MUMBAI: Gyanendra Jha sounds almost happy to report that he has been sleep deprived since May 4. Every night, his eyes shut like clockwork at 11pm and open at 1 am when he must step out of his Thane warehouse full of sorted vegetables and fruits and head for the
APMC
market. There, Jha must negotiate his way through the fresh nocturnal haul of greens, reds and oranges, avoid the sliced pumpkins that have been touched by vendors while cutting, sometimes make a bid for auctioned hot items such as litchis and return by 8 am to help his staff make close to 200 deliveries in locked down and virus-gripped Thane.
Jha is the COO of Bhajiwala.com, a five-year-old vegetables and fruits delivery service that shut shop last year when tomatoes started selling at Rs 100 per kg and reopened recently in May after various old clients in Thane started hounding him with desperate requests during lockdown. Heavy demand has robbed the Kalyan resident of sleep, seen him holed up with 15 other calcium-and-vitamin-C-popping men in a borrowed warehouse, had him double up as delivery man at times and got him pining for his one-and-a-half-year-old son Aayansh. Still, Jha does not utter a word of complaint. "I know what joblessness feels like. I've been there for a year. So, I'm more than happy to be busy," says Jha, who is proud of not only paying all his employees full salaries at a time when others aren't able to but also that his thriving business just got its own app.
Besides sabziwalas who now confidently negotiate tomato prices in endearing English over WhatsApp, metros are awash in a deluge of fledgling delivery firms that are competing with bigger e-commerce players by bringing a variety of "quality" perishables within hours of ordering during lockdown. From Baba vegetables in Khar to Fishappy in Delhi, the surge in demand for home deliveries of perishables has seen many vendors grow technologically savvy to survive and thrive during the crisis.
Read more from this seriesThe Fresh Press (TFP), a startup that sold fresh juices, realised they had an opportunity to diversify when the lockdown was put in place. "We have reliable sources for procuring fruits and decided to go one step further and start selling them. Initially, we were not sure of getting a great response as there are already several players in the market who are delivering fruits. But we have an edge over others. Not only do we have a greater variety-- about 28 to 30 fruits and dry fruits-- on the menu but better quality and at lower prices," says Rahul Jain, founder of TFP. The startup joined hands with some housing societies in North Mumbai and put up stalls on their premises. "We give our customers a product guarantee. If any of our fruits have perished, the customer can get a replacement at no extra cost," says Jain.
In three months, business has done so well that the startup is going to rope in a Bollywood actor to be their brand ambassador and will start marketing online. There have been challenges though. "Packing material was not always available and since multiple orders had to be delivered during a single trip, we had to ensure heavy fruits like melons were not placed on top of smaller ones like Kiwis," recalls Jain.
Like TFP, Charkop-based Mahesh Gawde's doorstep fish delivery service, too, operates completely over WhatsApp. A member of the All India Game Fishing Association (AIGFA), Gawde has been engaged in fishing as a hobby for a decade. But he took up fish selling as a full time occupation only after work at a firm where he worked as a digital imaging technician dried up. Now, his fish business is doing so well that Gawde is looking for a successor to take over, once lockdown ends and he goes back to work at the firm again. "I did not have much capital investment to start off but knew where the best fish could be sourced from," he said.
Gawde's day starts at 3am as he heads to Madh Marve on his scooter. He buys fish in auctions conducted by fishermen's associations. By 6am, he is back home and starts stocking the fish in ice. "If the prawns aren't chilled enough, they turn black and fetch less money," Gawde said. He sends across a list of available stock to customers over WhatsApp. The fish is then packed as per orders and delivered to the customer's doorstep. The only hitch he has faced is being stopped repeatedly in police nakabandis.
"I don't have an epass that essential service providers during the lockdown possess. But the cops have been understanding so far and haven't charged me," he said. From 25 customers initially, Gawde has gone up to 150 in three months and sometimes finds it tough to handle everything alone. But his loyal customer base-- they start calling up if there is a slight delay in sending messages about the day's stock-- drive him to keep going.
The lockdown also spurred some startups to venture into untapped territory. Parthaa Kundu, founder of Delhi-based Fishappy, had a majority of his clientele in Gurgaon pre-lockdown. But with Delhi's borders getting sealed once
Covid-19
started to spread, Kundu had to look for new clientele inside the capital. "What worked for us was that families grounded at home preferred ordering raw food products and cooking them, rather than ordering pre-cooked meals. People were also concerned about COVID-19 infections if they stepped out of home. So even those living a stone's throw away from the fish market preferred my delivery service," says Kundu, who first collects orders from customers online, before conveying it to his network of verified vendors from whom he sources fish. His small team of employees then go over to collect the fish, pack them and deliver orders. "Advertising is only through word of mouth. I have understood people's tastes and business has gone up by about 80%," says Kundu.
While it may take long for Mumbai's flesh-and-blood fish and vegetable markets hobble back to their days of noisy, sprawling offline glory, Jha of bhajiwala.com--who finds himself politely telling customers that he does not deliver chicken and mutton--does not think the days of offline buying are over. "Many women have an emotional connect with the local sabziwala," says Jha. "They like to touch and feel vegetables before buying."
(This story is part of a series in association with Facebook. Facebook has no editorial role in this story)
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword.