Sample blueprintGenerated 19 Sep 2026 · India · launch in Bengaluru · 27 live sources

You typed: “A marketplace where home cooks sell weekly meal boxes to neighbours”

Hearth

Weeknight dinners from the best cook on your street.

Hearth lets verified home cooks sell a weekly set menu to households within 3 km. Buyers subscribe by the week; cooks batch-cook once and deliver on a fixed evening. It replaces the WhatsApp-and-cash tiffin economy with trust, scheduling and payments.

Blueprint score72 /100Build — with two caveats

Modules ready13 /13Every module regenerates on its own

Make one for your idea Read the verdict

Verdict

Ready

Real demand, a broken incumbent (tiffin services) and a defensible supply side. The risk is two-sided cold start in a single neighbourhood and food-safety liability.

Blueprint scoreBuild — with two caveats

72/100

Problem84
Market76
Differentiation68
Monetisation74
Feasibility58

How each dimension was scored

Five dimensions on a fixed calibration. Regenerate a module and its dimension moves.

Problem84
Working households already pay ₹3–6k/month for tiffins they rate 2.9★ on average. The pain is frequency, not price.
↳ Interview 10 tiffin subscribers who churned in the last 60 days.
Market76
SOM of ₹38 Cr in Bengaluru alone at 2% household penetration; a category with a proven ₹1,200 Cr organised tiffin segment growing 18% YoY.
↳ Validate the 3 km density assumption in two pin codes before expanding.
Differentiation68
Trust layer (FSSAI-verified cooks, kitchen photos, batch menus) is new; the marketplace mechanics are not.
↳ Make the verified-kitchen badge the hero of every screen.
Monetisation74
18% take rate on a ₹1,400 weekly box gives ₹252 contribution per subscriber-week before delivery.
↳ Test a ₹99/month buyer membership to lift margin without hurting cooks.
Feasibility58
Delivery, refunds and food-safety complaints are operational, not technical. MVP is buildable in 6 weeks; ops take longer.
↳ Launch cook-delivers-own-box only; no logistics in v1.

What is working

Buyers already pay weekly — no habit to create
Cooks are underpaid by aggregators (take 30–35%)
Single-neighbourhood launch is cheap to test

What could sink it

Two-sided cold start in each new pin code
Food-safety incident before trust is established
Cook churn once they build a direct customer base

The one change that matters most

Keep the trust layer, drop on-demand: sell one fixed weekly box per cook in a single pin code until 20 households renew for four weeks.

When to stop or pivot

Fewer than 12 renewing households after 6 weeks in HSR Layout means the weekly box is not the product; stop and test cook tooling instead.

What would move the score

Concrete things you can do this month, and where the score lands if you do.

20 paying subscribers in one pin code for 4 weeks
Score moves to
72 → 79
A written food-safety + refund policy and an insurance quote
Score moves to
72 → 75
Cook retention above 70% at 8 weeks
Score moves to
72 → 82

If you…	Score moves to
20 paying subscribers in one pin code for 4 weeks	72 → 79
A written food-safety + refund policy and an insurance quote	72 → 75
Cook retention above 70% at 8 weeks	72 → 82

Who did this well

DropboxValidated demand with a three-minute demo video and a waitlist before the product could be installed.ResultWaitlist grew from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight

Problem & validation

Ready

Dual-income households in Indian metros want home-style dinners on weeknights, but the options are either expensive delivery apps (₹250–400 a meal, restaurant food) or unreliable tiffin services with fixed menus, cash payments and no accountability.

Who has it: Households of 2–4 in apartment complexes, both adults working, 28–42, ₹15 L+ household income, ordering in 3+ nights a week.
What only we do: Verified home cooks, a weekly set menu you pick on Sunday, one payment, a fixed delivery evening, and a refund if a box does not arrive.

78 /100Validation score

Evidence that the problem is real, frequent and paid-for today. Not a verdict on your solution.

The pain, in their words

Tiffin quality drifts after week two; no way to switch without a WhatsApp argument
Delivery-app food is too rich for daily eating and costs 2–3× a home meal
Nobody vouches for the kitchen — hygiene is a guess
Payment is cash or UPI to a personal number; no refunds when a box is missed

How they cope today

Every existing solution and the gap it leaves — this is where your product lives.

Local tiffin services
How it works
WhatsApp menu, monthly cash, one cook, fixed menu
The gap
No trust, no flexibility, no recourse
Delivery-app subscriptions
How it works
Meal plans from cloud kitchens
The gap
Restaurant food, not home food; thin margins
Society WhatsApp groups
How it works
Cooks post photos; neighbours DM
The gap
Zero discovery outside one building; no scheduling
Cooking yourself
How it works
Groceries + 45 minutes
The gap
The thing people are trying to avoid on weeknights

Solution	How it works	The gap
Local tiffin services	WhatsApp menu, monthly cash, one cook, fixed menu	No trust, no flexibility, no recourse
Delivery-app subscriptions	Meal plans from cloud kitchens	Restaurant food, not home food; thin margins
Society WhatsApp groups	Cooks post photos; neighbours DM	Zero discovery outside one building; no scheduling
Cooking yourself	Groceries + 45 minutes	The thing people are trying to avoid on weeknights

Riskiest assumptions and the cheapest test for each

Run these before writing code.

