Chennai food aggregator Bhookle, serving up nostalgia and mother’s cooking to food lovers

Arvind Ravichandran from Anna Nagar in Chennai – an engineer who worked with the best in the IT  industry and with brands like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and the like in the United States today has become a food aggregator with a twist. And the name he came up with for his venture, Bhookle (pronounced bhookal)  a derivative of Hunger in Hindi (Bhook), is already becoming popular with the youth who miss their mother’s cooking.

That it was a personal tragedy that gave birth to this Food App is a coincidence.

Incidentally, in 2021, Arvind was sent to India by Microsoft to erect infrastructure and set up its business team in India. He was at home in Chennai when his mother passed away, during Covid. After his mother’s demise, his craving for his mother’s cooking, and the wafting of similar smells from kitchens in the neighborhood got Arvind thinking of how good it would be if he could just know and ask neighbors for food.

But clearly, it is not done. But, it was around then that this idea got germinated in his mind — of an App to connect people like him and home chefs, who can cook but not sell or distribute their dishes.

“I started missing all these foods and dishes my mother made, and none of the food Apps could get me that,” Arvind said.

It was from this “personal problem” or rather the “problem solving” that he is so adept at, Arvind thought of a solution. And discovered the source to satisfy his own personal strong need for a ‘close substitute’ bordering on crude craving for his mother’s cooking – to get the traditional cooking happening in houses in the neighborhood and across the city served on his plate at home.

“It must be the same for everyone. Amma’s love will often, and only, be expressed in terms of her cooking and she always wants you to eat well and have that oh-so-satisfied look in your eyes,” Arvind said. And this is the kind of sentiment one wants others to live, and that’s the reason for doing what he is doing.

So, why not an App that matches the demand for and supply of home-made, authentic cuisine, not just from Tamil Nadu but from across the country from families from here, there, and everywhere settled in the Metropolis, thought Arvind, and bounced this idea among friends and professional colleagues. The technologist and the corporate honcho in him got down to work, and Lo in a few days, the Bhookle, was already up and running in his mind.

The 18 years he worked in the US with brands like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and the professional life he led in New York, the Mecca of free enterprise, egged him onto make this idea count – and he plunged into it. Has he come back for good? Possible, and possibly.

“My mother used to make 100 different kinds of sambhaar, some only she could come up with. These are things you can never find in any good, or very good restaurant anywhere. That’s the mother’s cooking with which everyone has a nostalgic touch and a strong yearning,” said Arvind as he explained the rationale behind Bhookle.

It is to cater to that nostalgia, that craving for the home-made, “maa ka haath ka khaana” of countless people who, by chance, are not able to avail for some reason or the other in big cities, like Chennai, that Bhookle is born, a food aggregating App that is taking on the Swiggys and Zomatos from the conceptual level to the logistics – all worked out to the T by Arvind and his lean, mean team of tech and marketing professionals.

Through an intuitive platform, Bhookle bridges the gap between home chefs and customers craving for something unique, healthy, and nostalgic. The App emphasizes quality and safety, with each home check vetted for FSSAI compliance and kitchen hygiene.

And why not? It is of course, an army of women, home chefs, and the odd passionate male cook, comprise the crucial part of the supply side logistics other than the delivery network which, at present, is outsourced to a third party. At the last count, the home chefs in Chennai numbered 117, and growing. The chef profile too in an interesting mix of traditional tam bhram maamis, to women from a cross section of the society in terms of class, and caste or creed. And then there was people from other states, cultures, and cuisines, now settled in Chennai for generations who offer a range of their culinary delights and prowess, making the Bookle’ offerings unmatched in terms of range, taste, and appeal. There are Keralites, Punjabis, Bengalis, Himachali, Rajasthani home chefs, among others who make this happen.

“Now there are some food artists in the home chefs who have joined Bhookle team, and it would be unfair to single out anyone, as each and every one has her or his own unique offering, be it in taste, range of items or both,” Arvind said warming up to the logistics he worked out, so far.

