How Rachna Rao is helping home chefs make money straight from their kitchens
Bengaluru-based Rachna Rao's FoodyBuddy is helping home chefs sell food cooked in their kitchens to neighbours who don’t have the time or inclination to cook but want to eat freshly-cooked homestyle meals.
How many times have you walked into your building after a long day and got overwhelmed by aromas of food being cooked in other apartments? And how many times have you wished for some of it? Well, now you can have it, thanks to this woman entrepreneur.
Most of us often crave for home cooked meals but succumb to ordering on Swiggy, Zomato, and Uber Eats as we don’t have the energy or inclination to cook, which is neither healthy nor cost-effective. There are many women in India who already cook every day (sometimes twice a day) for their families - an underrated and unappreciated task.
Noticing this trend, Rachna Rao and her husband realised that they can solve two problems at once. In 2016, the duo founded FoodyBuddy - a food startup that connects food lovers and home chefs on one platform. On one hand, people would get fresh home cooked meals by home chefs. And then, home chefs could actually run a business from their kitchens at their convenience.
HerStory caught up with Rachana Rao, Co-founder of FoodyBuddy, to find out more about her journey as an entrepreneur and how FoodyBuddy is bringing food lovers together - one meal at a time.
The Bengaluru-based startup aims to help these home chefs transform into business women at their convenience with minimal resources and investment. An IIM Bangalore graduate, Rachana has worked with Zynga as a product manager, and as the Head of Product for FarmVille 1 and 2.
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In December 2018, FoodyBuddy raised Rs 6 crore in its pre-Series A funding round led by Prime Venture Partners. This marked Prime Ventures’ first investment in the foodtech industry.
At present, FoodyBuddy is operational in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, serving healthy and fresh meals to the ones who need it and empowering home chefs at the same time.
While the home chefs decide the pricing and what and how much they want to sell, the platform takes a commission of anywhere between five to 10 percent. There is also a unique rating system where the customers can rate the dishes.