Dabbawallahs for dogs: a concept that allows dog owners to spoil their pooches even when busy at work — through meal delivery service, finds ADELINE BERTINNo, it isn’t an adorable cartoon about one of the world’s favourite doggy characters. But it might just be as lovable: providing man’s best friend with his or her own home delivery service.
Scooby Corporations was created two and a half years ago by two young pet lovers in New Delhi, Abhishek Kapoor (29) and Himanshu Bhasin (27) to provide healthy meals for pet dogs at the owners’ doorsteps. “We started in our small home kitchen but have expanded a lot since then. We are based in South Delhi and are now covering it, as well as Gurgaon,” says Kapoor.
The two friends, who were looking for a business idea, found their inspiration from the dabbawallas who deliver home-cooked meals to a person’s place of work. Their entrepreneurial twist: the canine element. “Currently, we are taking care of 300 dogs,” says Kapoor, adding that meals are delivered twice a day. “The menu is for the entire week and changes every day,” he explains.
Convenient although the service may be, for those who want to pamper their pooches, but it’s certainly not cheap. Scooby Corp charges between Rs 1,600 to 3,500 a month for the service and customers can choose between vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals for their pets. “They offer a very large variety of food. There are a lot of vegetables, chicken and my dogs really enjoy it,” says Dipali Khanna, who is living in Sector 39, Noida, with five dogs. “We came to know about Scooby Corporations in a local magazine – we saw their advertisement. It has been three years know and we are more than satisfied,” she adds with conviction.
Appropriately, to customise its menus, Scooby Corp asks owners to fill up a membership form, with questions about their dog: age, weight, dietary preferences and even allergies. It’s the information that helps the duo plan and prepare meals according to the physical condition of each pet. “For instance, if the dog is fat, we will prepare a special menu for its diet. We prepare high protein meals for young dogs and low protein meals for the older ones. Besides, we offer a premium wage, which includes high quality ingredients,” explains Kapoor. For this special service, prices range between Rs 2,750 and Rs 8,000 a month, and the menu includes brown rice, zucchini and broccoli, inter alia. Presumably, other dog staples like liver and meat are also included in most menus.
Since its inception, Scooby Corporations has grown dramatically. Kapoor says that in a year or so, they hope to expand to old Delhi and would like to come up with dog biscuits as well. In the meantime, they already have a name for new range of munchies: ‘Scooby Snacks’. One hopes the young owners of Scooby Corp haven’t bitten off more than they can chew!
