lunch and dinner on a subscription basis. “We connect people who don’t have access to home-cooked food and moms who are willing to cook for others,” says Reni.
Momade offers three options: office, home, and diabetic-friendly lunch. The first two options include one chapati , a vegetable poriyal , kootu , two gravies, and rice. “For the office lunch, we mix the gravies with rice while for home lunch, we serve them separately,” says Preethi. The diabetic-friendly lunch has four rotis , gravy, poriyal , kootu and curd rice. The dinner menu has South Indian tiffin items with two gravies. “We work with a nutritionist who help us with the menu,” she adds. It took them three months to put the menu together. “We tweaked it according to customer feedback. We realised that people were looking for simple meals that reminded them of their own homes,” Reni says.
The women who are part of the team have been chosen after multiple rounds of a selection process from 120 applications received. “We had a personal interview followed by two food tasting sessions. We also visited their homes and inspected their kitchens for hygiene and ventilation,” says Preethi.
The moms work in turns and each person is assigned two to three dishes a day. “They are also responsible for sourcing the ingredients. The menu is sent to them a month in advance and we get a confirmation if they will be able to deliver on the days assigned to them,” says Reni. To avoid any kind of wastage, the team informs the cooks about the exact quantity required a day in advance. “Once the food is prepared, our delivery agents collect it and bring it to our packaging centre at Masakalipalayam. We taste each dish to ensure quality. We also provide feedback to our cooks everyday,” says Reni. The team packs the food in recyclable plastic plates. “Every month, we collect the used plates and send them for recycling. We are looking for biodegradable alternatives,” she says.
- They deliver from Monday to Saturday.
- Cost per meal ranges from ₹100 to ₹110 including packing and delivery charges.
- They have 50 subscribers as of now and deliver in a radius of 10 km from Peelamedu.
- Momade plans to open a new packaging centre at Vadavalli soon.
- Call 9843355779 for details
Reni says that most of their customers are working professionals and senior citizens. “We regularly get calls from people living abroad asking if we could deliver food to their parents who live in the city. Last month, an 80-year-old told me that he did not opt for an old age home since he had access to healthy food at his doorstep.”
According to Reni, the moms who cook have also benefited as they are now confident and are earning a living. It feels good to know that we are creating an impact in society.”