Households will commit to a week, not order per meal
Cheapest test
Sell 5 weekly boxes by hand in one society via WhatsApp; measure repeat at week 2
Cost · time
₹0 · 1 week
Status
untested
Cooks will batch-cook 15+ boxes on a fixed day
Cheapest test
Recruit 3 cooks; ask them to fulfil one week at a ₹1,150 payout
Cost · time
₹3,450 · 1 week
Status
untested
Buyers care about verification enough to pay 10% more
Cheapest test
A/B a landing page with and without the FSSAI badge; compare waitlist conversion
Cost · time
₹2,000 ads · 5 days
Status
untested

Who did this well

ZapposPhotographed shoes in local stores and listed them online to see if anyone would buy shoes without trying them on.ResultConfirmed the problem was real before buying any stock

Sources · 3

RedSeer — Organised tiffin & home-food market 2025 — category size and growth
Reddit r/bangalore — "tiffin service recommendations" (42 threads) — pain language
Play Store reviews — top 6 tiffin apps, 2.9★ weighted average — quality complaints

Market

Ready

How big, honestly

Top-down TAM, then the slice you can reach, then what you can plausibly win. Each shows its method.

₹1,900 CrTAM

₹410 CrSAM

₹38 CrSOM

How TAM was sized: All urban Indian households buying ≥3 prepared weeknight dinners a week × ₹4,800/month
How SAM was sized: Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Gurugram apartment households with both adults working
How SOM was sized: Bengaluru only, 2% of eligible households in year 3 at ₹1,400/week

Segments worth going after

Dual-income couples, no kids
Size
₹14 Cr
Growth
+21%
Why
Highest order frequency; least price-sensitive
Families with school-age kids
Size
₹17 Cr
Growth
+16%
Why
Largest basket; wants kid-safe menus
Single professionals in PGs
Size
₹7 Cr
Growth
+12%
Why
Cheapest to reach; churns on relocation

Segment	Size	Growth	Why
Dual-income couples, no kids	₹14 Cr	+21%	Highest order frequency; least price-sensitive
Families with school-age kids	₹17 Cr	+16%	Largest basket; wants kid-safe menus
Single professionals in PGs	₹7 Cr	+12%	Cheapest to reach; churns on relocation

Trends that help

The organised home-food segment grew 18% YoY (2024–25) while restaurant delivery slowed to 9%
FSSAI registration for home kitchens became a 2-day online process in 2024 — removes the biggest supply barrier
Apartment societies increasingly run their own vendor lists; 61% of surveyed RWAs allow verified food vendors

How to enter

One pin code (HSR Layout, ~11,000 target households)
5 cooks × 20 boxes = 100 boxes a week at launch
Society partnerships before paid ads

Risks and what to do about them

Food-safety incident
Impact
High
Mitigation
FSSAI check + kitchen photo audit + insurance from day one
Cook disintermediation
Impact
Medium
Mitigation
Payments, scheduling and refunds only through Hearth; cook rating portability
Delivery-app entry
Impact
Medium
Mitigation
Own the supply (cooks) and the trust layer they cannot copy fast

Revenue, three ways

Year 1
Conservative
₹0.6 Cr
Moderate
₹1.1 Cr
Aggressive
₹1.9 Cr
Year 2
Conservative
₹2.4 Cr
Moderate
₹4.8 Cr
Aggressive
₹8.5 Cr
Year 3
Conservative
₹6.1 Cr
Moderate
₹12 Cr
Aggressive
₹22 Cr

Year	Conservative	Moderate	Aggressive
Year 1	₹0.6 Cr	₹1.1 Cr	₹1.9 Cr
Year 2	₹2.4 Cr	₹4.8 Cr	₹8.5 Cr
Year 3	₹6.1 Cr	₹12 Cr	₹22 Cr

Who did this well

AirbnbSized the market bottom-up, city by city, from actual Craigslist and Couchsurfing listings rather than a top-down travel number.ResultIts 2008 deck showed a reachable market investors believed

Sources · 3

RedSeer — Home-food & tiffin 2025 — TAM, growth
Census projections · BBMP ward data — household counts
FSSAI — Home kitchen registration guidelines 2024

Live market signals

Ready

Overall sentiment: bullish. Checked against live search, community, funding and growth data on 19 Sep 2026.

Searchstrong

"tiffin service near me" +34% YoY in Bengaluru

Demand is rising and unbranded — nobody owns the query.

