Startup guiding food lovers’ taste buds
In the startup era, there are a lot of young people chasing their passion and start their own restaurants. They ornate their outlets with neat interior, a contemporary theme, and tastiest dishes. It seems like a bed of roses. However, the reality is harsh
With the advent of online food delivery startups and digital expansion, food Industry is undergoing a radical shift with food influencers becoming the game-changers by making their followers crave for the food via pictures and words. Making the right choice for food is not easy and food lovers often go for bad foods due to lack of information. Food reviewers help you make the right choice. They are not just influencers but story-tellers through pictures and words.
Panda Reviewz, run by a 21-year-old entrepreneur Seema Gurnani, is an online platform that curates food and travel, helps people make informed choices.
Although there are a lot of food bloggers today, food blogging is not just about posting on Instagram or uploading food pictures, it is about bridging the gap between a restaurateur and its audience, which can only be done if the blogger has trustable source of information for food-lovers. It's not limited to reviews and pictures which also involves building the base, brand, readership and a system. The biggest achievement is that a food blogger can measure the engagement and show it to readers.
Gurnani says her startup is essentially a social network that curates food experiences for its vast fan followers. Today the biggest challenge isn’t about creating awareness, but translating that into footfalls is really a tough task. One can use different kind of promotional campaigns to grab eyeballs of the prospective diners but bringing them to the restaurant is not easy.
In the startup era, there are a lot of young people chasing their passion and start their own restaurants. They ornate their outlets with neat interior, a contemporary theme and tastiest dishes. It seems like a bed of roses. However, the reality is harsh. They face challenges, funding dries up and footfalls go down. They realise later that that was the worst decision of their life and by the time going back is difficult. Not just the place, you have paid so much for interior and everything. Food business has a lot of profit margins with a hell lot of risks. It is one such business, which can’t be started until and unless you have each and everything ready, Gurnani says.
“Passion is what crafted Panda Reviewz. I have always loved eating and then gradually started writing about food. Having a perfectly-cooked meal and then translating that feeling of nirvana into writing excites me. I wanted people to know different places where I tried food. Food is what depicts a person's love, culture and a lot more than what one can put in words. This is what inspired the concept of Panda Reviewz and I am putting in a lot of efforts each day to ensure that I can reach the heights that I have hoped for,” Gurnani says.
The plan is to expand my team and empower more women and men to follow their passion instead of taking up full-time jobs. I want to provide them the opportunity if they have passion. Also, I want to expand it to a user-based platform in future, which I currently have through a Facebook group. I also wish to reach out to more audience and help them out with information that's not easily available, she says.
With absolutely no knowledge of the food industry, Business Management professional Seemah Gurnani decided to take the plunge and started Panda Reviewz. Now, she has around 84,000 followers on Facebook.
After schooling in Vijaywada city, she moved to Delhi and secured a BBA degree. She took up her first job with a Google's client-based company but that did not last longer.
“After pursuing my first job that lasted for nine months to be precise. I quit my job for the love of food and travel. I had started travelling when I was 16. The quest to explore new horizons did not allow me to continue in the job. I came out to do something I enjoy doing rather than working for money and perks,” she says. She says, “I quit my job because I realised that's not what I was meant to do. I was meant to be more of a free spirit who was happy doing what made her happy like exploring new places, trying out new foods, helping people and guiding them with their plans, exploring new cultures and talking to people from all over the world.”
“I have never given a thought on opting a career which is already been taken by many. I was not competition-driven, I am rather passion-driven. I am passionate about food and travel and want to provide people a platform where they can discover more about food, destinations and unexplored places. I'm also into SEO and digital marketing now, mainly helping out brands with their blogger outreach plans,” she added.
07:16 PM IST