When kitchen comes calling

In Dhaka, where many traditions are being rapidly overturned as a result of globalisation, the practice of eating a home-cooked meal for lunch still lives on. The majority of thousands of office-goers still prefer the taste of traditional homemade food over a posh lunch in an upscale restaurant any given day.

“It’s true that it feels good to taste different cuisines sometimes. But when you talk about regular lunch, nothing can beat a traditional Bengali home-cooked meal,” said Aynal Haque, an employee of the Bashundhara branch of a private bank.
Haque was almost overcome with excitement when he first learned about Nanu’s Food Factory. “I was getting weary of having my lunch outside. I suddenly saw their advertisement with photos of home-cooked food and immediately ordered those for lunch. I have now become a regular,” he said.
Haque is only one of the many whose gastronomical needs are tuned to the taste of home-cooked food. Banking on this craving for traditional home food, home-cooked food delivery services like Nanu’s Food Factory, MealBangladesh, Cater’s Plate, Lunch Box Delivery Services, Healthy Kitchen and others have made inroads into the food landscape of the capital.
Adeeba Zerin Chowdhury from Nanu’s Food Factory told The Independent that it was their family business. “My mother Shireen Begum and my brother Enayet Ashraf are the owner and founder of this initiative, respectively. To maintain the quality of service, we're fully involved with the whole operation, starting from kitchen work to promotion,” she said.
She also said that Nanu’s Food Factory was founded in September 2013 as an online-based catering service to provide people with freshly prepared and hygienic home-cooked food. “We started with a facebook page, my kitchen, my guest room turned into a packaging room, three deliverers, and three to four workers. In two to three months, we started to receive good feedback from customers who were mostly university students and office employees,” she added.
She further said they used to provide service on a daily and monthly basis. They also served for catering events. “After six months, we shifted to another floor of our building as we had to expand our space. Presently, after opening our restaurant, we cater for all events,” she added.
She said the main challenge of a catering service was to deliver an order on time even amid a traffic jam. “If we don't deliver on time, the food gets affected. Another difficulty of running any online business is reaching the target market as there is no physical existence or outlet,” she noted.
Joy Chowdhury, owner of Cater’s Plate, said delivering food on time was definitely the main challenge. “But I believe that this sector will only grow because almost everyone now uses the Internet and mobile phone. They can get information about home-cooked food and place an order through the Internet or mobile phone. This facilitates their lifestyles,” he added.
Chowdhury also said that both husband and wife worked nowadays in a nuclear family. “There is great demand for homemade food even in residential houses. This is because instead of facing the hassle of cooking after a long day's work, people can now order food at a very reasonable price,” he added.
Md Assalatuzzaman, CEO of MealBangladesh, told The Independent that they were different from other catering services. “We've something unique, which others don’t have,” he said. 
He also said that their website and facebook page have a unique provision. “Anyone who specialises in preparing home-cooked food can submit their proposals to associate with us,” he added.
“Take, for instance, someone who specialises in preparing mango pickle. If the pickle fulfils our nutrition criteria, we'll form a partnership where that person can sell his/her mango pickles through our marketing and delivery network. We'll only take a small percentage from the sales of the product. This provision is very unique,” he explained.  
Zaman, who is a business analyst by profession, said that he had come to food business two years ago. “I used to work as a senior business analyst for a large software firm. But I wanted to start my own business. The food scenario in Dhaka is buzzing and I wanted to become a part of it,” he added.
He said that his first restaurant was a failure. “I started my first restaurant named ‘Foddee’ in a residential neighbourhood in Uttara. We u had to close the restaurant within a few months because it failed to make any profit,” he added.
He, however, mentioned that the experience from the first venture was priceless. “I understood where did I go wrong and what I must do to set that right. I started my second restaurant, ‘Z Kitchen’, and it started making profits within a few months. Since then, I have never looked back,” he said.
Riding on the success of his restaurant, Zaman thought of starting a catering service. “I worked in a corporate office and used to have my lunch outside because our office didn’t have a canteen. There was a lunch delivery system, but the food was really poor. The idea of starting a quality food delivery service came to my mind at that time. It was the beginning of MealBangladesh, ” he said.
He also said that the kitchen of MealBangladesh had 14 employees. “It’s a fully equipped kitchen with the capacity to deliver food to 200 people at any given time. We cater large corporate lunch, dinner, private parties and many other things. We also supply lunch to many corporate offices. We even supply lunch boxes or dinner to many residential households, especially  on weekends,” he added.
Zaman said that supplying food for parties and special occasions was very different from supplying food to offices or residential houses. “The food that we supply to offices or households for regular consumption cannot be rich. The food must be made with light spices for health-related reasons," he added.
To ensure healthy food, Zaman consults a professional nutritionist on a regular basis. “We've a nutritionist under our payroll, who prepares a chart for a weekly balanced diet. We devise our weekly food delivery menu based on that. I believe we're the only food delivery system to have done that," he added.

