by Bạch Liên

A home delivery, home-cooking service has started up in Hà Nội. All you need to do is pick up the phone and deliver an order.

For only VNĐ35,000 (US$1.5) per a meal, the start-up Fresh Deli has helped office workers in Hà Nội enjoy a good meal which is prepared by mothers at home.

Set up in September 2016, Fresh Deli provides about 200- 400 lunch meals per day to office workers in the city.

Mothers who want to do the job can register with the team at Fresh Deli. After, the team will ask the mothers to do a cooking test to check their skills. The best mums are then recruited.

It is easy to order: clients just need to send a message through the Facebook fan page of Fresh Deli or call to order before 10.30am each day. Fresh Deli will get in touch with contracted the housewives who will then go to the market and prepare the food at home. Fresh Deli will pick up the food and deliver it to clients. Desserts are also available.

 The man behind the project is Hoàng Minh Thành, 26.

He said that the idea to set up the service came to him during a conversion with his mother one evening.

He said that his mother wanted to supplement her income by doing a job that she loves and doesn’t take much time, while staying at home and continue to look after her family.

“I then thought that my mother could stay at home to cook and prepare bigger meals than normal. And the spare food can be packed and sold to other people. She may not earn much money but at least, her revenue can be increased while she can continue to look after her family,” he said.

In September 2016, Thành and one friend began to carry out this project which was the first of its kind at that time. The dishes being served each week are changed continuously but every day there are only four main dishes (two fish or meat dishes and two vegetables dishes).

Fresh Deli received an award at the contest “Kawai Business Startup 2017” organised by the University of Foreign Trade.

This service is highly appreciated as more and more people are concerned about the stale and unsafe food offered at many street restaurants.

After Fresh Deli, an other start-up entitled "KitFe" was also created by two young men in Hà Nội to provide nutritious food cooked by selected mothers.

Many people are happy with the service, praising the food as delicious and inexpensive.

However, some people said they have been disappointed.

A young woman nicknamed Hannah My said last week: “Today I ordered a meal but was very disappointed. This is the second time I ordered food from Fresh Deli. The last time, I bought a meal costing VNĐ35,000 but there was not enough for me. This time, I ordered a meal of VNĐ45,000, but it was terrible! There were only four small pieces of pork and vegetables."

Another client named Lê Ly is not totally satisfied but less demanding: “I got to know about Fresh Deli through the start-up programme with Kawai and appreciate the project. I have ordered meals here three or four times. A meal with diverse and nutritious dishes costs only VNĐ35,000. The fee for delivery is also cheap. However, I found that the dishes were often cold and the sweets lacked diversity." VNS