Inner Chef, an Indian adaptation of the US-based concept of Blue Apron, started off in April last year with covering office workers in Gurgaon and a year down the line has spread across the cities of Delhi (NCR), Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Even though it has come under severe criticism at various points of time, I feel the concept is worth a shot – and here’s why:
1. The Menu
Photo Courtesy of Inner Chef and GIF by Bhanvi Satija
Inner chef’s menu will almost make you want to place an order immediately. With its diverse variety of courses as well as cuisines, it has a lot to offer to all the foodies. Its ready to eat menu has all day breakfast dishes (from cream cheese bagel to parantha sliders); snacks (from keema pao, a variety of rolls to salads and hummus pita); mains (from exotic pastas to classic laccha parantha and sabzi combos); drinks and desserts which are a must try too. Have a look yourself!
2. The Prices
Photo Courtesy of Inner Chef
Typically, the kind of variety that Inner Chef offers is found in a high-end expensive restaurant where your average bill will definitely be more than a thousand bucks. However, Inner Chef’s pricing ranges from a mere Rs. 90 and goes on till about Rs. 300. Which means, even if you include delivery charges and other taxes and you were to order for two people, you’d be done and dusted well under Rs. 600. Which is why average pricing remains one reason to place your next order from Inner Chef.
3. You Get To Be The Chef
GIF Courtesy of giphy.com
WHAAAT? Of course, you weren’t expecting this because you were planning on ordering food that was cooked so that you could eat it as soon as it comes. But here’s the catch – Inner Chef is based on the idea of making their consumers eat fresh. One of its co-founders, Rajesh Sawhney had even told the Economic Times, “The whole idea is to give people food that’s fresh, and anyone can be a chef now.”
What could be fresher than something coming out of your own kitchen? So when you place your order, somebody at Inner Chef will do the raw material collection and chopping part for you and you will get a box full of things, along with a recipe on how to go about plating and do menial cooking jobs. You get to FEEL like a chef, despite doing only 0.1% of the whole job and you get to eat fresh food (which keeps your parents happy too, because you aren’t exactly eating junk or bahar ka khana!) Also, it beats for all the times when you had to reheat your ordered food because by the time it delivered, it was cold like ice and you couldn’t consume it directly anyway.
4. The Single Portion Phenomenon
GIF Courtesy of giphy.com
Being a latch-key child, I remember hogging on Maggi or idlis every time my parents weren’t around. Of course, I got bored pretty soon, but I still couldn’t order food from outside because I would end up wasting it. No restaurant would deliver below a certain amount, and fulfilling minimum requirements would mean ordering more food – which nobody was around to help me finish. Most dishes at Inner Chef are a single potion, so there will no food wastage because you can order whatever you want to eat and not feel guilty about wasting the leftovers. Also, it is a win-win for those young working lads who live in PGs and rented homes.