Srinagar- 17-year-old Mohammad Anas Bhat was fed up with hearing daily taunts from his parents for not contributing to his family’s support. His day would start at noon as he was accustomed to waking up late. The same was true for his childhood friend Mohsin Mir, 18, who wanted to start his own business.
“But the idea for starting a business wasn’t there. We explored all the options,” Bhat told the Kashmir Observer.
Even though both friends are still studying, they had a strong desire to start a business and stand on their own feet. However, they wanted to create something unique and “solution-oriented.”
On a typical day, Bhat’s parents once again told him to fetch at least Kashmiri bread, popularly known as Kander Tsot for the breakfast.
“My father can’t stand in the queue at the bakery shop for a long time because of the cold. So I decided to get the bread myself,” Bhat said.
This was the time when the idea of delivering Kander Tsot to people’s doorsteps came into Bhat’s mind. He shared this idea with Mohsin, and both started working on it, creating a model for the implementation of the idea.
“It was a very challenging idea. Also, with no initial investment, the job was challenging,” Mir told the Kashmir Observer.
The duo created an Instagram page under the name Kander Cxot: Now at your doorstep” and shared their personal phone numbers for orders.
With just eight posts, their Instagram page gained more than four thousand followers in just two weeks.
“We received an overwhelming response. Our phones rang continuously with customers asking for bread early in the morning,” Mir said.
The teenagers started their operations in their locality, Qamarabad Bemina, collecting over one thousand Kander Tsot from different shops every day and delivering them to their customers.
“We had never imagined receiving such an overwhelming response to this idea, though we only started our operations two weeks ago,” Bhat said.
The teenagers receive orders from across the Srinagar city, but due to a “lack of manpower,” they are unable to meet demands of their customers.
“We have only one scooter and one delivery boy. We receive hundreds of calls every day from across the city for orders, but we can’t meet their expectations at the moment,” Bhat added.
Both friends are now planning to expand their operations to other areas of the city and hire more delivery boys. Currently, they are delivering hundreds of orders everyday in the Qamarabad, Tengpora, Qamarwani, and Bemina areas of the city.
Barazulla, Chanapora, and Sanat Nagar are their next targets.
Getting bread and milk in the early morning had become a headache for people, especially for women and elders who had to stand in queues outside the shops.
During winters, it’s even more challenging since the temperature usually remains below zero degrees.
“But we have promised our customers to deliver bread at their doorsteps under whatever circumstances,” Mir says.
They charge a minimum amount of Rs 5-10 every day and can also deliver butter along with the bread.
“We can also cater to marriage functions and other parties,” Mir added.
Bhat is a medical student and his friend Mir is pursuing his education in non-medical stream. Both are 12th standard students. Their days now start at 5:30 in the morning, and after delivering the bread, they go to school to attend their classes.
“Our parents are happy now. Initially, they were reluctant about this kind of job since it requires a lot of hard work, but now they are very supportive,” they said.
Prayers from their customers every day, Bhat says, keeps them motivated and they want to meet the expectations of all the people.
“Many customers tell us that they used to get late for their jobs in search of bread. So we have solved this problem and are also earning a livelihood,” Mir added.
The duo is working on a mobile application so that people can order bread and butter directly from it.
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