Meet the SHEROES - Ninisa Bajpaie

Ninisa Bajpaie started Mealme when she realized that office goers who live away from their family miss the typical flavour of “ghar ka khana” during their lunch hour at work.

A full tummy can actually do wonders for your productivity! Let’s read on to know more about Mealme today.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was a rebel since childhood, always wanted to do something more than what everyone was doing. While in school, I'd often voice my opinions and never blindly follow what my parents or teachers had to say without reason. Music has been a part of my life for 20 years (and I am 26 now). I am a graduate in classical music and led the Indian Music Group in my college JMC. After college I joined e-valuserve doing business research and after that Bain. My two years of experience in Bain exposed me to many others who were like me. I could no longer stand out, everyone was an over achiever and hand-picked from the best campuses. Bain really pushed me to work to my best ability. 

How did the idea of Meal Me come about?

While in Bain, one of my friends who was staying alone would often eat my tiffin than have the subsidized lunch in office. He said he really missed "ghar ka khana". This is when I realized that tiffin food/canteen food in offices are mass produced and hence miss the “ghar ka khana” flavour. This was in fact a common problem across metropolitans. 

What is it that Meal Me provides customers?

Mealme provides customers food from home chefs. You can order what your neighbour is cooking. 

What are the everyday challenges you face while running Meal Me?

Operations is a challenge as attrition rate is high among delivery boys, who are key to the chain. Quality control was an issue earlier, but we have learned to control that over time.  

In the future, are there other services you hope to add?

Getting professional chefs on board and their meals available at reasonable prices 

What is a typical day at work like for you?

Checking with the Ops team in the morning, followed with studying daily customer feedback, planning new marketing strategies, tracking competitors and chasing investors :) 

Can you share some thoughts with our readers...

The quote "when in Rome, do as the Romans" is so apt for the Indian start-up ecosystem. If the space you are in has fierce competition with investor money, the only way to survive is to raise money. That should be your highest priority. I was following the Lean start-up to the T. Working every day to learn what customers like, to make operations and the product better. However, better operations or a better product won’t make a difference as Indian customers are price sensitive. Getting the right team that can execute at lightning speed and raise money is key to winning (at the moment when money is being invested in abundance). The idea, product and model can keep changing.