How Rasoi works

The longer version, for people who want the details.

If you're ordering

Open the app and you'll see the kitchens near you. Each one belongs to a real person cooking in her own home — her kitchen name, what she cooks, her neighbourhood, and today's menu if she's open. A kitchen with steam rising is open and cooking now; a kitchen shown cold is closed for the moment.

Every dish has a limited number of plates, set by the cook. When you reserve one, it's yours; when the last plate goes, the dish sells out. If a kitchen you like is closed, you can still place a pre-order — the cook sees it and knows what to shop for before she next opens.

Once the cook accepts your order, you'll arrange the handoff: you collect it from her, or she drops it off, at a time that works for both of you. You pay her directly — cash in person, or Zelle. Rasoi never sits between you and your cook, and never adds a fee on top of her price.

Your order moves through five stages in the app — placed, accepted, cooking, ready, and completed — so you always know where your food is. Past orders stay in your history, and reordering a dish you loved takes one tap.

If you're cooking

Your kitchen starts closed, and stays closed until you open it. There is no schedule to keep and no minimum to hit. When you feel like cooking, you open your kitchen, post today's menu, and set a hard cap on every dish — the number of plates you're actually willing to make. Orders stop by themselves when the cap is reached.

Orders come to you one at a time, and you accept each one yourself. Nothing is auto-accepted; nobody gets your time without you agreeing to it. You arrange collection or drop-off directly with each diner, and they pay you face to face or by Zelle. Rasoi takes nothing.

While your kitchen is closed, pre-orders collect quietly in the app. Open it again when you're ready, with your shopping already figured out.

What Rasoi is — and isn't

Rasoi is a noticeboard and an order book: it helps neighbours find each other, shows menus, counts plates, and keeps track of orders. It is not a restaurant, a delivery company, or a payment processor. The cooking, the handoff, and the payment all happen directly between you and the person you're dealing with — which is the point.

That directness comes with responsibility on both sides. Cooks are responsible for their own food and for following the rules that apply where they live. Diners are choosing to buy home-cooked food from a neighbour, not from an inspected commercial kitchen. Rasoi does not verify cooks or their permits — anything a cook tells you about herself, including a permit number, is information she provided.

Payments, refunds, and problems

Because payment happens directly between diner and cook, refunds do too. If something goes wrong with an order, talk to your cook or your diner first — most things resolve in one message. If you need help with the app itself, or you want to report a problem with another user, write to support@rasoiapp.net.