Nothing ships without the Approval of the Chief Tasting Officer at this Venture- Harley's Corner
Can you remember the last time you looked carefully at the street dog, or cooked food for one. Yes, you read that right! People can go to every extent for their loved ones even if they are animals, sometimes doing things which they would've never imagined they would end up doing like making ice-creams for your pet or celebrating his birthday.
Meet Ishmeet Chandiok, who has a passion for food and cooking. In his early days, Ishmeet used to work in the kitchen of his uncle's restaurant after college and during his holidays, thus working on his passion and gaining expertise in his craft.
Ishmeet did his bachelors in Hotel Management in 2001 and since then has worked with big players like Hyatt, JW Mariott and Kingfisher Airlines. Even though he was cooking, Ishmeet never thought he would end up cooking food for dogs. Life took a sharp turn for Ishmeet when one day in winters of December 2009 he saw a two month old pup at a construction site in Andheri and decided to bring him home and named him Harley based on his passion for bikes.
But even after offering the best of conventional pet foods to Harley for an year, he was disinterested in eating and did not seem to be excited about food. Ishmeet used his cooking skills and started cooking various dishes for Harley which he used to cherish with pleasure and look forward to the next meal.
When Harley was taken to vet for regular examination, the vet replied that Harley was in a great shape and was advised to continue the same diet.
Soon Ishmeet started cooking meals for other neighborhood pets as well where most of the pet dogs got accustomed to the meals and used to wait for the next meal.
After months of research on canine nourishment and numerous discussions with vets, pet food distributors and passionate pet owners, Ishmeet realized that there was a huge gap in the market for home cooked pet food. It was then that Ishmeet decided to expand it under the brand name "Harley's Corner" and started shipping the meals across the Mumbai using the service of the Dabbawallas.
What started as a home experiment in late 2011 has today transformed into a business that has a whole gourmet menu, which is not only different but also healthy and nutritious.
In the last one year Harley's Corner has started exporting packaged meals across the world. The meals are preservative free, have a shelf life of one year under room temperature and are packaged from Tirupur, from where they are sent to Mumbai and then shipped internationally.
When talking about the quality of the meals. Ishmeet proudly says -
"Harley is our CTO - Chief Tasting Officer and nothing ships without his approval."
To counter the cruelty and apathy towards animals and encourage people to adopt animals, Ishmeet has launched PAPT(Pets Are People Too). PAPT aims to be an all round solution for all animal related issues including diet, healthcare, legal, emergency distress and others.
Ishmeet works at the Kingfisher Airlines and has not been paid from past 11 months and being a completely bootstrapped venture Harley's Corner has been a difficult ride for him so far. Its really commendable to see such a passion in an entrepreneur. We wish him a great journey ahead.
Check out Harley's Corner.
