Thinking To Start A Homemade Indian Food Delivery Service

[xenix]

I am considering to start a home made indian food delivery service in BKK - mainly sukumvit / silom area.

I'd like to check if anyone would be interested, any ideas/suggestions will be very much appreciated.

We will offer the following:

1. Authentic Homemade Indian Food (not restaurant stuff, cooked by real indians - not nepali/paki).

2. Delivered to your door for Lunch/Dinner.

3. Affordable pricing, not the rip offs most indian restaurants are charging.

4. Fresh ingredients.

5. Orders will be taken via online website, and telephone.

I'll check back here to see feedback, and hope to get this started asap.

[kurnell]

If you can deliver to Bangkapi I am interested.

[xenix]

If you can deliver to Bangkapi I am interested.

thanks...should be able to

[brit1984]

1 x chicken vindaloo

1 x lamb madras

2 x pilau rice

1 x peshwari naan

4 x popadoms

1 x mango chutney

sukhumvit soi 31

[brit1984]

Obviously the key is to get your site (and your google places listing) on the front page of google for key search terms such "indian food bangkok"... I just had a quick look and it seems your competitors are from optimised so should be easy to get up there if you get a good SEO consultancy on board... unfortunately I don't know who are the best SEO guys over here

You should also investigate getting listed on the Chefs XP website

[AyG]

1. What do you mean by "Indian food"? Is this the usual Punjabi restaurant stuff? Or is it more interesting, say southern vegetarian, Gujarati or Bengali?

2. Will the meat be halal? (Many people prefer not to eat halal meat because of the way the animals are slaughtered.)

3. Would you consider selling it chilled, so the customer can heat it up him/herself? Delivered meals tend to lose out on freshness if delivered warm.

4. What is "affordable pricing"? Perhaps you could provide some indicative prices for feedback. Though I agree that Indian food is for the most part ridiculously overpriced in Bangkok.

Definitely sounds like a promising idea, though.

[xenix]

Obviously the key is to get your site (and your google places listing) on the front page of google for key search terms such "indian food bangkok"... I just had a quick look and it seems your competitors are from optimised so should be easy to get up there if you get a good SEO consultancy on board... unfortunately I don't know who are the best SEO guys over here

You should also investigate getting listed on the Chefs XP website

Already thought about this, SEO is something I have great experience with.

Chefs XP Website is a good idea, thanks!

[xenix]

1 x chicken vindaloo

1 x lamb madras

2 x pilau rice

1 x peshwari naan

4 x popadoms

1 x mango chutney

sukhumvit soi 31

Not available yet, but this is excellent feedback!

[xenix]

1. What do you mean by "Indian food"? Is this the usual Punjabi restaurant stuff? Or is it more interesting, say southern vegetarian, Gujarati or Bengali?

2. Will the meat be halal? (Many people prefer not to eat halal meat because of the way the animals are slaughtered.)

3. Would you consider selling it chilled, so the customer can heat it up him/herself? Delivered meals tend to lose out on freshness if delivered warm.

4. What is "affordable pricing"? Perhaps you could provide some indicative prices for feedback. Though I agree that Indian food is for the most part ridiculously overpriced in Bangkok.

Definitely sounds like a promising idea, though.

1. Punjabi stuff, with some mixtures of south/gujrati food (no bengali though). But we'll add on.

2. Definitely not halal, i'm against that .

3. This is a good idea, thanks !

4. Prices would be similar to the local indian food pricing that you see in Little India + delivery charges.

[brit1984]

Discount for TV members please

[transam]

Wish you were in Ubon.

[george]

Discount for TV members please

Good idea. You can market the venture via us as well:

http://marketing.thaivisa.com

[notmyself]

Discount for TV members please

Good idea. You can market the venture via us as well:

http://marketing.thaivisa.com

Would be a good idea.

[koknia]

As a former restaurant owner I can tell you it is a lot of work to make money in the food biz. Maybe you know this, but you want to have a tight business plan or else you are going to work like crazy for very little profit. If you want to charge reasonable prices you are going to have to do serious volume. With deliveries over a wide area, that makes it very complicated from Day One.

[brit1984]

As a former restaurant owner I can tell you it is a lot of work to make money in the food biz. Maybe you know this, but you want to have a tight business plan or else you are going to work like crazy for very little profit. If you want to charge reasonable prices you are going to have to do serious volume. With deliveries over a wide area, that makes it very complicated from Day One.

I would recommend not being too cheap (except for TV members with our special loyalty card)

If you can get to the front of google organic and places (and get a nice big ad on TV) you will find enough customers who need a decent curry and don't mind paying

[saakura]

Excellent, count me in as a customer, don't mind paying delivery charge also to Rama 3 area.

[brit1984]

Focus on getting high quality ingredients

[glbv]

If you had a makeshift menu id love to place an order (thonglor area), Indian food is probably my more common cuisine at this point and i cook it 3-4 times a week and order out atleast once.

If you were able to list your nutritional information id eat there every day of the week, calories, protein, fat, carbs.

[khunken]

On Nut resident is interested as long as you do soft-pastry samoosas. Preferably vegetable. Yes, I am also interested in ordering a full course of Indian dishes.

Look forward to more info as you get organised.

[richard_smith237]

I always order Indian food at home from Foodbyphone, while I find their service and choice of menu's excellent I do find them expensive and agree that Indian food in Thailand does seem expensive especially when compared to Thai food.

