A large part of work life means sitting at your desk, contemplating your rumbling stomach, trying to avoid overdoing the eating out. The latest entrant in the online food portal scene is FoodCloud, for home chefs and those of us looking for planned meals. The silver lining in this cloud is that the food is home-cooked and fresh. The site launched in NCR, December 2014, and tottered into the Calcutta food space two weeks ago. “We already have 20 chefs on board,” said co-founder Vedant Kanoi, based out of Delhi. He runs the show with a Calcutta Xaverian — 41-year-old Shamit Khemka. 

All you need to chew on about www.foodcloud.in

• If you want to register as a chef, there’s a tab on top that will allow you to submit your details and get the process started 

• Delivery hours are from 10am to 10pm, although special orders can be delivered during off-hours, so be sure to pre-order that surprise birthday cake

• Delivery time is a minimum of two hours because the food is cooked fresh, so this site is not for instant hunger pangs 

• There are 18 cuisines to choose from, including Gujarati, Hyderabadi, Maharashtrian, South American and Burmese

• Order from one chef or multiple chefs in a single order 

• There is free delivery within 10km of the chef you select. Delivery time and minimum orders differ from chef to chef, so find what works best for you

• Payment methods include wallets like Paytm and PayUMoney, Netbanking, debit and credit cards, international credit cards and cash on delivery 

• Find the app on your Android phone

 

“We’ve always known that Calcutta has a great history of food and there is a large supply of quality home chefs. When we started, we also had a small customer base in Calcutta ordering food gifts for relatives in Delhi,” said Vedant Kanoi who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania with a double major in economics and business. “I ventured into this because of the love for food. My first job was in Hyatt Regency Delhi in the kitchens before I went to college. I have been cooking since I was eight!” laughed the 32-year-old.