MyPadosi vs WhatsApp vs NoBrokerHood for Selling Homemade Food
Group chat, classifieds board or storefront?
If you cook or bake at home and want to sell, you will probably weigh three options: keep using a WhatsApp group, use the marketplace inside your society's app, or use a platform built for home sellers. They are built for different jobs.
WhatsApp groups
A WhatsApp group costs nothing, everyone already has it, and your first customers are usually people you know. The limits show up as you grow: a group holds at most 1,024 members (2,000 across a Community), menus go stale as old screenshots circulate, and orders and payment screenshots live in the chat with no order history or reviews. We go through this in why WhatsApp groups are bad for selling homemade food.
NoBrokerHood, ADDA and MyGate marketplaces
These apps are society-management tools first. Their Buy and Sell features are add-ons: NoBrokerHood describes its marketplace as a place to clear out items you no longer need, and MyGate's is a classifieds board for verified residents of your own society. That suits selling a sofa once. It is not designed for a live menu, repeat orders or being found beyond your building. More in best society marketplace apps in Bangalore, compared.
MyPadosi
MyPadosi is a marketplace built for home-based sellers: a store with a current menu and prices, orders and order tracking, reviews, and discovery for buyers across nearby societies, not only your own building.
| WhatsApp group | NoBrokerHood / ADDA / MyGate marketplace | MyPadosi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Chatting | Selling one-off items inside one society | Ongoing home food, craft and service stores |
| Who can find you | Only members of the group (up to 1,024) | Residents of your own society's app | Buyers in nearby societies and localities |
| Menu | Shared as PDFs or screenshots that go stale | Not designed for menus | One current menu with prices |
| Orders and history | Messages, screenshots | Not designed for repeat orders | Order tracking and history |
| Reviews | None | Minimal or none | Built-in reviews |
| Cost to start | Free | Part of your society's app; check with your society | Free to start |
Which should you use?
- Just starting, a handful of known customers: a WhatsApp group is fine. Use it to get your first ten orders.
- Selling a one-off item to neighbours: your society app's marketplace works well for that.
- Taking repeat orders, wanting new neighbours to find you, or tired of re-answering 'is this available?': move to a storefront. You can start a store on MyPadosi.
These are not mutually exclusive. Many sellers keep their WhatsApp group for chat and send people to their store page for the menu and ordering.
Ready to start selling home chefs?
See how MyPadosi helps sellers in this category get discovered.
Keep reading
- Best Society Marketplace Apps in Bangalore, Compared
If you live in a gated community in Bangalore, you've probably heard of NoBrokerHood, ADDA, or MyGate. Here's how their marketplace features actually compare to a platform built specifically for home-based sellers.
- Three Home Sellers on Moving Off WhatsApp: What Changed for Them
A lawyer who cooks, a home baker and a craft maker all started on WhatsApp. Here is what each of them says changed after moving to a storefront, and what you can take from it.
- Why WhatsApp Groups Are Bad for Selling Homemade Food (and What to Use Instead)
In 2018, a woman in a Mumbai apartment complex started a WhatsApp group to help her neighbors buy and sell each other's home cooking. It worked so well the idea spread across India. Here's what happens after it outgrows the group chat.