By six every morning, Kinchu Lhamo Bhutia is out of her house to buy chicken and buffalo meat. Buying the meat herself is one of her quality control measures for her business Kinchu’s Kitchen, which sells frozen momos, and buff and chicken pickles.

For a long time, Kinchu’s Kitchen was just an idea in Bhutia’s head. Bhutia, a native of Sikkim, moved to Kathmandu after getting married. She had always wanted to start a business focusing on serving the kind of Sikkimese food that she grew up eating. But between helping her husband’s pashmina business in Kathmandu and raising her children, she had very little time to do anything else.

As the nation went into a lockdown in March, the family’s pashmina shop in Thamel had to be shut, and Bhutia found herself free time. On April 16, nearly a month into the lockdown, Bhutia launched Kinchu’s Kitchen. Not long after launching her business, it took off, and since then Kinchu’s Kitchen has sold thousands of plates of momos and hundreds of bottles of meat pickles.

The pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns have crippled businesses across the country. Job losses and pay cuts have become common across industries. However, in these economically turbulent times, some like Bhutia have started online businesses that have taken off.

“Friends who had tried my food have always told me to start my own food business but I never really thought I would actually start it in the midst of a pandemic,” said Bhutia.

Two months after Bhutia started her business, Sushmita Manandhar started her online bakery shop (bakeaway_Nepal), on June 16. Manandhar, a baking enthusiast, has been baking for a decade.

“I used to bake for my family and friends,” said Manandhar. “But ever since I started helping my father with his business, I got too busy to spend much time on baking.”

But that changed during the lockdown.

“During the lockdown, our family business had to be shut, and I had ample free time to bake, and I resumed baking and shared my baked products with family, friends, and neighbours,” said Manandhar. “One of my friends insisted that I sell my baked items online, and on June 16, I created an Instagram page bakeaway_Nepal. That’s how my small venture was born.”

On July 29, a few days after the nation-wide lockdown was lifted, Yasodha Tamang started Cheli Ko Chulo, an online momo venture. For Tamang, a teacher by profession, cooking has always been her way of expressing her love for family and friends.

“During the lockdown my brother and I toyed with the idea of commercialising my passion for cooking,” said Tamang. “And what better way than to start with momos. Before we started Cheli Ko Chulo, we sent our momos to our friends and loved ones and told them to give us their honest feedback. The feedback was very positive, which was very encouraging.”

But when Manandhar, Tamang, and Bhutia started their businesses, they didn’t expect to see success as quickly as they have. The trio’s clientele in the initial days were mainly made up of friends and families. “When I began receiving orders from strangers, that was when I realised the true potential of the business,” said Manandhar.

For Tamang and Bhutia, it was when their friends became repeat customers that they knew their business was going to do well. “I sell an average of 40 plates of momos a day,” said Tamang.

On average, Bhutia sells 50 plates of momos and 30 bottles of pickles a day.

Manandhar gets an average of five to six orders a day for cakes, muffins and cupcakes, and in a week she gets an average of six birthday cake orders.

“For the first few weeks after launch, I only did pick-up services. But when the orders started increasing, I realised having home delivery services makes things much more convenient for customers,” said Manandhar. “I then got in touch with a delivery company and started availing their services from July 6.”

Tamang’s brother, she says, delivers the orders.

Bhutia does her own delivery. “Our family’s driver has taken the responsibility of delivering the orders. To ensure that we have an efficient delivery system in place, we take all our orders one day prior to the delivery date. That way, it is easier for our delivery person and it allows me enough time to plan ahead,” said Bhutia.

But ever since prohibitory orders came into effect in Kathmandu Valley on August 19, things, says Bhutia, have been slightly challenging. In the early days of new restrictions delivery had to finish by 8:30 in the morning, then online delivery were stopped in the second week of restrictions in August as the spread of the virus did not decrease

“It has been a bit inconvenient. We have stopped taking orders from places that are far away from where we live because it’s no longer possible to deliver them on time,” said Bhutia.

The same is the case with Cheli Ko Chulo. “With all the restrictions now in place, we now only deliver orders from places near us,” said Tamang. “These days we only deliver around 15 to 20 plates of momos a day.”

Manandhar has halted her delivery service and now only offers pick-up service. “The number of orders has dropped but I am okay with that,” said Manandhar. “Safety and health should be our top priority right now. I have been using the free time to expand my knowledge on baking by doing a lot of research on the topic and have also been experimenting with new recipes.”

Then on September 3 Kathmandu district administration office announced that deliveries would be allowed following safety protocol from 1 to 7 pm.

All three have already made plans to expand their business once things return to normalcy.

Manandhar, a self-taught baker, has already made up her mind to join a bakery school to hone her craft. “I am also seriously thinking of opening a small bakery/restaurant because right now I do all my baking at home with simple baking equipment, which comes with its own limitations,” said Manandhar. “When the nation-wide lockdown was lifted on July 21, I even visited businesses that sell industrial baking equipment to get an idea of how much of an investment I would need. I have also had meetings with a hotel and a few restaurants. They have shown interest in selling my products once things return to normalcy.”

Buoyed by the response to her business, Bhutia is also making plans for expansion. “Once the lockdown opens, I am planning to officially register the business. We are also planning to get a designated space to make momos. A few restaurants and stores have shown interest in selling our products,” said Bhutia.

Tamang and her brother are also planning to open a small restaurant once things return to normalcy.

“There’s no doubt the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns have been tough for all of us,” said Bhutia. “But it has presented me with an opportunity to explore myself and start a new business. I am confident that once the pandemic ends, Kinchu’s Kitchen will continue to flourish.”