There’s never a dull moment for chef turned restauranter and entrepreneur, Shankar Krishnamurthy. In his 35 years of being in the food and catering industry, he has worked as a chef in culinary hotspots like Delhi, and Mumbai and later turned a restaurateur in Hyderabad catering under Voila F9 gourmet.
After treating The City Of Pearls to world cuisines and opening an online academy for chefs, he is set on a new culinary venture with the BookMyChef (BMC) app. The app has been designed to bring a unique culinary experience to food lovers by providing professional chefs to their kitchens. So if you’re hosting an intimate dinner, birthday party or anniversary soiree, you can have niche chefs prepare the meal for the gathering to keep your worries at bay and let you indulge in celebrations.
The interesting part is that the app offers a personalised experience which is key for intimate gatherings. Telling us about the features of the new app, Chef Shankar says, “ It gives people direct access to high-quality chefs. People can choose their ingredients and have their food made fresh in their own homes, eliminating the need for packaging and thus reducing their carbon footprint."
“BMC's team of highly trained chefs create customised menus based on people’s dietary preferences, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or other specialised options. People can choose the location, timing, and size of their event and can bring their own ingredients to have greater control over the menu and budget," he adds.
The app has some notable names on the chef list like Rajkumar Pariyar, known for his expertise in global cuisine, Roshni Nathan, an expert on vegan and gluten-free dishes and Krishna B who has a forte in Thai cuisine.
Chef Shankar shares that the selection criteria for chefs which is a rigorous process to meet high standards. "This includes a personal interview to assess their values and commitment to exceptional service, a culinary assessment to verify their skills, and a check of their credentials to confirm their training and expertise. Additionally, we conduct background checks to identify any potential red flags and ensure that our chefs have a clean record.”
The app currently offers a diverse range of cuisines like Indian, Indo-Chinese, European, Mediterranean, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, and East Asian cuisine, as well as fusion dishes. It will bring more regional cuisines and dishes with new ingredients under its menu in the near future.
We asked Chef Shankar if Covid-19 insinuated the idea to bring the app and he agrees, "We realised it was difficult to find a caterer who was willing to provide food for a small gathering in a pandemic. Moreover, the rising demand for personal and homemade food options during the pandemic led us to develop the app as a solution to connect people with talented chefs who could provide delicious, homemade meals for small gatherings.”
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