The home chefs have joined the online platform to serve delicious homemade food to people across the city. The Kitchen GJ05 has been serving more than 4,000 plus customers in a very short span.
Monika’s life came to a halt when she lost her braindead husband, the family’s sole source of income. Fortune, on the other hand, had other plans for her. During the coronavirus pandemic, Monika was introduced to the novel concept of ‘Kitchen GJ05.’ Monika is now a favorite chef among those who enjoy savoring Rajasthani dal bati and other cuisines at home.
Suman, on the other hand, has a similar story to tell. After her husband died, she was left to care for her only daughter at home. Suman chose to confront life’s challenges, and she was introduced to Kitchen GJ05. While staying at home to care for her daughter, Suman has become a sought-after chef in the city for her famous paneer lasuni and other punjabi dishes and tiffin.
Suman and Monika are not isolated cases in the city. About 60 home chefs have joined the Surat-based Kitchen GJ05, an online platform providing homemade food across the city, to become self-dependent with their art of cooking delicious food at home for others.
Kitchen GJ05’s tagline is ‘Ghar Se Ghar Tak’. The home chefs have joined the online platform to serve delicious homemade food to people across the city. The Kitchen GJ05 has been serving more than 4,000 plus customers in a very short span. Thanks to Satyen Naik, a brainchild behind the unique Kitchen GJ05 concept, the home chefs in the city have become self-dependent and are serving a variety of food delicacies to the food-loving people of Surat.
The journey of Kitchen GJ05
The concept of Kitchen GJ05 was born during the coronavirus-induced lockdown in 2020. The lockdown was enforced during the coronavirus pandemic last year and everything came to a standstill. The city’s economy got derailed as many lost their jobs. This was the time when Satyen Naik thought of launching the concept of Kitchen GJ05 to help the homemakers earn a decent income. The main objective behind the concept was to provide home-cooked food to the people of Surat, with a special emphasis on health and hygiene. This came as an opportunity for the homemakers to join the concept and earn a living.
Satyen Naik used Facebook to spread the word about the unique homemade food delivery concept. Many people were enthusiastic about the idea and expressed a desire to participate. Naik then decided to hold an audition for home chefs, with celebrity chef Ushma Desai and food blogger Mitul Shah serving as judges. About 22 home cooks were chosen and invited to participate in the Kitchen GJ05 concept. “Kitchen GJ05 is having a customer base of 4,000 plus in a short span of a year,” says the founder of Kitchen GJ05, Satyen Naik. “Our home chefs are serving orders for 50-100 people successfully for small functions. The customers are allowed to select from multiple home chef menus” added Naik.
Co-founder of Kitchen GJ05, Shivam Desai said, “We conducted two auditions back-to-back to select the home chefs for our venture. We are not charging a single penny for the home chefs, especially the women who have lost their husbands. The food prepared by the home chefs are delivered at the doorsteps of the customers by the Kitchen GJ05 team” According to Desai, all the specialties of surat city are included in the menus. From Surati style non-veg dishes to pure Gujarati tiffin services, fast food items, Punjabi, Rajasthani, etc., everything is homemade.
“Our desserts and dry snacks items are top picks due to freshness and a homemade feel. We are aiming to take this concept across the state and aim to provide income opportunities to over 1,000 plus home chefs in different cities. Our USP is not just the tiffin service, but it is a multi-cuisine food platform where the customers are served with homemade food” said Satyen Naik.