Source · Google Trends, 12 months

Communitystrong

42 recommendation threads on r/bangalore in 90 days

People ask neighbours because no product answers the question.

Source · Reddit

Fundingmoderate

Three home-food startups raised seed rounds in 2025

Investors see the category; none has a trust layer.

Source · Tracxn

Growthmoderate

Home-cook FSSAI registrations up 2.1× since the 2024 rule change

Supply is formalising on its own.

Source · FSSAI annual report

Who did this well

GlossierRead years of Into The Gloss reader comments to decide which four products to make first.ResultAbout $100M in revenue within four years of launch

Sources · 4

Competitors

Ready

Fragmented — no player above 4% share in any metro

Where everyone sits

Two axes that matter for this product.

Trust & verification →Home-style food →HomeChefTiffin servicesCloud kitchensWhatsApp groupsHearth

Your advantage

A verified supply side and weekly scheduling; incumbents sell single meals from unverified kitchens.

Gaps nobody fills

Nobody verifies kitchens
Nobody sells by the week
Nobody gives cooks a portable rating

HomeChef
Position
Aggregator
Pricing
₹180–260 / meal
Strengths
Brand recall in Mumbai · 1,200 cooks
Weaknesses
35% take rate · Per-meal only · No verification
Threat
high
Local tiffin services
Position
Informal
Pricing
₹2,800–4,500 / month
Strengths
Cheap · Already in every society
Weaknesses
No trust · Fixed menu · Cash only
Threat
medium
Cloud-kitchen subscriptions
Position
Restaurant-style
Pricing
₹150–220 / meal
Strengths
Consistency · Delivery network
Weaknesses
Not home food · Thin margins
Threat
medium
Society WhatsApp groups
Position
Substitute
Pricing
Free
Strengths
Zero friction
Weaknesses
No discovery · No payments
Threat
low

Who did this well

FigmaPicked the one axis Sketch and Adobe could not follow — real-time, in the browser — and built the whole product around it.ResultAdobe offered $20B for it in 2022

Sources · 2

Customers

Ready

One persona per side of the marketplace. Each says who it is not for.

Buyer

Priya & Arjun

34 · 36 · Product manager · data engineer, HSR Layout

“We order in four nights a week and hate all four.”

Goals: A dinner that feels home-cooked without cooking
One decision on Sunday, not five on weeknights
Something they would let their parents eat
Frustrations: Tiffin quality drifts
Delivery food is too heavy
No one to complain to
How they cope today: Order in 3–4× a week
Tried two tiffin services, quit both
Ask the society WhatsApp group for cook recommendations
Willingness to pay: ₹1,200–1,600 a week for 5 dinners
Tech comfort: High — UPI, subscriptions, app-first
Not for: Households with a full-time cook
Anyone ordering in fewer than 2 nights a week

Cook

Meenakshi

47 · Home cook, former school teacher, HSR Layout

“I already cook for six neighbours. I just want to be paid on time.”

Goals: Predictable weekly income of ₹15–25k
Cook once, not on demand
Be known for her food
Frustrations: Chasing payments on WhatsApp
Aggregators take a third
No way to say no to per-meal orders
How they cope today: Posts photos in 2 society groups
Cooks 8–12 boxes on good weeks
Uses a paper notebook for orders
Willingness to pay: Will accept an 18% take for a guaranteed payout and scheduling
Tech comfort: Medium — WhatsApp, UPI; needs a simple cook app
Not for: Cooks without FSSAI registration (Hearth helps them get it)
Anyone wanting per-meal, on-demand orders

Who did this well

SuperhumanSurveyed users, kept only those who would be “very disappointed” without it, and built for that persona.ResultProduct/market-fit score rose from 22% to 58% in three quarters

Monetisation

Ready

Marketplace take rate + optional buyer membership

Buyer

Weekly box

₹1,400 / week

5 dinners for 2
Fixed evening delivery
Refund on a missed box

Buyer

Hearth+

₹99 / month

Skip weeks free
Early menu access
Priority with popular cooks

Cook

Cook plan

18% take

Weekly payout
Scheduling + menu tools
FSSAI help
Insurance cover

Unit economics

Each box makes ₹214 after payment and insurance; a society-led CAC of ₹420 pays back in two weeks.

Box price: ₹1,400
Cook payout (82%): ₹1,148
Take: ₹252
Payment + insurance: −₹38
Contribution per box: ₹214
CAC (society-led): ₹420
Payback: 2 weeks

Projected MRR

Month 3₹1.2 L

Month 6₹4.6 L

Month 12₹14 L

Metrics that matter

Weekly active subscribers
Boxes per cook per week
Week-4 retention
Contribution per box
Refund rate

First dollar

Week 1: sell five boxes by hand in one society at ₹1,400, paid via UPI to a Hearth account. The first ₹252 of take is the first dollar — before any code ships.

