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Toronto: In addition to record immigration numbers, the humble concept of dabbawalla has also migrated to Canada, with a Toronto-based startup launching an app to provide the service.
The meals, simply known as Tiffin Service, are part of a larger Pumpkin Kart platform that seeks to satisfy newcomers’ appetites for food and groceries, offering a taste of home.
Pumpkin Kart (PK) launched Tiffin Service in May, offering subscribers a lunch or dinner plan covering a variety of cuisines, including those from places like Kerala, Punjab or Gujarat.
Pumpkin Kart chief executive Philip Correya said with immigration on the rise, “this is the perfect time to be in the market”. The service, which is still in its infancy and is currently available in the Greater Toronto Area, noted that about 60 per cent of Toronto’s population is immigrant, with nearly half likely to be from India.
It has partnered with several restaurants to use Health Canada-certified kitchens that sit idle after midnight. That’s when home cooks working with Pumpkin Kart go into these professional kitchens and start preparing meals for the next day’s delivery to consumers.
Correya said the concept will be applied outside of the GTA in the near future. In fact, one idea they plan to introduce is to allow families in India to buy these monthly meal packs for their relatives in Canada, just as parents want to make sure their kids are eating well while they’re in the country.
The idea for Father PK was launched in May 2020 from Correya’s personal experience as a student living in downtown Toronto and having “accessibility issues” with Indian food. Such goods are limited to restaurants in “certain centres” of cities with large Indian immigrant populations.
As such, PK is an attempt to fill that void and may come at a time when this delivery demand has grown due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many restaurants only offer takeout or delivery, expanding the market for app-based services. In addition, more and more immigrants, students or young professionals from India, have become accustomed to the booming delivery culture in the country.
But PK also feels like its existence provides advantages unrelated to mainstream services like UberEats or DoorDash. As Arun Ramkumar, operations manager of Toronto-based South Indian restaurant Desi Mane, said PK’s delivery radius of 30 kilometers is five times that of other restaurants, expanding their reach and new customer base.
Also, as PK’s consultant Vijay Thomas said, “Our advantage is that we know our customer base very well.” This means offering some rare items like Mandakini, desi hooch, which is illegal in India but not in Vaughan Ontario One of the breweries is legally brewed. Or, even pan-flavored chocolate.
Thomas said the vision is to make PK a “super app for ethnic products,” a platform that offers not only food, alcohol, groceries, but also clothes and Ayurvedic cosmetics.
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