Dabbagul – Home-made food, home-delivered offers a home cooked meal on demand to hungry executives in Gurgaon. It allows locals to place an order for a freshly cooked, no-preservatives homemade lunch or dinner with a daily menu – much like the dabba mom made for us in school.

Dabbagul has been launched at a time when all almost all other start-ups are struggling to stay afloat. Eatlo halted operations in late December. Internet-first kitchen Spoonjoy (Emvito Technologies Pvt. Ltd) and restaurant aggregator Dazo also shut shop in October after they failed to raise substantial funds.

So what distinguishes Dabbagul from all the other food apps out there and what is to stop them from becoming another startup casualty? With Dabbagul, users have the option of ordering a meal just for the day, or subscribing for an entire week, fortnight or month. “The subscription model in addition to being convenient for a user also helps us bring the delivery costs down since we can optimise and plan the routes beforehand. This is what will help us succeed when everyone else is struggling” says Dabbagul co-founder Jayashree Patil.

It’s this subscription option that makes Dabbagul so unique. Once someone has tried the food Dabbagul’s home-chefs are putting out, they can just automate the process. Not only does it save them the trouble of having to remember to order a meal daily, it also saves the time and angst spent wondering what to order and from where! While most Apps want users to login daily and spend as much time on the App as possible, Dabbagul is doing exactly the reverse. “We want people to spend their lunch hour, enjoying their food, not planning what to eat,” says Jayashree.

Dabbagul has its own roster of carefully curated home chefs. Users can order lunch or dinner, choose the cuisine of their preference (only Indian available right now), select a time slot for when the meal should be delivered and pay COD. The meal is freshly cooked the same day, and arrives in hygienically packaged microwavable boxes. A little less love than what your mum packed, but equally nutritious and delicious. The company intends to offer an “I’m on a diet” option soon for the health conscious where they can select low calorie foods like salads, Poha and Upma.