Please tell us about yourself.
I, Pritesh Vaishya, CEO and founder of FudCheff Hospitality Services along with my wife Rutu Vaishya, PharmD and co-founder started our company FudCheff.com, which is based in Nasik. We were high school sweethearts for many years until we got married in December 2014. I have a Bachelors degree in business administration from Pune while Rutu has graduated with a doctor of pharmacy degree from USA. Since we got married, both of us wanted to start a nationwide establishment that would benefit thousands of people.
When and how did you think about FudCheff?
Since childhood, I have been traveling in the train multiple times a year to see my mother’s maternal side of the family in Uttar Pradesh. Since Nasik is not as fortunate to have an airport, it did not leave us a choice but to travel in the train. Due to religious reasons, my mom has always had to carry food for the train travel. Couple years ago, when I was traveling with my mom, I noticed that many people carry their food with them as well. After speaking with them, I found that it can be very challenging to carry your food along especially if the journey is a couple days long. That’s when the idea of FudCheff clicked! Just like my mom, I wanted to provide fresh and hygienic food to train passengers that suits their religious beliefs as well.
Rutu and I started to do some exploration for the same. We visited various railway stations to find out the food quality and what the travelers prefer. Furthermore, we surveyed numerous passengers if they would like fresh, hot and hygienic food was delivered to their seat without any extra charge. Overwhelmingly positive responses lead us to our new startup FudCheff.
Introduce your Co-Founder/Founders and Team.
Founder and CEO: Pritesh Vaishya
As a founder of FudCheff, he overlooks and partners with the best vendors. Pritesh has always had a vision to do business nationally. With FudCheff, he wishes to fulfill his vision.
Co-Founder and Marketing Executive: Rutu Vaishya
As a customer service executive, Rutu makes sure that the customer is satisfied with the food experience and takes care of the backhand activities.
Managing Director: Kunal Udeshi
He has practical experience in catering & hospitality services and has knowledge into traveling & tourism business nationwide. As a managing director, Kunal’s responsibility is to make sure our clients receive their food order in a timely fashion and is up to the customer’s hygienic standards.
Sales and Customer Service: Team of 3 persons
Design and development: Team of 1 person
Tell us more about FudCheff, How is it different from other similar portals?
FudCheff is a user-friendly online portal/website where you can order your favorite food from over 150 cities and over 2000 trains throughout the country.
- FudCheff tracks the trains in real time to make sure the food in delivered on time even if there are any delays
- For people who are not as techno-savvy, you can call, SMS or contact us through whatsapp
- A customer service representative is available during business hours to place an order or answer any questions you may have
- FudCheff not only provides veg and non-veg food but our specialty is Jain food for our Jain pilgrims
What challenges did you face while setting up FudCheff?
Challenges are an integral part of any startup and we did face a few in the preliminary stages. Being a new startup, our vendors and customers did not show much trust in our services. Our vendors were not sure if we would provide them with adequate amount of business while our customers doubted the quality of the food. However, as a part of our planning stage, we did a lot of traveling in trains to try out the food from our vendors before we tied up with them. Now that our business is fully operational, we have not faced any major hurdles but are ready to tackle any during the process.
What’s the Current Path and future plan?
- we are currently serving 100 to 150 boxes daily .(approx )
- Our target by the end of one year is to go from 150 to 500 food boxes per day and our presence in 250 cities from 150
- Our marketing team focuses on target marketing especially for Jains
- We have been featured in Lokmat Times, a local newspaper to spread our motto
- Our mobile application is in the works and will be available within the next month
- Currently, we have over 1,300 followers on Facebook that keep increasing daily
- We also have active Instagram, Twitter and Google Plus accounts
Order online, by phone, SMS or What'sapp!! #fudcheff #snackonthetrack #fooddelivery #indianrailways pic.twitter.com/WvMKSkbTVL
— Fudcheff (@fudcheff) April 4, 2016
Pritesh shared his feedback about VID
“Viral Indian Diary is a great platform for new startups and entrepreneurs to showcase their vision and talents. In this era of technology, VID is playing an important role in exhibiting great minds from all over India and encouraging the youth.”
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