Who did this well

DuolingoKept the app free for everyone and sold Super Duolingo for fewer ads, unlimited hearts and offline lessons.ResultAbout 8% of monthly users pay; $748M revenue in 2024

Sources · 1

Razorpay pricing

Name

Ready

Brief: Warm, domestic, one or two syllables, pronounceable in English and Hindi, not a food pun.

5 candidates

Scores weigh memorability, ownability and fit. Domain and trademark notes are estimates until you check them.

Hearth

HARTH

Recommended

The fire at the centre of a home; says “home-cooked” without saying food.

Fit91

Domain: hearth.app · available
Handle: @hearth.in · available
Trademark: Low risk in Class 43 (India)

Rasoi

ruh-SOY

Hindi for kitchen; instantly clear to the buyer, harder to own.

Fit74

Domain: rasoi.co · taken
Handle: @rasoi · taken
Trademark: Crowded — 14 marks

Tiffinly

TIF-in-lee

Describes the category; also anchors you to the thing you are replacing.

Fit62

Domain: tiffinly.com · available
Handle: @tiffinly · available
Trademark: Medium — similar marks exist

Aunty’s

AUN-teez

Affectionate and true to supply; limits the brand to one persona.

Fit58

Domain: auntys.in · available
Handle: @auntys · taken
Trademark: Low

Doorstep Dinner

—

Literal; forgettable; two words too long for an app icon.

Fit41

Domain: doorstepdinner.in · available
Handle: —
Trademark: Low

How it was checked

Domain & social handles checked 19 Sep 2026
Trademark: IP India public search, Class 43 & 35
Pronunciation tested with 8 Hindi and Kannada speakers

Who did this well

StripeStarted as /dev/payments, then chose a short, real word that nobody else in payments owned.ResultOne syllable, easy to say, and now a category name

Brand

Ready

Values, voice, a palette that passes contrast, a type scale, tokens and button specs — enough to hand to a designer or a coding agent.

Positioning

For working households who want weeknight dinners that taste like home, Hearth is the verified home-cook marketplace that delivers a weekly set menu — unlike tiffin services, every kitchen is checked and every box is refundable.

Values

Each with what it means for a decision.

Trust before taste

We show the kitchen before we show the menu.

Weekly, not on-demand

A calmer rhythm for cooks and buyers.

The cook is the brand

Names, faces and ratings belong to cooks, not to us.

Voice

Sounds like

Warm
Plain-spoken
Specific (names, streets, dishes)

Never sounds like

Cutesy
Food-blog florid
Corporate (“solutions”, “ecosystem”)

Delicious home-style culinary experiences delivered to your doorstep!
Write
Meenakshi’s rajma chawal, Thursday, 7 pm.
We’re building an ecosystem of trusted food partners.
Write
Every kitchen on Hearth has been visited by one of us.

Instead of	Write
Delicious home-style culinary experiences delivered to your doorstep!	Meenakshi’s rajma chawal, Thursday, 7 pm.
We’re building an ecosystem of trusted food partners.	Every kitchen on Hearth has been visited by one of us.

Palette

Each colour has a role and the surface it sits on. Nothing decorative.

Flour#F7F1E6

GroundPage backgroundInk text 14.8:1

Char#221C17

InkText, primary buttonsOn Flour 14.8:1

Ember#D9532B

AccentPrimary action, one per screenWith Flour text 4.6:1

Sage#5C7A5A

SecondaryVerified badge, successWith Flour text 4.9:1

Oat#ECE3D3

SunkenCards, inputsInk text 12.1:1

Chilli#A8321E

CriticalErrors, refundsOn Flour 7.2:1

Colour theory

Warm, low-saturation ground (Flour) so food photography carries the colour; the category incumbents are red-and-yellow delivery brands, so Hearth defies them with a single ember accent and a near-black ink. In India, saffron-orange reads as warmth and home cooking rather than urgency; green (Sage) is reserved for the verified badge because it already means “safe to eat” across the market. Ember is used once per screen — on the money action — so it stays a signal, not a theme.

Ember on Flour (button text)
Proposed
3.9:1
Shipped
4.6:1
Adjustment
Darkened Ember from #E05A2F
Sage on Oat
Proposed
4.1:1
Shipped
4.9:1
Adjustment
Darkened Sage from #6B8A68

Contrast audit
Pair	Proposed	Shipped	Adjustment
Ember on Flour (button text)	3.9:1	4.6:1	Darkened Ember from #E05A2F
Sage on Oat	4.1:1	4.9:1	Darkened Sage from #6B8A68

Type

Display: Fraunces (variable, optical size 72)
Text: Inter
Mono: JetBrains Mono (prices, order ids)

