Online Food Court

June 15, 2010

Portal ties up with 150 restaurants, offers unique delivery services

Sneha Mahale

Home delivery just got tech savvy. A food portal now claims to offer Mumbaikars a host of special services. The brainchild of Tanuj More, 27, FoodKaMood.com lets subscribers place home delivery orders online.

It also presents the users with unique mix the match options,letting people order an assortment of their favourite dishes from different restaurant across the city with just one click. What's more is that the patrons can also mention the time they would like the food to be delivered and they can pay with a credit card.

"I saw a similar service in the US and thought maybe such a portal could work in Mumbai. The name FoodKaMood needed a lot of brainstorming, as we wanted something with a strong recall value," says More, a banker-turned-entrepreneur.

How it works

The self-funded portal was launched in January this year. While the services was initially only offered to residents of the suburbs from Mahim to Colaba, they expanded to cover places like Bandra, Andheri and Powai among others soon after. Along the way, it also tied up with 125 to 150 restaurants around the city, from 'nukkad' (small) joints delivery option.

To register, all one needs to do, is fill a small form. The entire process is automated and once logged in, subscribers can access their services free of charge. There are no restrictions on how many times you can avail of the service or the area from where the call is made. Neither does the concept of a minimum order exist.

"However, if the restaurants has a minimum order policy or a zone that they don't deliver to, we will adhere to it," says More. FoodKaMood already has over 300 registered users and has seen a 150 per cent growth in recent months.

The orders needn't bee limited to cuisine, since subscribers can call for juices, ice creams, chaat items and even dessert. It needn't be area specific either. A person from Bandra can order in from a place in Colaba or even Borivli.

Users can also place orders for a future date and even save their favourite orders, with multiple addresses registered. "So if you are working and you have a favourite restaurant nearby that delivers, it could bee saved as one option. Similarly, you could save your home, gym and club addresses as separate locations for delivery," says More.

There's more. Several restaurants offer exclusive discounts to FoodKaMood patrons. A loyalty programme lets users earn points, which they can redeem against food orders late. one can also log on to their Facebook or Twitter page, read reviews, experiences and gather information on city restaurants.

The website plans to get even more user-friendly by changing its look soon. More says, "In the coming weeks, we will upgrade the portal to allow users to publish reviews, mention updates on discounts and give out a list of the new places in the city. There will also be a section where if a customer types in a specific type of dosa, we will give that user a list of restaurants where that dosa is available to order from."

New Mumbai residents needn't feel left out

Ordering food from restaurants in Navi Mumbai just got easier. Entrepreneurs Sachin Jawale and Ajesh Gaur were so impressed with the concepts of placing food orders on the phone in different cities that they adapted a similar version, Hello Meal for Navi Mumbai.

"The city is well planned. So the distinguished sectors and Palm Beach Road makes delivering food to different locations quite easier than, other cities," says Jawale, who takes orders from Koparkhairne to Kharghar and Millenium Industrial area.

Hello Meal has 40 registered restaurants Visits its website and you can browse through the menus of registered and other non-registered restaurants before calling the helping to place your order. " The delivery is free of charge if the order is from a registered restaurant and the area of delivery is in the same zone as the restaurant. If the order is from a different zone, the charges are Rs 30 for same zone delivery and Rs 60 for different zones," informs Jawale.