Life of an elderly couple, who owns a small food stall called Baba Ka Dhaba, changed overnight after their heartbreaking video went viral on the internet.
The 80-year-old couple runs a small eatery in Malviya Nagar, Delhi, known as ‘Baba Ka Dhaba.’ Kanta Prasad and his wife Badami have been running their Dhaba for 32 years.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, most people have stopped eating outside food and are taking strict safety measures to safeguard themselves from the spread of the deadly virus. For this reason, the elderly couple was unable to sell their handmade food and earn money during the lockdown period.
Recently, a food blogger caught sight of the elderly couple. He made a video in which the couple mentions that the sales have dropped because of the lockdown and they have no money to buy ration and other necessities. In the video, the blogger appeals to Delhi people to come and support Baba Ka Dhaba.
As soon as the blogger shared the video on social media, it went viral. #BabaKaDhaba became trending in just a few hours after the video went up online.
Thanks to the people of the internet, Baba Ka Dhaba generated a lot of buzz on the internet, and within 24 hours, the small eatery joint became famous. After the video went viral on social media platforms, their little food joint saw a line of the customers, more than it had seen in 30 years of being in business across the country.
‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ incident shows the immense power the internet has and how it possesses the quality to change the lives of the people in an instant.
Image source: Google
After the video went viral:
Right the next day when the video went up, there was a huge line of customers outside the eating joint, waiting to get a glimpse of the famous couple and to try their food. Netizens managed to share the video across so many platforms that it attracted many other bloggers, influencers, and even news channels.
In an interview, Kanta Prasad said that he feels that the whole nation is with them. He mentioned that he’s grateful for all the support but there are so many people like him who don’t have shelter, food, or basic amenities and urged everyone to come forward and support small vendors around them.
The site has become a selfie hotspot for many and people have visited in great numbers to taste the delicious “mattar paneer” and more. Many people across the country have also donated money for his food stall. As per the sources, baba has received around two crore rupees as a donation so far.
It has now become so famous that the owner is now looking for help. In an interview with ANI, he said, “I have to get someone to assist me since I can’t say no to my customers. At this age, I can’t do everything alone. Earlier, I used to struggle to sell 750 grams of rice but now I sold 5 kgs rice in half a day.”
Image source: Google
How are brands supporting Baba Ka Dhaba?
Just like everyone, many top brands have also jumped in to help the couple. Though brands are doing it with their best intentions, it is also a brilliant marketing technique to collaborate with India’s most popular food stall at the moment.
List of brands who have come in support of Baba Ka Dhaba:
PepsiCo:
The brand sent food items for the couple and gifted them a beverage cooler along with free stocks of beverages. Pepsi has also branded the stall with their posters and banners. Their move has not only turned out to be useful for the couple, but it’s also a great method to increase the brand presence.
Zomato:
Image source: Zomato India’s twitter account
Zomato was among the first brands to help baba and his wife after their video went viral. The food delivery app quickly got in touch with them and listed Baba Ka Dhaba on their app. The brand announced it via a tweet.
Paytm:
Image source: Paytm’s official Twitter account
Paytm also joined in to show their appreciation. The brand shared a picture of the Paytm QR code kept at the food stall and hinted at smooth monetary transactions taking place at Baba Ka Dhaba because of their brand.
Tinder:
Image source: Tinder India’s official Twitter account
Tinder diverted their audience’s attention to Baba Ka Dhaba by recommending it as the next date destination for them.
More such brands like Airtel, HPCL, Mobikwik, Amazon Pay, Mountain breeze, Saburi, Nutrela, PhonePe, and ZunSolar have started endorsing their brands at Baba Ka Dhaba.
Many Bollywood stars like Raveena Tandon, Sonam Kapoor, Suneil Shetty, Nimrat Kaur, Randeep Hooda, and Anushka Sharma extended their support to the elderly couple and donated money for their stall. Raveena Tandon mentioned via her tweet that she’s going to share a sweet message for all those fans, who share their picture eating from the shop.
The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has also pledged to upgrade the infrastructure of Baba Ka Dhaba to make it COVID-compliant.
Recently, Humans of Bombay featured the life story of baba and his wife on their page. The post is about his entire journey, where he talks about his marriage, how he started his business, and his equation with his wife. The post says that they opened Baba Ka Dhaba in 1990. He mentioned that his wife chops the vegetables, and he cooks food in the stall. Kanta added that both of them are 50 per cent partners in the business.
Baba Ka Dhaba is now a famous name, not just in Delhi, but all over the world. It has now become a marketing hub for brands as it is the most trending means of marketing these days. It’ll be interesting how many more brands come in support of Baba Ka Dhaba in the future.