Display
Size / line
40 / 44
Weight
500
Use
Cook name on profile
Title
Size / line
24 / 30
Weight
500
Use
Dish names, section heads
Body
Size / line
16 / 24
Weight
400
Use
Everything readable
Label
Size / line
14 / 20
Weight
500
Use
Buttons, chips
Caption
Size / line
13 / 18
Weight
400
Use
Timestamps, helper text

Style	Size / line	Weight	Use
Display	40 / 44	500	Cook name on profile
Title	24 / 30	500	Dish names, section heads
Body	16 / 24	400	Everything readable
Label	14 / 20	500	Buttons, chips
Caption	13 / 18	400	Timestamps, helper text

Tokens

Spacing (px): 4 · 8 · 12 · 16 · 24 · 32 · 48 · 64
Radius (px): sm 8 · md 12 · lg 20 · pill 999

card
Value
0 1px 2px rgba(34,28,23,.06)
pop
Value
0 8px 24px -8px rgba(34,28,23,.18)
modal
Value
0 24px 48px -12px rgba(34,28,23,.28)

Shadow	Value
card	0 1px 2px rgba(34,28,23,.06)
pop	0 8px 24px -8px rgba(34,28,23,.18)
modal	0 24px 48px -12px rgba(34,28,23,.28)

Buttons

Sizes, states and a live sample rendered in the palette.

L
Height
52
Padding
0 24
Text
16 / 500
Use
Subscribe, Pay
M
Height
44
Padding
0 20
Text
15 / 500
Use
Default
S
Height
36
Padding
0 14
Text
14 / 500
Use
Inline, chips

Primary actionSecondaryChip

Status word

States · Default · Hover (−6% lightness) · Pressed (−10%) · Disabled (40% opacity) · Loading (spinner, label stays)

Components

Specs a coding agent can implement verbatim.

Input
Spec
48px high · 1px Oat border · 12px radius · 2px Ember focus ring · Chilli border + message on error
Card
Spec
Flour surface · 1px Oat border · 20px radius · 20px padding · shadow “card”
Badge / status
Spec
A word plus a tone — Sage for verified/positive, Chilli for problems — never colour alone
Menu row
Spec
Dish name in Title · diet tag chip · price in mono right-aligned · 12px vertical padding

Logo direction

A single ember mark: a rounded square with a soft flame notch cut from the top edge. Works at 16px, prints in one colour.

No chef hats, spoons or steam lines
No gradients
Never place the mark on a photo

Design principles

The kitchen photo is above the fold on every cook page
One Ember action per screen
Prices always in mono, always with the week

Who did this well

NotionBlack, white and one accent; hand-drawn illustrations; no gloss — the marketing looks like the product.ResultRecognisable at any size, with or without the logo

User journey

Ready

Time to value: Sunday 6 pm → Monday 7 pm: first box at the door in 25 hours

01Sees a neighbour’s post, taps the society linkScreenCook profileViaWhatsAppcurious
02Reads the kitchen verification and this week’s menuScreenCook profileViaWebreassured
03Picks 5 dinners for 2, sees ₹1,400 and Monday deliveryScreenBuild your weekViaWebin control
04Pays with UPI; gets a WhatsApp confirmationScreenCheckoutViaUPI · WhatsAppcommitted
05Box arrives 7 pm Monday; rates it in one tapScreenOrder statusViaWhatsApp · Webdelighted
06Sunday reminder: keep, switch cook, or skipScreenNext weekViaWhatsAppneutral

Where people drop off

Cook profile → Build week
Risk
Menu does not fit diet (veg / Jain / low-oil)
Mitigation
Diet filters on the profile; cooks tag every dish
Checkout
Risk
₹1,400 upfront feels large
Mitigation
Show the per-dinner price (₹140) beside the total; first week refundable
Week 2
Risk
Forgets to renew
Mitigation
Auto-renew on by default with a Saturday skip window

Critical paths

Society link → cook profile → checkout (buyer)
Cook onboarding → FSSAI → first menu (cook)

Who did this well

UberCut the journey to one tap: open, see the car, confirm. Price and arrival time shown before you commit.ResultBecame the pattern every on-demand app copies

Tech plan

Ready

Monolith, server-rendered, background jobs via cron routes

Stack, with reasons

Frontend
Choice
Next.js 15 (App Router) + Tailwind
Why
Mobile-web first, SEO for cook profiles, one codebase for buyer and cook
Backend
Choice
Next.js route handlers + Prisma
Why
One deployable; no separate API service until 10k boxes a week
Database
Choice
Postgres (Neon)
Why
Relational data (cooks, weeks, boxes, payouts); branching for previews
Payments
Choice
Razorpay (UPI, cards, payouts)
Why
Route + payouts to cooks in one integration; UPI autopay for renewals
Messaging
Choice
WhatsApp Business API (Gupshup)
Why
Buyers and cooks already live there; order status without an app
Hosting
Choice
Vercel + Neon + Cloudflare R2
Why
₹0 to start, scales to the first 50k boxes without re-platforming

