Bhubaneswar: What started as a hobby for Rohit Srivastava has now turned into a business.

The 29-year-old from the city started a food community called Food Findo a year ago. He has now launched a privilege card, the first of its kind in the state, for food lovers here.

Priced at Rs 1,499, it provides offers and discounts for the card-holders at 26 eateries in Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack.

"The member needs to carry the physical card in order to avail of the discounts. The concept is very popular in various metro cities across the country and I wanted people here to have access to the same facility," Srivastava said.

"We have curated a list of hotels, restaurants and service providers to take care of all sorts of dine-out experiences. It will mark a major change in the way people dine out and will also encourage restaurants to serve diners better," he said.

He said that there would be integration of recipes section on the website.

"This section will document recipes sourced from the members of the food community and will aim on documenting the lost recipes of India in the form of contests and events," he said.

Srivastava had started a food community six years ago, Foodies of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. He wanted to expand the community's reach.

"I got a lot of queries regarding the availability of various food items in the twin cities and that is how it started. Gradually, I found a lot of people from other parts of the state also taking interest in the community. That was when Food Findo was started," he said. The community, which now has more than 65,000 members, also holds meeting with food bloggers and food writers.