Another strong reason for pursuing this start-up is that it gave an opportunity to create a women empowered entity, to help them market their skills and products that they may not be able to, at all. A good painter need not be a good businessman and vice versa. It is here that people like us come in to create a thriving business entity out of meeting peoples’ desires and demands, he said, borrowing a line or two from his colleague who handles marketing – Uttara Nagaraj. He is the founding partner of Traffic Steer, a specialized performance and programmatic ad-tech venture with portfolio of several popular brands such as Uber, ClearTrip and FlipKart.

Home Chef Shamala Raghu, another co-founder is head of the Food.

“Of course, we want to be the Google of food business,” he said going into the naming of the company and added, “we also want to be the Netflix of Food offerings as the OTT does for entertainment, satisfying the needs and preferences of a diverse group of customers, each with a different taste and preference.”

“Also, now there is a ready market for home-made food and the good thing is that the people are ready to pay for it,” he said and from the customer’s perspective there is complete transparency as the home chef’s profile, their dishes with pics and description, ratings are all mentioned in the APP, and available at the click of a button. Each chef’s video story is available for the viewers who can order after satisfying themselves, the way the App is designed.

For instance, instead of ordering “sambar,” Bhookle users can order “Vidhya aunty’s Special Arachivitta Sambar.” This approach adds a layer of love, memory, and authenticity to every meal, creating a dining experience that goes beyond convenience.

And yes, a website is also in the works.

“This is not a new idea, there are several players who may have tried it earlier. But I am trying to create a market first, organize home chefs, building the logistics architecture with technology backing it. The idea that got sparked off in 2021 took at least one year to fructify and it became live only in 2023, because of all the groundwork that went into creating the ecosystem that sustains it.

Today there are 117 home chefs and likely this will be growing to 161 shortly, Arvind said and added, “We are soon entering Bangalore, and possibly within two months. December 2024 will see Bhookle entering Karnataka, and yes, already home chefs are excited to partner with us there too,” he said.

On an average, home chefs make between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 a month, depending upon their own energy, output, and taste of their offerings, he said. Several women are happy with the chance of making some money and it has become a stable livelihood for them. Then there are few who are not doing this for money, but to tell the world their artistry when it came to culinary art, and some want to ensure that their state cuisines get popular and thrive. There is one Narayanan, a retired employee, but a passionate home cook. He is not all doing it for money, but because he loves to and is only craving for compliments –and pesters us to get the feedback from customers to him.

What one thing Arvind managed as the founder and CEO, he has managed to build a small but effective team that understands food and understands business and blending the two.

A co-founder Shamala is the person who is the ultimate taste-tester and can evaluate any dish from any part of India. She is one of the most successful home chefs in Chennai with her talent showcased in several prestigious venues such as Hyatt, Mustard and Hamsa. She is also the founder of Haritham Events which is Chennai’s leading event management company.

It is not for nothing that Bhookle has already won the prestigious ‘Best Food Delivery App of the Year award at the Food Connoisseurs India Awards, 2024, held at Chennai recently. This prestigious accolade, judged by 16 veterans of the food and beverage industry, recognized Bhookle’s unique approach to delivering authentic, homemade meals with a personal touch.

This award holds special significance for Bhookle, a young start-up based in Chennai. Competing against eight national players in the food delivery industry, Bhookle stood out for its innovation, social impact, and focus on promoting home-cooked meals.

With a mission to empower home chefs and connect them to a wider audience, Bhookle has redefined the food delivery landscape, creating a community-centric platform where food is more than just a menu item—it’s a story.

“This award reaffirms that what we’re doing at Bhookle is truly unique,” Arvind, the co-founder said. “Despite being limited to Chennai while our competitors operate nationwide, this recognition shows that there is a pan-India welcome for our concept. We are thrilled that industry veterans and customers alike believe in our vision to revolutionize the food industry.”

Bhookle caters to a largely unstructured segment of the food industry: home-cooked meals.

The award is not just a win for Bhookle but also for the home chefs who power the platform.

“Our chefs are the real stars,” Arvind added. “Their talent and passion drive Bhookle, and this award belongs to them.”

Bhookle features inspiring stories like that of Chef Sujatha Sriram, who uses her earnings to feed stray dogs, and Chef Sangeetha, a single mother who supports her children’s education through her income on Bhookle. These success stories highlight the platform’s commitment to making a positive impact on local economies and fostering financial independence for home chefs.