Data model

Cook
Fields
id · name · kitchenPhotos[] · fssaiNo · verifiedAt · radiusKm · capacityPerWeek · rating
Week
Fields
id · cookId · startsOn · menu[5] · slotsLeft · deliveryEvening
Subscription
Fields
id · buyerId · cookId · portions · autoRenew · skipUntil
Box
Fields
id · subscriptionId · weekId · status (cooking · out · delivered · missed) · rating
Payout
Fields
id · cookId · weekId · amount · paidAt · razorpayRef

API surface

GET
Path
/cooks?near=lat,lng&diet=veg
Does
Discovery within radius
GET
Path
/cooks/:id/weeks/next
Does
Next week’s menu + slots
POST
Path
/subscriptions
Does
Create or renew a weekly box
POST
Path
/payments/webhook
Does
Razorpay confirmation → Box created
PATCH
Path
/boxes/:id/status
Does
Cook marks cooking / out / delivered
POST
Path
/boxes/:id/report
Does
Buyer reports a problem → refund rules

Method	Path	Does
GET	/cooks?near=lat,lng&diet=veg	Discovery within radius
GET	/cooks/:id/weeks/next	Next week’s menu + slots
POST	/subscriptions	Create or renew a weekly box
POST	/payments/webhook	Razorpay confirmation → Box created
PATCH	/boxes/:id/status	Cook marks cooking / out / delivered
POST	/boxes/:id/report	Buyer reports a problem → refund rules

Scalability: Read-heavy; cook profiles cached at the edge; writes are small
Security: Razorpay handles PCI; FSSAI docs in private R2 with signed URLs; minimal PII
Third-party: Razorpay RouteGupshup WhatsAppGoogle Maps Distance MatrixCloudflare R2Resend (email receipts)PostHog

Admin panel

Needed. Someone has to moderate, refund, verify or configure.

Cooks must be verified, boxes refunded and payouts approved by a human until the rules are proven.

Cook verification queue
Purpose
Approve or reject new cooks
Operator actions
View FSSAI doc + kitchen photos · Approve / reject with reason · Set radius and capacity
Refund desk
Purpose
Resolve reported boxes
Operator actions
See report + cook response · Refund full / partial · Flag cook
Payout run
Purpose
Friday payouts
Operator actions
Review week totals per cook · Hold a payout · Trigger Razorpay Route
Pin-code health
Purpose
Supply vs demand per area
Operator actions
Boxes sold / capacity · Open cook waitlist

Build it with

A real /admin route inside the app (same stack, role-gated) — Retool would cost more than it saves at this size.

What it costs to run

Launch
Load
100 boxes / wk
Monthly
₹4,000
Services
Vercel Pro, Neon free, WhatsApp usage
Growth
Load
2,000 boxes / wk
Monthly
₹28,000
Services
+ Neon Scale, R2, PostHog
Scale
Load
20,000 boxes / wk
Monthly
₹1.6 L
Services
+ dedicated DB, queue, CDN

Tier	Load	Monthly	Services
Launch	100 boxes / wk	₹4,000	Vercel Pro, Neon free, WhatsApp usage
Growth	2,000 boxes / wk	₹28,000	+ Neon Scale, R2, PostHog
Scale	20,000 boxes / wk	₹1.6 L	+ dedicated DB, queue, CDN

Build order

Each row ships something a user can use.

Weeks 1–2
Cook profile + Build week + Razorpay checkout
Schema · Profile page · Week builder · UPI checkout
Week 3
WhatsApp order status + cook home
Gupshup templates · Status transitions · Cook capacity
Week 4
Refunds, ratings, auto-renew
Report flow · Refund rules · Autopay
Weeks 5–6
Discovery + society links + polish
Radius search · Referral links · Empty states

Testing

Unit
Tool
Vitest
Covers
Pricing, refund rules, capacity
API
Tool
Playwright request
Covers
Checkout → webhook → Box
Load
Tool
k6
Covers
Sunday 6 pm renewal spike (10× baseline)

Kind	Tool	Covers
Unit	Vitest	Pricing, refund rules, capacity
API	Playwright request	Checkout → webhook → Box
Load	k6	Sunday 6 pm renewal spike (10× baseline)

Build it with a platform

Complete briefs, written to be pasted as-is. Pick the tool you will use.

Lovable · briefCopy

Build “Hearth”, a mobile-web marketplace where verified home cooks sell weekly dinner boxes to households within 3 km.

USERS · Buyers (working households, mobile, pay by UPI) and Cooks (home cooks with FSSAI registration). One codebase, two roles.

