Two IT professionals in the city quit cushy jobs to start a successful dabba service, serving ghar ka khana

Techies Vinamra Pandiya and Ashwani Rathore knew, as did IT major Satyam's Ramalingam Raju, that there is money in cooking.



Unlike Raju, who is behind bars on charges of cooking the company account books, Pandiya and Rathore quit their cushy IT jobs to launch Mom's Kitchen, a tiffin supplier that aims for the 'ghar ka khana' taste.
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While all those, including colleagues, friends and relatives, who had laughed at their decision to quit a well-paying job for business they had no training in, are reeling under the impact of the economic slowdown, the partners have gone from strength to strength.

What was a four-member team comprising Rathore, Pandiya, a cook and a helper, when Mom's Kitchen opened shop in September 2006, is today a 25-employee strong company, including three managers and 10 delivery boys.
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Mom's Kitchen also has its own website (https://www.momskitchen.in/), and a dedicated customer care number, where customers can order, complain and even offer suggestions.

Pandiya, who used to work in Infosys and Rathore, who worked for Cognizant Technologies became a hit with homesick IT professionals in and around the city. Mom's Kitchen now provides tiffins to 10 companies scattered in different areas from Karvenagar to Baner.

"Even as we grew from three to 800 tiffins per day, we never compromised on taste, and quality. We now plan to open samosa kiosks across the city," said Rathore.

While Pandiya is a trained chemical engineer from Kanpur, Rathod is a qualified civil engineer and both worked as IT professionals in Pune before starting Mom's Kitchen.

"We tried many dabbas but realised that the 'ghar ka khana' taste was missing. We decided that we would start a professional tiffin service that would retain the taste of homemade food.

Though we have no immediate plans to expand, we are working towards getting an ISO 22000 with a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points certification," said Rathore.