Food on Wheels

Samirah bint zulfiqar

Food is a massive business in Dhaka where new restaurants and café’s are sprouting every week and each place seems to beat another in terms of food, service or ambience. In recent years we have seen everything from Brazilian Churrasco to Malaysian Nasi Goreng become a part of the food scene in Dhaka. A new trend that has emerged for the food industry and created quite a buzz is the cart cafés.  These carts around the town are the unofficial hip and happening places that also happen to be perfect take away joints. Over the past couple of years, carts have been the most interesting development in Dhaka city where people used to look down upon street food. When we were growing up, street food was said to be dirty and unhealthy and at that time, the only foodcarts were phuchka and chatpati stands. Now the varieties of options available on the road include bagel, burger, hotdog, crepes or Thai curry!
From 2012 onwards, the food cart business absolutely took the Dhaka food scene by storm. It was purely the perfect business as it required very little investment and was such a new trend that there would be an endless queue of food fanatics lining up as customers. It probably was the recipe for a successful start-up which meant entrepreneurs, large and small, rushed to set up their own carts and soon the streets of Dhaka city were brimming with colorful and glittering minivans.  Almost all food cart ‘chefs’ or owners are part time job holders or even students, to be more precise. These places tend to offer quality food at reasonable prices, and are a welcome change from the stiff environment of a fine dining restaurants. And apart from the delicious taste and convenience on the streets, it is a very profitable business if managed shrewdly. A few months back, every other cart was doing quite well as long as its food was delicious. As days go on and more and more food carts occupy the streets, the customers are slowly shifting their bias towards a specific group of sound established brands.

Some of the Happening Hubs of the Food Cart Scene

Wok & Fire
Situated in Gulshan 1, Wok & Fire is a cool looking cart serving Chinese food that has great tasting stir fried items. Wok & Fire started with delicious food from the wok with the objective, ‘Feeding Hungry people with quality and halaal food at a budgeted price.’ Wok & Fire’s menu is a rather simple but attractive one. One of their best items is probably the chowmein which is great in flavour and is usually perfectly cooked. The menu also has fried rice, grilled wings, kung fu chicken and other stir fried items in great taste and affordable prices ranging between Tk 80 and Tk 200.

TBW Fish and Chips
These carts can be lined around the streets of Banani and Gulshan, more specifically in front of Rupayan Golden Age or on Road 5 Banani (near Club Wheels).  Their menu is simple – the good old Fish and Chips. If you like fish and chips and don’t want to pay exorbitant prices for it, this cart sells some pretty good fish and chips, certainly better than what a lot of the Café’s manage to serve up these days. One serving of Fish and Chips containing 4 slices of fish can be had for Tk 200.

Naga Inc 2.0
Naga Inc 1.0 which had to shut down is now relocated in Gulshan 2 as Naga Inc 2.0. The literally spicy cart has been a hot favourite and is doing such good business that they will be opening up a takeaway point in Banani and a café in Gulshan 1 as well. Along with their hot Naga burgers which come in levels Lite to Super, they also serve regular burgers and their menu also boasts of yoghurts and chips&dips!

MeSoHungry
Considering the demand of fast food four friends Kamruzzaman, Murad, Nasim and Raju, established a food cart namely ‘MeSoHungry’ in the last holy month of Ramzan. It is located at Ring Road of Mohammadpur. Burgers, pizzas, different types of fries, drinks are available in the food cart.
“We open it around 4 pm and close it around 10 pm. The dwellers of the area  come here and eat. We also give the facility of parcel. We try to ensure the good quality of food. After getting the order we make food, so people get the fresh one. We are getting very good response and observing the response we are thinking to open a branch at Kollyanpur.”

AFC: Alam Food Corner
Jahangir Alam started AFC a few months back at Ring Road ,Mohammadpur. And within this very few months he is getting good responses from the customers. He prefers residential and university areas to set up a food cart. He designed a different pattern of food cart for attracting people. And the motto of my food cart is ‘Take pure food for healthy life’. He opined, “I try to ensure the good quality food. There a few items are available like, Chicken Fry, Burger, French Fry, Shashlik and others. The evening hour is like a peak hour. Different people come here and eat, where young people are mostly interested.”
Apart from the above mentioned popular food carts, new carts are popping up every now and then in every nook and corner of the city. Right beside the BRAC University campus buildings, a dozen new carts had  been opened in the past year - a few are even student owned. And while we are on the discussion regarding food trucks, let’s not forget the hot new juice, smoothie, milkshake and desert carts that also seem to make an appearance here and there.  Some of the items on the menu are simply unique and at times can catch a few by surprise. For instance, I once walked into a cart (Clover 211) and was amazed to find exotic drinks like Apple cherry, Pineapple Passion, Mango Chill being served. You no longer need to go over to expensive café’s or restaurants in order to avail these delicacies. While not every van that sells food ends up being a bang for your buck, there will always be hidden gems in the crowd. Some carts have been set up in partnerships with food delivery services such as HungryNaki and Foodpanda which means if you don’t want to have to tolerate bad weather to eat your favourite cart food, you can always order them to your home.
While talking with the chef of The Flame Throwers Grill, Mohakhali  , he told  “ My owner started this business recently after seeing the growing success of food carts. Previously, he worked as a kitchen staff in a restaurant so he had relevant ideas to take our cart to a decent level. People think carts don’t cook with proper hygiene but the business is now so tough that those who don’t maintain healthy standards will lose out. We were very hygienic and sincere about our food from the beginning since our owner was previously involved in the food business. We were one of the first carts to set up in this area but now a lot of new ones have started appearing. Some have even closed down but thankfully, ours is still going strong. Our business used to be better when there were fewer carts but even now, we are still operating at a profitable level.”
Some renowned fast food businessmen spoke  out regarding the food cart in term of hygienic. MD Mojammel Hossen, owner of Burger n’ Boost,  opined “ Many of the youths  that are getting involved in fast food industry are incompetent so the risk of the food quality not being up to the standard is very high. Nowadays, it is very easy to find a fast food cart everywhere but no one is ensuring the quality and the hygiene. On the other hand, lots of qualified investors are investing their money in fast food industry. They are looking to improve the food industry in Bangladesh by bringing leading fast food chains like KFC, Pizza-Hut, Nandos to our country. Students have started to join this industry and they are getting the opportunity to experience working life, but this industry requires a lot of changes to go further.  Proper minimum education standard and training facilities are required for all who want to get involved in this business. Apart from this, we also need infrastructure development to provide proper guidelines for the business owners.”
Despite the early success, it’s evident that a lot of owners are also selling off their carts. Posts and advertisements seeking buyers are frequently seen in many Facebook groups and pages. It is only rational to infer that the owners are having a torrid time keeping their business profitable and hence, are looking to invest elsewhere. A lot of carts that used to be opened   such as Wireless, Burger 101, Bitebuzz and the very famous Cart Company have come and gone. One of the reasons is the growing competition which makes survival difficult unless there is anything unique about the cart’s food.  The food cart business has certainly had its share of success. It allowed an excellent start up opportunity for new entrepreneurs and will definitely continue to be a successful venture for more people. However, the standard has been raised so without appropriate planning and adequate capital, survival in this trade is going to be very challenging indeed.