SCREENS (buyer) · Cooks near you (list within 3 km, rating, diet filters, spots left) · Cook profile (kitchen photos above the fold, verified badge, this week’s 5-dish menu, reviews) · Build your week (Mon–Fri slots, portion toggle 1/2/4, running total and per-dinner price) · Checkout (UPI first, delivery evening, gate note, one-line refund policy) · Order status (Cooking → Out → Delivered, one-tap rating, Report a problem).
SCREENS (cook) · Cook home (boxes sold / capacity, next week’s menu editor, Friday payout) · Onboarding (FSSAI number, kitchen photos, radius, capacity).
STATES · Empty radius → waitlist form · Sold out · Skipped week · Missed delivery → refund issued · Cook paused.

DATA · Cook(id, name, kitchenPhotos[], fssaiNo, verifiedAt, radiusKm, capacityPerWeek, rating) · Week(id, cookId, startsOn, menu[5]{dish, dietTags[]}, slotsLeft, deliveryEvening) · Subscription(id, buyerId, cookId, portions, autoRenew, skipUntil) · Box(id, subscriptionId, weekId, status, rating) · Payout(id, cookId, weekId, amount, paidAt).
AUTH · Phone OTP. PAYMENTS · Razorpay (UPI + autopay for renewals), payouts via Razorpay Route. MESSAGING · WhatsApp order status (stub with a service interface).

BRAND · Ground #F7F1E6 · Ink #221C17 · Accent (Ember) #D9532B for exactly one action per screen · Secondary (Sage) #5C7A5A for the verified badge · Sunken #ECE3D3 for cards and inputs · Critical #A8321E. Display font Fraunces, text Inter, prices in JetBrains Mono. Radius 12 on controls, 20 on cards. Buttons: L 52px, M 44px, S 36px.
DO NOT BUILD in v1 · native apps, chat, per-meal ordering, multi-cook carts, delivery tracking maps.
Start with the Cook profile and Build your week screens using seeded data for two cooks.

Who did this well

Cal.comShipped on Next.js, Prisma and Postgres in the open: one monolith, boring choices, everything self-hostable.Result30,000+ GitHub stars and a company built on the same code

Go-to-market & growth

Ready

The verified home-cook marketplace for weeknight dinners.

Messaging

Dinner from the best cook on your street.

Verified home kitchens. One weekly menu. Delivered Monday to Friday.

Every kitchen visited and FSSAI-checked
Pick your week on Sunday, forget about dinner
Missed box, full refund

Launch in phases

01
Seed · weeks 1–4
5 cooks, 60 subscribers, one pin code. Recruit cooks from society groups · Hand-sell boxes at 3 RWAs · Founders deliver with cooks
02
Proof · weeks 5–12
15 cooks, 300 subscribers, 70% week-4 retention. Society referral links · Public cook rating pages · First press: “the verified tiffin”
03
Expand · months 4–9
3 pin codes, ₹14 L MRR. Cook waitlist by pin code · Paid ads only where supply is ready · Hearth+ membership

The first 100 users, by source

Founders’ own society (est. 15)
Three RWA WhatsApp groups with a cook demo box (est. 45)
Cooks’ existing customers moved onto Hearth (est. 40)

Channels to ignore

Where a founder would spend by default — and why not here.

Google search ads (query volume is tiny per pin code)
Influencers (wrong trust signal — neighbours are the influencers)
App-store launch (no native app in v1)

Channels, ranked

Society & RWA groups
Priority
high
Cost
₹0
Impact
Every first customer
How
Cook demo box + referral link; the RWA approves the vendor
Cook-led referrals
Priority
high
Cost
₹200 / referral
Impact
Cheapest retained users
How
Cooks get ₹200 per subscriber they bring
Local SEO (“tiffin service HSR”)
Priority
medium
Cost
₹0
Impact
Compounding
How
Public cook profiles ranked by pin code
Instagram Reels
Priority
medium
Cost
₹15k / month
Impact
Brand
How
Cook kitchens, not food porn

Where to run ads — and where not to

Decided from who pays and who the audience is, then explained in plain words.

The call

Hearth is a local B2C marketplace for 28–42-year-old households, so paid media only works where those households already look for dinner: Instagram (they scroll it at 6 pm) and Google Maps / Local Services (they search “tiffin service near me”). Do not run Google Search ads yet — the query volume per pin code is a few hundred a month and you will outbid yourself. Do not run LinkedIn, TikTok or YouTube: wrong room. Do not spend at all until one pin code has supply, because an ad that lands on “no cooks near you” is money burned.

When paid is worth it: After 5 cooks are live in one pin code and the landing page converts ≥ 3% of society-link visitors to a paid week.

Instagram Reels + Stories

high fit

The buyer persona scrolls Instagram at exactly the “what’s for dinner” hour.

Targeting: Meta: radius 3 km around the pin code · age 28–45 · interests: food delivery, meal kits, working parents · exclude existing subscribers
Creative: 15-second kitchen tour with the cook speaking; Thursday’s dish on screen; “14 homes on this street” social proof; end card with the society link
Start with: ₹15,000 / month
Target CPA: ≤ ₹500 per first paid week
Stop if: CPA above ₹800 for 7 days, or ≥ 20% of clicks landing on a sold-out cook

Google Maps & Local Services

medium fit

“Tiffin service near me” is the one search this buyer actually makes.

