KOLKATA: If Mumbai's got dabbawallas to deliver steamy food to the workplace for ages, the city of joy is slowly warming up to the idea. If everything falls into place, New Town will get its own battery of 'dabbawallas', albeit with a modern touch, before the Pujas.

In just another few months, IT or BPO employees in New Town will get hot, freshly prepared food delivered at their desks. A startup firm is introducing the concept of 'Internet Kitchen' in New Town, which is nothing but a back-end kitchen without a restaurant, that would deliver food at homes or workplace after receiving orders through a mobile application.

The service would be introduced by Urban Feast Pvt Ltd, a startup founded two management graduates Sayantan Jana and Sunit Kumar Mandal. Jana came up with the idea and discussed it with Hidco chairman-cum-managing director Debashis Sen last week. "We are starting off this concept from New Town. It is on the lines of the smart city concept in which one could order by WhatsApp or a mobile application and we would deliver home-made food," said Sayantan Jana, the co-founder of Urban Fresh.

"It is broadly similar to Mumbai's dabba system. The difference between a normal home delivery and Internet Kitchen is that food won't be pre-cooked for quick service, as in a restaurant. So one would always have freshly prepared food," Sen said. The food quality will be monitored by Hidco.

"There are many who, after returning home after a whole day's work, feel very tired to cook. So this new service would be helpful not only for IT employees but also for working couples," Jana said.

Hidco officials said the kitchen would be set up at the Hidco Bhavan canteen. Apart from running normal operations, food will also be available for Hidco Bhavan staff at reasonable cost.price range Rs 60 to 65 for chicken thali, Rs 35 to 45 for veg thali