Hubli teens turn food entrepreneurs

Hubli: Four teenagers, studying in different colleges, have started Maatru Paaka (Mother-made-food) to cater for special events and employ ten homemakers on a part-time basis.Many people and organizations bored of hotel food are getting food catered by these teenagers. However, due to time constraints and their studies, their service is available only holidays and in the evening. Shreyas Melbuddhi, 17, Shashwati Patil, 19, Pavan Punyavant, 19, and Navya Kadekar, 18, manage the logistics, quality checks, finance and identifying homemakers. In the past two months, they’ve had a turnover of Rs 27,000 and a profit of Rs 7,000. Shreyas, a 1st PU student of Vidyaniketan College, said all of them were part of the TiE Young Entrepreneurs programme. “When we came up with a business plan, we visited many companies and paying guest accommodations to understand if it would work,” he said. Navya, a 2nd PU student at JG College of Commerce, approached homemakers and found many wanted to work from home. “Many of them from middle-class families can’t go to work as they have family responsibilities. But they’re ready to work from home. We found consumers are looking for home-made food.”Shashwati, a 1st year BCom student of Nalanda College, has some conditions for homemakers. She met over 20 homemakers but selected only 10 based on the cleanliness of their kitchens. “We provide aprons, gloves, headcaps free of cost and they must wear them. There’s no compromise in quality of food,” she said. Pavan, who is a 1st year BCom student at Global College, went to many hotels and catering services to understand pricing and menus. “As our food providers are happy with a small profit and consumers are glad to pay well for quality items, we get about about 15%-25% profit. With it, we buying safety gear for homemakers and containers to carry food from the suppliers’ homes,” he said.“We plan to do this on a regular basis once we complete our studies,” he added.Homemakers Shashikala P and Medha Patil said being involved in constructive work is important than earning money. “However, if we can get a little money for it, it’s fine,” they said.CustomerspeakThey have done catering for our company’s meetings. They’re very punctual and quality-conscious in their service. Our employees enjoy the food. BY Vijaykumar | operation head, Ignite Career Confidence