India is a land of diverse festivals and occasions wherein each and every one of us long for our fresh and mouth-watering homemade delicacies. As we move from one region to another, there are a variety of sweets (mithais) and namkeens that have us salivating and longing for more and more. How many times have we craved for 'Modaks' during Ganesh Puja, 'Bhakhar Wadi' or 'Ratlami Sev' but haven’t been able to find it in the cities we live in? I am sure it’s a big number.
Pakumania.com is a portal that allows you to order and devour these eateries from across the country and have them delivered to your homes or to the homes of your dear ones as gifts. They bring a variety of sweets and namkeens for you to choose from across the country including the famous pethas from Agra, the namkeens from Indore and many more. The name Pakumania is derived from Pakwaan.
Pakumania food services started in May 2013 but came up with their online portal in August 2013. Since then, they have been filling the hearts and stomachs of people with the local delicacies. "We have received a lot of appreciation from various people. And we received a lot of orders without spending a single rupee on marketing," says Vaibhav Shrivastava, the founder.
Vaibhav is a law student from Bilaspur, Chattisgarh who believed in doing something he was passionate about rather than working in his field of study. Passionate about entrepreneurship he started up Pakumania in Pune. “The idea came to me when I was stuck in Pune during Diwali and unable to visit my hometown because of approaching exams,” he says. “I missed the sweets and pakwaans my mom used to make every year. And there were many more like me,” he added.
Vaibhav started working on the concept/business model. "I did a trial run for 3 months offline by actually asking customers about the authentic pakwans they would like to eat from all across India," he says. After an online market survey of approximately 300 they tied up with vendors and courier agencies and started their services. They are currently delivering specialties form Maharashtra, Karnataka, Indore and Agra. Being a company which delivers semi perishable food products, logistics was a concern for them. They had to deliver the products fast. It took them 4 months to find the right service which now delivers within 24 hours of order.
"Our startup is doing really well because Indians love to eat pakwaans from their homeland. And we have specialty from every town and state," says one of the 3 members in the team. "Future generation doesn't have the time to prepare such things nor do we know how to do it," he adds.
They are currently not funded but plan to expand to countries outside India and have their manufacturing units in those countries. They will soon be launching products from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Bihar. As a message for future entrepreneurs, Vaibhav says, "It's now or never. If you are willing to do something of your own just do it. The energy you have now is far more than you will have after 5 years or 10 years down the line when you are married or when you will have kids to take care of etc. So start now!"
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