While some of us are baking a cake and whipping up desserts, and others biting nails and cribbing about the deadly COVID-19 pandemic being quarantined at home, there are those who are carving a niche by thinking and doing out of the box when mankind is under the weather.
One such initiative, by the name of Pijon’s Kitchen (a food service providing brand of Yagyan Consulting Pvt. Ltd.), is being run by two Cuttack-based millennial entrepreneurs — Bibhudutt Das and Dr Pallavi Mohanty, from different fields. Das is an MBA graduate and Dr Mohanty a practiscing homeopath specializing in various types of allergy.
Located near Ravenshaw College in Cuttack, the venture — which started off by targeting students by providing ready to eat takeaway fresh meals until March 21, 2020 — has since evolved into a much more noble initiative.
The moment the Indian government announced and implemented lockdown in the last week of March, in the hope of restricting the pandemic, there was a surge in the requirement of food for several patients admitted in different hospitals in the vicinity.
None of the eateries and food joints had an appropriate menu to provide meals as per patients’ requirements in IPD of many hospitals. As the COVID numbers continued to rise, the startup Pijon’s Kitchen evolved almost overnight. They showed ingenuity and rose to the occasion, transforming themselves to cater to a segment that was below the radar and required hygienic food.
That triggered the service of cooking, packing and delivering fresh food as per advice of the patient’s attending doctor. Keeping the patients’ requirement in mind has become a forte of this kitchen as they use quality cooking oil and in-house ground spices while ensuring hygiene.
The team focuses on providing meals at highly subsidized rates to patients and their attendants who were having a hard time in finding proper food during lockdown. Their price is only Rs 40 for a vegetarian meal while other standalone items range between Rs 20 to Rs 60.
Apart from their general patient-specific food menu, Pijon’s Kitchen have the expertise to satisfy quick customized requests from patients as well. The team ensures proper washing and cleaning of raw materials before cooking and meals are hygienically cooked and packed under strict supervision before being sent for delivery.
Currently, their daily outreach caters to Mediera Hospital, Parvati Seva Sadan, Devi Nursing Home, Panchamukhi Hospital, Sonar Hospital, etc with several requests coming from the nearby SCB Medical College campus as well.
Amidst this worst horrible COVID-19 pandemic, it has been more than two months now that the kitchen has been serving food as good as home-cooked stuff, driven by the intent of helping needy patients and their attendants.
The venture is on the lookout for funding so that they can expand their services of offering subsidized food and increase their outreach to more such patients and outstation people who are facing difficulties in getting a satisfying meal which suits both their health and palate.
Pijon’s kitchen contact: 9999768448, 956801339
