Teacher Turned Street Food Vendor Earns around Rs 8 lakh/Year More then IT Employees

  She stands out among  the various  food carts here: 35 years old,  a lady  during a  male dominated area, speaking perfect English, well d...

 

She stands out among the various food carts here: 35 years old, a lady during a male dominated area, speaking perfect English, well dressed, and clearly an oddity on this unofficial food street of Gurgaon.

Urvashi Yadav stands out for more reasons than that. Her story is one among grit and determination – a devil-may-care attitude that saw her chuck her staid teacher job and take up this unconventional role when her life’s circumstances demanded it.

She didn't stop to think what people might think or say about her selling food on the streets - though she lives during a Rs 3 crore house during a posh locality and therefore the family even owns an SUV. .

“My husband met with an accident in May 2016, fractured his toes and was bedridden,” explains Urvashi who has two children aged 14 and eight. “He was performing at Oris as a facility manager and that i was working as an educator at Kidzee but once he was incapacitated, I had to return up with how of earning more.”

She left the teaching job that earned her Rs 13,000 per month, and began her food cart after an investment of just Rs 25,000. She now makes up to Rs 8 lakh per annum .

The idea came to her at some point when she had stopped on the very street she started her food cart for a bite to eat.

“A few days after the accident i used to be coming back from the hospital, it had been around 12.30 pm and that i was very hungry and stopped at our favourite chhole kulche joint,” recounts Urvashi. “In the half hour i used to be there I saw an enormous rush for the food. I spoke to the cart owner at length and therefore the idea struck me.”

was a coffee investment business and within a month, on 16 June 2016, Urvashi had found out her cart. She spent Rs 25,000 in buying and fixing the cart. The business started rolling.

Now, her day begins at 7 a.m. when she prepares the ch hole (chickpeas curry) and does all the prep for fixing . The cart timings are 10 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. and she or he can still get some family time in.

“I take an influence nap to regain my energy then I can get time with my kids also as for myself,” she says, giving us a glimpse of each day in her life.

Her daily expenses are about Rs 500-600 – spent on buying and cooking the chhole, and buying readymade kulche (flatbread) from Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon. The returns are Rs 2,000-2,500 per day, making it a reasonably profitable business.