When kitchen comes calling

In Dhaka, where many traditions are being rapidly overturned as a result of globalisation, the practice of eating a home-cooked meal for lunch still lives on. The majority of thousands of office-goers still prefer the taste of traditional homemade food over a posh lunch in an upscale restaurant any given day. Its true that it feels good to taste different cuisines sometimes. But when you talk about regular lunch, nothing can beat a traditional Bengali home-cooked meal, said Aynal Haque, an employee of the Bashundhara branch of a private bank. Haque was almost overcome with excitement when he first learned about Nanus Food Factory. I was getting weary of having my lunch outside. I suddenly saw their advertisement with photos of home-cooked food and immediately ordered those for lunch. I have now become a regular, he said. Haque is only one of the many whose gastronomical needs are tuned to the taste of home-cooked food. Banking on this craving for traditional home food, home-cooked food delivery services like Nanus Food Factory, MealBangladesh, Caters Plate, Lunch Box Delivery Services, Healthy Kitchen and others have made inroads into the food landscape of the capital. Adeeba Zerin Chowdhury from Nanus Food Factory told The Independent that it was their family business. My mother Shireen Begum and my brother Enayet Ashraf are the owner and founder of this initiative, respectively. To maintain the quality of service, were fully involved with the whole operation, starting from kitchen work to promotion, she said. She also said that Nanus Food Factory was founded in September 2013 as an online-based catering service to provide people with freshly prepared and hygienic home-cooked food. We started with a facebook page, my kitchen, my guest room turned into a packaging room, three deliverers, and three to four workers. In two to three months, we started to receive good feedback from customers who were mostly university students and office employees, she added. She further said they used to provide service on a daily and monthly basis. They also served for catering events. After six months, we shifted to another floor of our building as we had to expand our space. Presently, after opening our restaurant, we cater for all events, she added. She said the main challenge of a catering service was to deliver an order on time even amid a traffic jam. If we dont deliver on time, the food gets affected. Another difficulty of running any online business is reaching the target market as there is no physical existence or outlet, she noted. Joy Chowdhury, owner of Caters Plate, said delivering food on time was definitely the main challenge. But I believe that this sector will only grow because almost everyone now uses the Internet and mobile phone. They can get information about home-cooked food and place an order through the Internet or mobile phone. This facilitates their lifestyles, he added. Chowdhury also said that both husband and wife worked nowadays in a nuclear family. There is great demand for homemade food even in residential houses. This is because instead of facing the hassle of cooking after a long days work, people can now order food at a very reasonable price, he added. Md Assalatuzzaman, CEO of MealBangladesh, told The Independent that they were different from other catering services. Weve something unique, which others dont have, he said. He also said that their website and facebook page have a unique provision. Anyone who specialises in preparing home-cooked food can submit their proposals to associate with us, he added. Take, for instance, someone who specialises in preparing mango pickle. If the pickle fulfils our nutrition criteria, well form a partnership where that person can sell his/her mango pickles through our marketing and delivery network. Well only take a small percentage from the sales of the product. This provision is very unique, he explained. Zaman, who is a business analyst by profession, said that he had come to food business two years ago. I used to work as a senior business analyst for a large software firm. But I wanted to start my own business. The food scenario in Dhaka is buzzing and I wanted to become a part of it, he added. He said that his first restaurant was a failure. I started my first restaurant named Foddee in a residential neighbourhood in Uttara. We u had to close the restaurant within a few months because it failed to make any profit, he added. He, however, mentioned that the experience from the first venture was priceless. I understood where did I go wrong and what I must do to set that right. I started my second restaurant, Z Kitchen, and it started making profits within a few months. Since then, I have never looked back, he said. Riding on the success of his restaurant, Zaman thought of starting a catering service. I worked in a corporate office and used to have my lunch outside because our office didnt have a canteen. There was a lunch delivery system, but the food was really poor. The idea of starting a quality food delivery service came to my mind at that time. It was the beginning of MealBangladesh, he said. He also said that the kitchen of MealBangladesh had 14 employees. Its a fully equipped kitchen with the capacity to deliver food to 200 people at any given time. We cater large corporate lunch, dinner, private parties and many other things. We also supply lunch to many corporate offices. We even supply lunch boxes or dinner to many residential households, especially on weekends, he added. Zaman said that supplying food for parties and special occasions was very different from supplying food to offices or residential houses. The food that we supply to offices or households for regular consumption cannot be rich. The food must be made with light spices for health-related reasons, he added. To ensure healthy food, Zaman consults a professional nutritionist on a regular basis. Weve a nutritionist under our payroll, who prepares a chart for a weekly balanced diet. We devise our weekly food delivery menu based on that. I believe were the only food delivery system to have done that, he added.