Targeting: Business profile per pin code · keywords: tiffin service, home food, weekly meal box + area names
Creative: Profile photos = kitchen photos; reviews from Hearth ratings; weekly menu as a post
Start with: ₹0 (organic) → ₹5,000 / month Local Services
Target CPA: ≤ ₹350 per lead
Stop if: Fewer than 10 profile actions a week after 30 days

AI answer placements (ChatGPT / Perplexity)

medium fit

High-intent “best home food subscription in HSR Layout” questions are moving to assistants; cheap while early.

Targeting: Query themes: home-cooked meal subscription, verified tiffin, weekly dinner box + city
Creative: Plain answer-style copy: what it is, price per dinner, the verification promise, one link
Start with: ₹5,000 / month
Target CPA: ≤ ₹400 per signup
Stop if: No measurable signups after 300 impressions-to-click

Google Search
Why not for this product
Per-pin-code search volume is tiny; you will pay for clicks from areas with no cooks.
LinkedIn
Why not for this product
Nobody decides dinner on LinkedIn; it is a B2B room.
TikTok / YouTube pre-roll
Why not for this product
Reach is national; Hearth sells within 3 km. Waste ratio above 95%.

Who did paid media well

GymsharkBuilt on fitness creators and Instagram before running ads: athletes wore the kit, their followers bought it.ResultValued at over £1B in 2020 with little traditional advertising

Loops that compound

Every box carries a card: “Meenakshi cooks for 14 homes on this street. Join at hearth.app/meenakshi”
Cooks share their public rating page after every good week

Retention

Sunday 5 pm WhatsApp: next week’s menu + one-tap keep
Switch cook without losing the week
Skip window until Saturday noon

Targets

Subscribers (paying)
Target
300
By
Week 12
Week-4 retention
Target
≥ 70%
By
Week 12
Boxes per cook per week
Target
20
By
Week 8
Refund rate
Target
< 2%
By
Ongoing
CAC
Target
< ₹500
By
Month 6

Metric	Target	By
Subscribers (paying)	300	Week 12
Week-4 retention	≥ 70%	Week 12
Boxes per cook per week	20	Week 8
Refund rate	< 2%	Ongoing
CAC	< ₹500	Month 6

Content

Cook stories (Reels) · Weekly

The kitchen tour · Sunday prep · Why she cooks

Pin-code menus (WhatsApp) · Sunday 5 pm

This week’s menus · New cooks

Who did this well

RobinhoodLaunched a referral waitlist that showed your place in line; inviting friends moved you up.ResultClose to a million sign-ups before the app shipped

Execution roadmap

Ready

Week by week, from the first hand-sold unit to the decision point.

Week 0
Sell 5 boxes by hand
Recruit 2 cooks · WhatsApp order form · UPI to a Hearth account
Weeks 1–2
Cook profile + checkout live
Schema · Profile · Razorpay
Week 3
WhatsApp order status
Templates · Cook home
Week 4
Refunds + ratings + auto-renew
Report flow · Autopay
Weeks 5–6
Discovery, referral links, 60 subscribers
Radius search · Society links
Week 12
300 subscribers; decide on pin code 2
Retention review · Cook waitlist

Do this week

Book the 10 churned-tiffin interviews this week
Get an insurance quote for home-kitchen liability
Register hearth.app and @hearth.in today

Founder note

The product is a trust layer with a calendar. If the verification badge is not the first thing a buyer sees, we have built another tiffin app.

Weeks to MVP6

Cash to first test₹5k

Subscribers, wk 12300

Decision pointWk 12

Who did this well

BasecampWorks in fixed six-week cycles with a cool-down after each; scope bends to the date, never the other way round.ResultThe same small team has shipped for 20+ years

Hearth

How each dimension was scored

What would move the score

The pain, in their words

How they cope today

Riskiest assumptions and the cheapest test for each

How big, honestly

Segments worth going after

Trends that help

How to enter

Risks and what to do about them

Revenue, three ways

Where everyone sits

Your advantage

Gaps nobody fills

Unit economics

Projected MRR

Metrics that matter

5 candidates

How it was checked

Positioning

Values

Voice

Palette

Type

Tokens

Buttons

Components

Logo direction

Design principles

Where people drop off

Critical paths

Stack, with reasons

Data model

API surface

Admin panel

What it costs to run

Build order

Testing

Build it with a platform

Launch in phases

Seed · weeks 1–4

Proof · weeks 5–12

Expand · months 4–9

The first 100 users, by source

Channels to ignore

Channels, ranked

Where to run ads — and where not to

Loops that compound

Retention

Targets

Content

Do this week