When Jibran Gulzar completed his degree in computer science from Chandigarh University, his next plan was to move abroad for further studies but destiny had something else in store for him.

A blessing in disguise, he worked on his dream project and came up with the food delivery platform - Gatoesin 2020 which is today one of the fastest growing food delivery startups in Kashmir.

Gatoes is a hyperlocal on-demand food delivery platform. The mobile application allows the users to order food from the restaurants and cafes and get their favourite food delivered at their doorstep. 

Founder of Gatoes, Jibran said, "We are working as a bridge between vendors and customers by utilizing an innovative technology platform that works as a single point of contact.”

The app has 100 thousand downloads on the play store making it the first startup in the history of Jammu and Kashmir to achieve the feat. Gatoes app is ranked 53rd in the world in the 'Food&Drink' section in the Apple store and on the android store, it is ranked 99th in the world in the 'Food&Drink' section.

The start-up is focused to deliver across Jammu and Kashmir and even reaches to the far-off places like Udhampur and Chenab valley which are untouched even by the foodtech giants. 

Jibran said, “In such areas, most people don’t have access to the internet and a startup like ours is somewhat a start for them to understand what e-commerce is. Our main business comes from Srinagar but we reach out to the people belonging to the last mile. In those places, people actually thank us for coming to them.”

On receiving orders from the far-off areas, the team connects with the nearby onboard restaurants of those places.

Within the span of two years, many entrepreneurs got connected with Gatoes, to get their food delivered to the customers. For the upliftment of women entrepreneurs, the company charges 7-6% which Jibran says is low as compared to the other delivery platforms in the valley. 

“There are many women who work in our company as our partners. For one woman entrepreneur we started 7 to10 morning deliveries to deliver harissa for her. Her sales also went up and she started delivering PAN India,” he added.

Lately, with a content creator of valley, Tafazul, they have started a series of inspiring stories of Kashmiri women entrepreneurs  who talk about their ventures, success and setbacks through their social media handle, Instagram.The Instagram stories garnered huge attention by netizens and inspired many as well. 

Although Jibran believes that in entrepreneurship, men and women are equal but in a society like Kashmir, he feels that the women folk need a boost. 

He said, “The video of a woman entrepreneur inspired many people to do something on their own. The other day, we had a couple aged more than 60 years old, in our office who wanted to start their own venture with us. Many people approached us after watching the video. For some beginners we have kept zero percent as charges for now. In this way, we can uplift women entrepreneurs.”

Currently, in Srinagar, more than 500 restaurants are getting sales through Gatoes and for Jammu and Kashmir, it’s about 1200 plus, as said by the founder.

He further said, “There were many national food brands who offered us to work with them but we felt that the local entrepreneurships would come down. The national brands could have given us good business but we chose local business so that we can elevate them.”

The team had to face the challenges along with the success. When the application was launched, the 2G internet was restored in the valley and the app was optimized so that it can work under such low connectivity circumstances.  

Around the world, food delivery apps have changed the way the world eats but in Kashmir, most of the people follow the tradition of eating together. In the beginning, the team struggled to make the people understand about the idea of ordering food from the mobile phone.   

“In Kashmir, many people don’t have access to the internet and there are families who live together and have a tradition of having food together. Creating the market was difficult here. Our 90% of the market were the people who had no idea about ordering food,” he added. 

In the reserved society like Kashmir, a delivery profession is not acceptable and usually ventures find it difficult to get the delivery workers for their products and services. To make the profession accepted, the team works hard to make sure delivery comes around as a profession.

 

“Before we started, delivery was not a profession in Kashmir but now many educated people or who are pursuing their studies opt this profession as a part-time job. With this, it was much more necessary to pay them well so that they were able to accept these jobs. We pay a good amount to the delivery guys and they also pay us in the form of effort and hardwork,” he said.

In future, the team is expecting to bring out more women run cloud kitchens. “As per our research, the women tend to make the brands more successful than men and women-based ventures sustain for a very long time. It makes sense because you want long term partners and at the same time, women do it on themselves. Their hard work is compelled with our encouragement,” he said.

Also, the venture is going to collaborate with top IT entrepreneurs. The team is also planning to have grocery items and with this service more jobs will be created. 

Calling out every Kashmiri, he said that there is a responsibility to create opportunities and employment for others. 

He said, “For a successful company, you need to create more jobs, and take the best out of society. I look forward to a Kashmir where there are more resilient leaders who make sure other people do the same as well.”