If you were to embark on such a business I for one would use your service - If the food is as good as you suggest I would continue to use your service.

I imagine the most difficult barrier is Marketing and getting your name out there, after that repeat custom relies simply on the quality of your product.

[glbv]

Just had some great Indian food from Indian Chaat last night, but Im definitely looking for someone who can deliver on a steady basis. Any ETA on when you would start taking orders?

[mikebell]

I always order Indian food at home from Foodbyphone, while I find their service and choice of menu's excellent I do find them expensive and agree that Indian food in Thailand does seem expensive especially when compared to Thai food.

If you were to embark on such a business I for one would use your service - If the food is as good as you suggest I would continue to use your service.

I imagine the most difficult barrier is Marketing and getting your name out there, after that repeat custom relies simply on the quality of your product.

There is a market for frozen Indian food. I used to buy frozen chili until the supermarket price went through the roof. In desperation, I bought some spices/jars of sauce & made four portions chicken curry for a quarter of what it would cost in a restaurant.

[bkk_mike]

I'm out in Klong Samwa. Would there be something like a minimum order to get it delivered that far? (or am I simply too far out?)

[tommytouch]

I too have wondered about this idea.

The good thing about Thailand is the cheap labour here, because making authentic Indian curry from scratch is a fairly time consuming and labour intensive process. One problem you could face is the inability to provide anything cooked in a tandoor, unless you have access to one or can build it (curry without naan bread!!). I suppose it might be possible to do some kind of deal with an existing restaurant to get round that obstacle though.

What I think could be popular if done well and what it sounds like you're aiming for is authentic home-style Indian cooking, ideally representing the whole spectrum of Indian cuisine. It's unlikely most people have ever tried such food unless they've been to India, are Indian or fortunate enough to know someone who is that cooks. Unfortunately what most people know as Indian food is whatever's available from their local Indian restaurant, which is likely to be the same stuff offered at most of the other Indian restaurants. Of course there's nothing wrong with, say, a rogan josh, as long as it's cooked well with good quality ingredients, it's just that there are so many other fantastic dishes out there that people are totally unaware of but would no doubt love.

One of the nicest curries I've had the pleasure of eating was made by my friends father. It was like nothing else I've ever tasted, although admittedly he comes from Mauritius not India, but the point is it was real home cooking made with love and care and you could tell. Another wonderful concoction I've had was flavoured with red bell peppers and almonds, puréed to make a sauce - delicious, and something you'd struggle to find on your typical Indian restaurant menu. I also feel there's no point limiting yourself when it comes to the main ingredient used. For example using crab in certain curries gives excellent results but most people wouldn't necessarily think of using it simply because they've never seen it. The same can be said for duck, wild boar, goat, certain fish etc.

I know some supposed Indian (many are actually Bangladeshi) restaurants in the UK cut corners, for example using ginger and garlic powder instead of the real thing, plus many curries are made using one generic base sauce, meaning every dish contains the same amount of onion, garlic, ginger etc, when in reality each should have varying ratios which in turn goes some way towards giving them their identity. 'Toasting' whole spices is another technique that your average high street curry house is likely to bypass yet it's these small touches that make all the difference and something no self respecting Indian cook would ever overlook, so as far as the actual food's concerned I think it's things like this you need to consider. You say the food would be cooked by 'real Indians' but that doesn't mean anything unless they know what they're doing.

Assuming the food is good that's probably the easiest part of the business out of the way, the bigger challenge is likely to be the logistics of delivery, the marketing of your product, receiving payment from customers.....

Keep us posted on this venture, it may well work and prove very popular with the expat community here.

[Darrel]

"I am considering to start a home made indian food delivery service in BKK - mainly sukumvit / silom area.

3. Affordable pricing..."

Sod Bangkok.

Get it on the bus to Pattaya.

[Darrel]

As a former restaurant owner I can tell you it is a lot of work to make money in the food biz. Maybe you know this, but you want to have a tight business plan or else you are going to work like crazy for very little profit. If you want to charge reasonable prices you are going to have to do serious volume.

With the prices that most Indian restaurants charge here I suspect that they make enough from just one table of four per day to cover all their bills and give themselves a fancy pension as well. Indian restaurant prices here are absurdly high.

[somtampet]

U will get hung,drawn and quartered sayng Paki on here mate,

[koknia]

As a former restaurant owner I can tell you it is a lot of work to make money in the food biz. Maybe you know this, but you want to have a tight business plan or else you are going to work like crazy for very little profit. If you want to charge reasonable prices you are going to have to do serious volume.

With the prices that most Indian restaurants charge here I suspect that they make enough from just one table of four per day to cover all their bills and give themselves a fancy pension as well. Indian restaurant prices here are absurdly high.

I would hazard a guess you have never run a restaurant.

[Darrel]

I would hazard a guess you have never run a restaurant.

Quite right. When I was working I ran successful and very popular businesses that showed a very good profit without overcharging or being empty most of the time.

I can eat Indian food better and cheaper just about anywhere in SE Asia and even in London than I can here. This shows that Indian restaurants here are simply looking for the gravy train. And that's why they are empty most of the time. It really is that simple.

[Morakot]

If you can deliver to Bangkapi I am interested.

thanks...should be able to

I'll have some onion bhajis with mango chutney, please!