It was year 2018 and place was Vaishali, Bihar. Handful of women started cooking in a small place and providing four-time meals to indoor patients in a hospital. Soon, this extended to four more places in the district. The tiffin service soon converted into a hospital canteen. This canteen, named ‘Didi ki Rasoi’, has now expanded into 93 different outlets across the state. They are everywhere from Government residential schools, banks, Registrar offices and even a counterculture food truck. This journey has just pressed the accelerator.
‘Didi ki Rasoi’, a part of Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (Jeevika) of the state Government, is all set to become a commercial giant as it has been registered under the Section 8 of Company Act becoming eligible for commercial activities including funds generation. In the next few months this will run as a company and all the women or jeevika didi working in this will be its shareholder.
THE START
It was started in Vaishali District in collaboration with Jeevika and health department. It was soon expanded to four more district, including Purnea. In January 2021 Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited Purnea and unveiled the model. After which he announced it to be replicated in all over the state.
The then district collector of Purnea, Mr. Rahul Kumar who is now the CEO of Jeevika with several additional charges, is on the mission to make ‘Didi Ki Rasoi’ a conglomerate. Speaking to Indian Masterminds he says, “We have registered it as a full-fledged company for which we are recruiting CEO, Business Analyst, Head Chef etc. This will enable us to enter the private market as cloud kitchen.”
THE WORKING
For any new units the district administration sends a business plan which is then processed by Jeevika team and fund is released. Cluster Level Federation (CLF) looks after the women (jeevika didi) who will be part of the rasoi based on the need and convenience.
There is a set SOP for the floor plan, equipment purchase, and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificate.
Jeevika also work with consultants from marketing and hotel management background who helps in setting up a new unit. The profit share is decided by the CLF.
Mr. Kumar shares, “We also have a central processing monitoring system. This helps us to keep an eye on sale, purchase and profit.”
He also pointed out that all the women are given time to time training in collaboration with Indian Institute of Hotel Management.
THE FUTURE
Till now the didi ki rasoi had 55 crore turnover with every unit in profit. More than 1200 rural women are part of this initiative.
In Vaishali, the Jeevika team has already collaborated with food delivery apps like Zamato and Swiggy to deliver. After it becomes a company, the share capital will be given to all the Jeevika didis as per the profit.
This small initiative is now not limited to rural woman. Inspired by them, a new venture titled ‘Didi’s meal box’ has been started in several metros like Hyderabad, Delhi etc.
