Growth Prospects of Women Run Home-Based Businesses: A Study of Home Chefs

Abstract: The COVID pandemic caused disruption to the restaurant industry. Businesses for home-cooked food experienced traction. Food being a skill domain of women, many women entered the market, and the ones already in the market expanded their business. Closing down of restaurants during the lockdown period led to consumers substituting their demand for outside food in favor of home chefs. That might be a trigger point but not the sole factor for the success of many home chefs. This exploratory study tries to identify factors playing role in the success of the home chef business. Qualitative research methodology is adopted with 11 in-depth interviews of growing home chefs of Ahmedabad city. With content analysis, five sets of factors are identified.

Keywords: Home Based Business, Home Chef, Women Entrepreneurs