Have you been feeling butterflies in your stomach while watching movies, or games late in the night? A new business venture has recently come into operation to help you on the same.
Shejey Agyitsang and Abhishek Gurung, out of their own problem of feeling hungry in the late hours after playing computer games or returning from hangout, came up with the idea of starting the business of delivering food in the late hours. The very problem they faced pave the way to their first business venture. As people speak out “Bhok Lagyo” when they’re hungry, they started the brand with the same name.
As there is no such service of delivering food in late hours in Nepal, they had planned to come up with this unique kind of service. After an extensive market study for about seven months, the squad of four co-founders: Shejey, Abhishek, Pratiyush Man Singh and Phinjock Sherpa formally kicked-off the business on January 1, 2017.
“In Kathmandu, there are many who go to parties. Those working in hospitals, or waiting the patients can’t get to eat proper food. Even the students, and those in hostels are facing similar problems. We started the business especially focusing on those people who work in night shifts,” says Pratiyush, explaining the reason behind starting the venture, and their target customers.
Bhok Lagyo can be considered as a restaurant of its kind that prepares food items but doesn’t serve it at its own facility, thus relieving the co-founders from the stress to invest a huge sum of money in designing and furnishing the interior.
The customers who order food from Bhok Lagyo are mainly youth, and in this short period of time, they have already been able to get as many as 100 regular customers ordering food. Moreover, growth in orders is accelerating, informs Shejey.
Initial Phase of growth
They first started food delivery in their own friends’ and family circle at the trial phase. After getting a positive response and go-ahead signal, they opened the service to the public, formally launching the business.
“The delivery boys are well-trained on how to carry out deliveries and deal with the clients. So, the response from the clients is wonderful so far, and many also give great tips,” shares Pratiyush, adding, “The brand image of the company thus far is cool as we started the service targeting the young generation. So, the public response is amazing. We have also been getting wonderful reviews on social media too.”
“As there is an amazing word-of-mouth publicity these days, and people talk about what they like in their circle, those trying-out our services themselves are helping us market and promote the business,” says Shejey.
About Bhok Lagyo Foods
Currently, only 5 items (Momo, Chowmein, Burger, Chicken wings, and cold drinks) are available in the Bhok Lagyo’s menu. “Among these, chicken wings is the most-preferred one as the recipe is bought from abroad. An experienced and professional chef from the USA itself had developed it us,” shares Shejey. “The recipe is very healthy, and we don’t use oil to prepare any of the items. We have to give healthy and hygienic food though we are serving at odd hours of the night,” mentions Pratiyush.
Currently, 11 staffs are carrying out the operations of Bhok Lagyo, while the 4 co-founders can be seen busy on overall operations, including branding/promotion of the business.
The orders for food items begin at around 9 pm, and continue till it’s 3 am. So, the staffs can be seen busy as a bee from 7 pm in the evening to 4 am in the morning.
“People in Nepal have the habit to bear the hunger even when they are too hungry as it’s near impossible to find food at midnight. With introducing of this service, we want to change the scenario,” shares Shejey. “The habit of taking food at midnight is slowly increasing, as people ordering food from us are posting pictures on social media. This ultimately is appealing more and more people start ordering food from us,” he adds.
“Recently, one of our partners had a birthday party, and they ordered food for about 10 people. Our 3 boys went to deliver the food. We got an amazing feedback from them after they received the delivery,” Shejey recalled a memorable moment into the venture so far, adding, “Moments like these make us feel that we did a good job by starting Bhok Lagyo Food Delivery.”
The unique and most striking component of Bhok Lagyo is the state-of-art kitchen infrastructure where food items can be prepared in an instant. “Chowmein can be readied just within 1.5 minutes in our kitchen, and wings in 4 minutes. Similarly, momo can be prepared in 7 minutes, whereas, a burger is ready in 3 minutes,” shares Pratiyush.
After the food is ready, it’s packed in special bags to safely delivery to the clients in a lightning speed. Currently, the food delivery service is available inside the ring-road only.
The future
With the success of the current branch and business growth, they have planned to extend branches around various places in town for instant delivery of food. They aim to get established as a great company, in terms of customer service; make Bhok Lagyo a synonym to satiating one’s late night hunger, and make it strike people’s mind every time they feel hungry.
To add more, they’re coming up with the Bhok Lagyo mobile app, soon!
To the aspiring entrepreneurs:
“Every aspiring entrepreneur should know what they are doing. And, they have to plan well whatever business they want to do,” says Pratiyush.
“When you’re starting something new, you need to study the market, and business trend. You also need to go through case studies of other business, and keep developing your strategies and plan for the next day. You always need to be open to learning new ideas. You should not copy others, instead, work on your own unique idea. Every budding entrepreneur should have faith in their idea. You also need to make a formal business plan so that getting investment is easier, and others trust your business,” advises Shejey.
Startups for a better Nepal!
Presentation: Basanta Kumar Dhakal
