The unprecedented turn of events witnessed in 2020 impacted economies and businesses gravely.
Therefore, Rohit Gawli along with his friend Rohit Mhatre launched "The Lokal Kitchen" with one goal in mind: providing affordable and hygienic food to everyone around the city amidst the pandemic.
Simultaneously, Rohit also wanted to tap into the potential of talented home chefs by providing them with a platform to not only showcase their talents but also giving them the opportunity to grow their ‘Home Based Business'.
Lokal Kitchen has the vision to unite the country through localized home food experiences embracing a ‘Vocal for Local culture’. The brand is already associated with Home chefs coming from different backgrounds and cultures which allows them to offer a variety of cuisines.
Here are the excerpts from an exclusion interview with Rohit Gawli, CEO of the Lokal Kitchen:
Can you elaborate on the Lokal Kitchen App?
Lokal Kitchen is an app that aggregates home chefs and cloud kitchens across Mumbai. Anyone from any location in Mumbai can get access to chefs that offer a variety of cuisines ready to cater to your taste buds just like restaurants would be. Some of our chefs deliver food instantly or would accept a pre-order (typically a 24-hour gap) and Lokal Kitchen will deliver the food to your doorstep at a time that you have chosen. It is that simple and user-friendly.
How does Lokal Kitchen aim to uplift women homemakers?
In India, for decades we have seen women take up the roles of being primary caregivers to their families and a substantial portion of these women drop out of the workforce and commit to looking after their families. Many lose their financial freedom and struggle to make ends meet irrespective of whether they were working or are stay at home mothers. These trade-offs often come at the price of their self-image, putting their aspirations and desires on the back burner. Our country doesn’t recognise homemakers as employed citizens and provides no benefits or financial allowance in return. One thing they don’t lose is the ability to create magic in the kitchen as delicious food is churned out of millions of households made by these women day in and out with love for their families.
There wasn’t a platform or a central marketplace that could showcase their talent right from their turfs with zero investment and Lokal Kitchen is all about handholding these women. We bring home chefs on board with zero onboarding charges, we guide and advise them on how to run a food business, help them get a food license and bring them onto our app, these chefs take pre-orders so they don’t run into inventory troubles, we assist them in procuring fresh produce, handle door to door delivery (GHAR SE GHAR TAK), make timely weekly payments so they can earn on their own conditions and spread the love of their kitchens to the rest of the city. In the time to come, we aspire to see every other household run a successful food business from the comfort of their home bringing back power to the women.
People across the country have started believing in "Ghar Se Ghar Tak" ideology and have been providing homemade meals post-pandemic, what makes this app stand out from others?
Lokal Kitchen boasts of the largest chef database in Mumbai. Our chefs dish out cuisines that range from regional delicacies, mainstream popular street food to high-end global cuisine that we are used to ordering from restaurants. Some of our chefs specialise in cuisine that is available only at select 5-star hotels at ¼ the price. We strike the right balance between bringing local/regional delicacies to you prepared hygienically at affordable pricing. We aim to make some really innovative changes to our app in the time to come that would further strengthen our foothold in the home food aggregator space.
Is it confined to a particular city or state? If yes, any plans to expand it?
We are currently operating in Mumbai and Thane. Now expanding it to Navi Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad in the foreseeable future.
Please elaborate on how you plan to promote “Vocal for Local culture” in the long term?
We have all tried and tested the eating fads of the west from using olive oil to quinoa to see very little or no real benefits to our health at the cost of burning a huge hole in our wallets. Our bodies need nourishment with food that is grown in our own soil and not packaged in plastic. Local produce/spices from our land are then churned out into delicious goodness using recipes passed on from generations, keeping in mind the age-old wisdom of dos and don’ts of food preparation. Eating out vulture is starting to catch up in metro cities but we all know that you can’t be eating restaurant food all seven days a week but eating homemade food can never get old. You can get sick of eating pizzas that add to your waistline but daal chawal with a spoon of ghee will always speak to our hearts. This ideology forms the basis for us to promote local food made by local chefs at Lokal Kitchen.
Does the government give a helping hand in funding the start-up that emphasizes Vocal for Local especially during a pandemic?
In terms of Government help, there are a bunch of resources provided by the GOI to help startups connect to mentors, investors, and other businesses through the Startup India initiative, most of the fundings are focused on Space-Tech, Agri-Tech and other business spaces which does not apply to us
Since COVID-19 began, people have shifted to eating healthy and homemade foods, however, do you think it will continue to happen post-pandemic?
Indians have been subscribing to the eating healthy philosophy for over a decade now. As a culture, we have more insight than ever into what our local cuisine can do for our minds, bodies and souls. Many celebrities are endorsing these beliefs now. We expect to see this awareness translate into people preplanning their meals from a nutritional standpoint and aiming for holistic wellness than just losing or gaining weight. So yes, pandemic or not eating healthy, homemade food is here to stay for the long haul.
Now that we’ve overcome the second wave, we believe that the need to shift habits towards a healthier hygienic lifestyle is more than ever and one thing that we’ve learnt from this pandemic is how critical it is to keep your immunity strong. Practising and eating homemade food rightly helps you achieve those fitness results and people who are more focused on healthy eating habits would surely want to stick to it, however, we are also aware that there are cheat days too hence, we offer cuisines and dishes provided by chefs that are mood lifters and will surely raise some competition for the fast-food vendors.
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