Hungry kya?

Feeling peckish late at night but don't have the ingredients at home to drum something up? Help is at handu00a0-- a new all-night food delivery service has opened in the city

For those who burn midnight oil, a major source of distraction is invariably the growling stomach. An engineer fresh out of college, clearly understands the problem. That's how 22 year-old Jigar Zatakia thought of opening an all-night food delivery system, from 11 pm to 7 am, when every other joint in town has downed its shutters.
Zatakia tied up with friends Krunal Shah, whose father owns a catering business andu00a0 Gautam Udani, who runs an IT company and started MadOrders on December 15, 2011.


Unlike most niche and novel services that start in this city, this one has
a price point that makes you smile, but not if you live anywhere other
than on the BKC to Powai, and Sion to Mulund line Pic/Ahana Chaudhuri

The food is prepared through the day at Shah senior's kitchen in Ghatkopar and is brought to a delivery centre located close by. The food is heated here and dispatched through a team of four delivery boys. Non-vegetarians may be disappointed to learn than MadOrders only delivers vegetarian items.

"The reason for that," says Zatakia, "is because the three of us are vegetarian." So much for customer satisfaction. The good news though, is that unlike most niche and novel services that start in this city, this one has a price point that makes you smile. Pav Bhaji is priced at Rs 80, Tava Pulav at Rs 110, Grilled Sandwiches cost around Rs 70, a pizza is for Rs 100 and a burger for Rs 60.

The dessert menu has five options, including chocolate and blueberry Mousse (Rs 70). But then we stumbled upon the real deal-breaker. The charges of delivery depend on where you live. If you stay anywhere between Sion to Mulund or BKC to Powai, you will be charged Rs 30 if your delivery order dips below Rs 200. While that doesn't seem unreasonable, MadOrders lives up to its name by keeping a minimum order of Rs 500 for delivering to any other part of the city. And, Zatakia informs us that they would only deliver beyond their area "if their workload is less".

While we hope that this business plan is tweaked, and soon, Zatakia insists that the going has been good since they opened a month ago.u00a0"We get 15-20 orders on weekdays and 40-45 on weekends. There was a mad rush of party orders during the time of Christmas," he says.

The service to Bandra (west, the wrong side for this delivery service, unfortunately) was prompt and the food came within the hour. The company's policy is for the delivery person to ring the customer instead of his doorbell.

The chocolate mousse was delectable, though the quantity was rather small for the price tag. The grilled sandwiches and burgers tend to grow cold by the time they reach and taste nothing out of the ordinary. But it works as a quick fix when hunger strikes at midnight.

You can check out their menu on www.madorders.com and call them on 8080204041.