This Butchery Chef Finds His Way During Pandemic

-Dhamodaran Palani

There is a saying  ‘Hope for everything, Hope for everyone’. Our world has gone through various changes. Since the dawn of time, what we are experiencing now is maybe one of the worst crises the mankind has ever seen. Despite this, we can still find beauty and awe-inspiring stories to come about. This is the story of Jhony Dabre from Mumbai who could find an alternative to his regular income during this pandemic.

As he was walking on the streets of his neighborhood, ideas came pouring on to him on what he should do at a time when he could not go to the office. All these relied on how he should get up even after falling down. Besides this, he sees the visuals of customers facing huge trouble for basic food products. At that point, he also realizes that people were taking advantage of this situation by selling food items at a higher cost. “I have been working for 32 years in the hospitality sector. I am aware of the real cost of the item. I had an epiphany, instead of taking the safest route, why should I not help them to get meat like pork, chicken, and cold cuts on a reasonable price to their doorstep,” He adds.

As he was experienced in butchery, Jhony went a step-up to set a shop to sell meat products with lesser profit margin and good quality. He further adds that the meat products he would sell will be procured from ISO certified suppliers. To maintain the hygiene and quality, he would take extra measures on cutting the meat such as high graded chopping boards. “for different meat, I got different chopping boards so there won’t be any cross-contact of any meat.” Said Jhony.

Starting this during such a hard time in the country, it wasn’t an effortless task for him. This was possible only with the immense support he received from his family and friends. Jhony’s friends lent him money to be repaid in 2 years. They were ready to part with this money as they knew his experience and felt his reasoning was valid and noble. This seed funding helped him to start the initial process. Today Jhony’s outlet provides affordable, yet quality meat products to the neighbourhood after he converted his vision to reality.

After passing the initial hurdles, he started towards his goal. Moving forward, he wants to provide the best quality meat at a reasonable cost. He wants to also offer his customers all varieties of meat, like chicken breast with bone, lollipop, chicken boneless, pork chop, pork steaks, pork loin, even those that most would have never heard of.  “We will never say no to any person who is not able to buy.  We will try to give from our side as we don’t want anyone to sleep without food. If things go well, we might start with our next branch very soon to give our community the best product.”, he concluded.