Good health comes first and the next is cutting down food wastage, says V.S. Praveen of Garden of Taste, a food Tech start up. It is a subscription-based meal order business model run by him, Shriram Karthick and Anand J.S.C. The idea came from his college days in hostel says Praveen. “We ate at a mess every day, but paid the money in advance for an entire month. It’s the same model we are trying to replicate.” Garden of Taste has E-dine subscription. People can opt for monthly offers (see box). Praveen, who heads the operations, believes food on subscription is the only way to control wastage. Right now, on weekdays they serve food to corporate offices and colleges, and in the weekends, they offer a ‘Sunday Meat’ menu for families as well. “Before we started, we dined at every hotel in the city to find out what is lacking. We found that when it comes to non-vegetarian food, for example Chettinad or Ambur biriyani, the pricing was always high. Most middle class families stayed away from trying out these delicacies because of the cost. We thought why not offer these food at affordable rates,” says Praveen. So now they offer unique non-vegetarian combos to families on weekends. “It’s been nine weeks and we have sent out nine different combos like Hyderabadi special, Chettinad biriyani, Ambur biriyani and a barbecue menu. This helped us rope in more families for our monthly subscriptions. The idea is to build volumes.” The Sunday combos are priced at ?249 (one person) ?419 (for two) and ?799 ( for four). The Ambur Chicken biriyani combo comes with Ambur chicken biriyani, Ambur kozhi uppu milagu curry( dry), salna, stuffed onion kulcha, boondi raita and dates kesari. The weekend menu has already got them repeat customers. “Some of them have subscribed to E- Dine, where they offer dinner for an entire month. We want to reach out to nuclear families, especially the ones with working women. Because of late working hours, they settle for ready made packed food and miss out on nutrition. We ensure a healthy dinner option with items like kathi rolls stuffed with mixed vegetables, fried rice, roti and sabzis, and South Indian dishes too.” There are also 99 varieties of dosa on offer. They will soon introduce E-deli for breakfast with items like dosa and idli, and E-meals for lunch. They are working on a fitology menu that includes vegetable salad and chicken breast, keeping in mind the fitness enthusiasts. The monthly subscriptions can be customised. Praveen is aware of how competitive and highly sensitive food industry can be and he says all steps have been taken to ensure hygiene and on-time-delivery. “We procure fresh produce from Uzhavar Sandhai. We use cold pressed oils and ghee instead of refined oils. There is no synthetic colouring agents in our food and the masalas are ground in-house. Meat is sourced fresh only once the order is placed.” A team of chefs operate out of a centralised kitchen. Safe packaging Care is taken to ensure safe packaging as well. “You should never pack piping hot food in plastic boxes. That is damaging to health. We allow the cooked food to settle down to 80 degrees and only then pack,” explains Praveen. Next on the agenda is a fusion menu. Says Praveen, “We are also looking at a fusion of South Indian and Italian cuisine where a dosa batter base is topped with cheese and pasta with lettuce and broccoli thrown in. We are also planning a blind menu, where you just pick your cuisine and we will surprise you with a special menu.”

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