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Best of eateries just a click away

NEW DELHI: A stack of menus of different neighbourhood eateries in the office cafeteria prompted IIT graduates Pankaj Chaddah and Deepinder Goyal to quit their cushy jobs at a multi-national company and work on their own start-up, foodiebay.com

Both of them, alumni of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, felt the need for a one-stop forum where detailed information about various restaurants, eateries and home delivery places could be acquired.

Twenty-four-year-old Pankaj, who did his mechanical engineering and graduated from IIT in 2007, says: “Deepinder was my senior at IIT and also in the company where I was working. We launched this website in July 2008.”

“My previous job was quite satisfying. However, we were intrigued by the idea of making a comprehensive list of places to eat out and home delivery options as well,” he adds.

Various menus

Foodiebay has a presence in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. “We have launched our mobile portal and have plans to expand our operations to Bangalore and Hyderabad,” reveals Pankaj, a self-confessed foodie himself.

The USP of the website, according to Pankaj, is the menus of various restaurants that are available. “We have covered 2,300 eateries and restaurants in Delhi and NCR,” he adds.

Foodiebay also offers discounts to its users. The discount coupons can be downloaded and redeemed at the respective restaurants.

Reviews

In addition to the menu, reviews, ratings, average cost for two people, contact details and a host of other useful information is also available. A team from foodiebay reviews and rates the places on the service, ambience and food. Users can also submit their reviews.

According to Pankaj, in order to keep the information up to date, every place is revisited after four months.

“Our website gets about one lakh hits per month. People who visit our website keep coming back for more information on places to eat,” he adds.

“We keep track of new places to eat through magazines and other media. Restaurants are increasingly approaching us to have their details listed on our website,” he adds.

Surprisingly, the enterprise is run by only 10 people. While five people work in Delhi, the rest work in other cities.

“We are looking for more funds,” admits Pankaj, adding that venture capitalists are being approached for investments.

“Most of our revenue comes from advertising and revenue-sharing models with restaurants. We do not charge restaurants for listing their menus on our website, but we do plan to do that eventually,” he says.

“This job is far more satisfying as we work for ourselves and have an opportunity to nurture and grow our own enterprise. There is also more motivation,” remarks Pankaj.

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