Ryan Pillalli, a sophomore aerospace engineering major and the CEO of the Oncampuschef, and Abhas Arya, a sohphomore computer science and the vice president of the company, pose for a picture.

Sophomore aerospace engineering major Ryan Pillai wants to get between students and their food.

What began last semester as a dream to build a restaurant for his mother grew into a personal chef business called “OnCampusChef” this semester — a model through which university students cook lunch and dinner entrees for other students.

“We want to get to a point where students don’t have to think about food,” Pillai said.

Students can sign up to request a chef to cook for them individually — a two-hour appointment for $38.98 and a $20 to $30 grocery fee — or they can sign up to receive food for their apartment for the week, which is a four-hour appointment for a single charge of $79.96, with grocery prices ranging in total from $40 to $100, depending on the number of residents. That cost can then be split among the parties.

Groceries are delivered through the Peapod food delivery service to the client’s apartment, and the chef cooks food in bulk that can be frozen for up to five days.

Additionally, Pillai said OnCampusChef would begin offering a semester meal plan in the spring for $700 to $900 dollars, which is cheaper than the university’s Resident Traditional Plan, which costs about $2,100.

“When you are eating with us, it is similar to eating out,” Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple said. “[OnCampusChef employees] are paying nothing for utility and the rent of dishes. Those are costs we have to incur.”

The university’s cheaper plans aimed at students in apartments do not sustain students for a full semester, Hipple said.

Last summer, Pillai wanted to help his mother open a business cooking Indian food from home, but he discovered it was impossible because of health regulation laws that require food businesses to have commercial kitchens.

“Anyone should be able to cook for another person,” Pillai said. “My solution was the personal chef, who goes to a person’s house and cooks there.”

Pillai realized this would work well for university students . He hung up flyers in September to attract  students who enjoyed cooking, and last month, he began marketing his business to students who wanted more food options than the campus dining halls offer.

“We know how important it is to eat healthy, and some need alternatives to the dining plan,” said sophomore computer science major Abhas Arya, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer.

Because the chef would use the client’s apartment to cook, Pillai advertised to students who live off the campus and in on-campus apartments with kitchens. One downside, he noted, is that OnCampusChef cannot serve freshmen who live in residence halls without kitchens.

The company hired nine chefs, a mix of graduate students and upperclassmen. Students seeking to become chefs undergo an interview and taste-testing process. After they are accepted, they take an online course and exam to be certified by the Maryland Health Department, Pillai said.

“A lot of my chefs have a diverse background,” Pillai said. “In other cultures, it’s pretty typical for kids to learn to cook from age five, but here we don’t have that philosophy, which is really the ideology we are trying to promote.”

Students seeking a chef visit the company’s website and select from different menu options. Pillai arranges for a chef to come to the student’s apartment, complete with cooking instruments.

Sophomore computer science and physics major Steven Jettoo, who lives in the University View, signed up for a chef last month.

“Cooking all the time, making sure I’m eating and staying on top of schoolwork — it’s a lot of work,” Jettoo said. “[The chefs] really free up your time.”

The company has served 12 customers so far, but Pillai said his goal is to reach 50 to 100 students by the end of this year.