Home Delivery: One Chef Please! | Verve Magazine
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December 08, 2014

Home Delivery: One Chef Please!

Text by Nittal Chandarana

Top chefs at your doorstep? The Hopping Chef can make it happen!

  • Hopping Chef, Home Delivery: One Chef Please!
    Mushroom cappucino
  • Hopping Chef, Home Delivery: One Chef Please!
    Egyptian spiced roast lamb, confit tomatoes and pickle courgette
  • Hopping Chef, Home Delivery: One Chef Please!
    Salmon ceviche with coriander root and sour cream
  • Hopping Chef, Home Delivery: One Chef Please!
    Muscat mascerated fruit, vanilla tuille cup, raspberry coulis

The online space is becoming an ideal platform for new-age entrepreneurs and start-ups to sell their wares. You can get a host of services at hand and now, food can be fixed over the Internet too! Hoppingchef.com, established by Shaival Chandra and his partners Dhaval Udeshi and Sid Ugrankar, delivers not food, but chefs to your doorstep to cook up a storm. More and more people prefer the comfort and stillness of their own home to a noisy restaurant outside. Not only will an accomplished chef cook exclusively for you, but also leave you with a session that is fun, interactive and unique. They have a concierge service for customised menus and everything with regards to the actual service is taken care of by the chef and his team.

Initiated in Mumbai, they do plan to branch out to other cities but for now, it’s culinary enthusiasts in the bay that are to find a clever option when hosting parties at home. And we hope they plan to either make their website mobile-friendly soon or launch an app!

We have Shaival Chandra explain to us how exactly Hopping Chef works.

1. Why the need for a personalised culinary experience?
“We have always seen that when someone goes out to a restaurant, the chefs — who are the real marvels — are hidden behind the scene. I wanted to change this. I wanted to bring an experience of fine dining where the chefs get recognition. The idea is for them to get a first-hand experience and interact with the customer like never before.”

2. How has the response been to the Hopping Chef?
“It has been overwhelming. We are trying to take on as many events as possible at this time, keeping quality in mind.”

3. How does conducting a business solely through an online space work?
“The concept is a marriage between technology and the food and beverage space. It is a platform for the user to know more about the chef via profile information, videos and he can then decide as per individual requirement. The concept works in a way where a vegetarian and non-vegetarian can sit across the table and enjoy a personalised dish. It’s the ease of the platform which is technology led. What’s also interesting is that the user will get exposure to a large roster of chefs who cater to multiple cuisines.”

4. What is the most popular cuisine with the Bombay-walas as of now?
“Fusion, European and Asian foods are the front runners. Lebanese and Mexican food is something that clients are also experimenting with as customers are now open to trying different cuisines. Besides at the end of the day there is no better experience than watching a master chef cook in front of you in your kitchen.”

5. What is your equation with the chefs?
“Menu development is one of our cornerstones since we allow the chefs a lot of creative freedom. For example Chef Aditi, formerly from Vancouver West is now exploring local ingredients for her dishes. So we can look at innovative dishes like cracked wheat for making fried rice or something as innovative as a bacon khandvi.”

6. Your views on the current food and restaurant culture of the country.
“It is evolving, which it is still in its nicest stage. Our motive is to handpick chefs who are the best in their category and bring them to light. However, I must admit that our key focus is on the ingredients.”

7. A food trend you love.
“I love fusion foods. Food has no boundaries and hence I don’t want to arrive at anything particular.”

8. Five years down the line, Hopping Chef will be…
“A platform for the country’s top chefs to show case their skills and leave happy food memories behind.”

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