Food on Wheels

Samirah bint zulfiqar Food is a massive business in Dhaka where new restaurants and cafs are sprouting every week and each place seems to beat another in terms of food, service or ambience. In recent years we have seen everything from Brazilian Churrasco to Malaysian Nasi Goreng become a part of the food scene in Dhaka. A new trend that has emerged for the food industry and created quite a buzz is the cart cafs. These carts around the town are the unofficial hip and happening places that also happen to be perfect take away joints. Over the past couple of years, carts have been the most interesting development in Dhaka city where people used to look down upon street food. When we were growing up, street food was said to be dirty and unhealthy and at that time, the only foodcarts were phuchka and chatpati stands. Now the varieties of options available on the road include bagel, burger, hotdog, crepes or Thai curry! From 2012 onwards, the food cart business absolutely took the Dhaka food scene by storm. It was purely the perfect business as it required very little investment and was such a new trend that there would be an endless queue of food fanatics lining up as customers. It probably was the recipe for a successful start-up which meant entrepreneurs, large and small, rushed to set up their own carts and soon the streets of Dhaka city were brimming with colorful and glittering minivans. Almost all food cart chefs or owners are part time job holders or even students, to be more precise. These places tend to offer quality food at reasonable prices, and are a welcome change from the stiff environment of a fine dining restaurants. And apart from the delicious taste and convenience on the streets, it is a very profitable business if managed shrewdly. A few months back, every other cart was doing quite well as long as its food was delicious. As days go on and more and more food carts occupy the streets, the customers are slowly shifting their bias towards a specific group of sound established brands. Some of the Happening Hubs of the Food Cart Scene Wok Fire Situated in Gulshan 1, Wok Fire is a cool looking cart serving Chinese food that has great tasting stir fried items. Wok Fire started with delicious food from the wok with the objective, Feeding Hungry people with quality and halaal food at a budgeted price. Wok Fires menu is a rather simple but attractive one. One of their best items is probably the chowmein which is great in flavour and is usually perfectly cooked. The menu also has fried rice, grilled wings, kung fu chicken and other stir fried items in great taste and affordable prices ranging between Tk 80 and Tk 200. TBW Fish and Chips These carts can be lined around the streets of Banani and Gulshan, more specifically in front of Rupayan Golden Age or on Road 5 Banani (near Club Wheels). Their menu is simple the good old Fish and Chips. If you like fish and chips and dont want to pay exorbitant prices for it, this cart sells some pretty good fish and chips, certainly better than what a lot of the Cafs manage to serve up these days. One serving of Fish and Chips containing 4 slices of fish can be had for Tk 200. Naga Inc 2.0 Naga Inc 1.0 which had to shut down is now relocated in Gulshan 2 as Naga Inc 2.0. The literally spicy cart has been a hot favourite and is doing such good business that they will be opening up a takeaway point in Banani and a caf in Gulshan 1 as well. Along with their hot Naga burgers which come in levels Lite to Super, they also serve regular burgers and their menu also boasts of yoghurts and chipsdips! MeSoHungry Considering the demand of fast food four friends Kamruzzaman, Murad, Nasim and Raju, established a food cart namely MeSoHungry in the last holy month of Ramzan. It is located at Ring Road of Mohammadpur. Burgers, pizzas, different types of fries, drinks are available in the food cart. We open it around 4 pm and close it around 10 pm. The dwellers of the area come here and eat. We also give the facility of parcel. We try to ensure the good quality of food. After getting the order we make food, so people get the fresh one. We are getting very good response and observing the response we are thinking to open a branch at Kollyanpur. AFC: Alam Food Corner Jahangir Alam started AFC a few months back at Ring Road ,Mohammadpur. And within this very few months he is getting good responses from the customers. He prefers residential and university areas to set up a food cart. He designed a different pattern of food cart for attracting people. And the motto of my food cart is Take pure food for healthy life. He opined, I try to ensure the good quality food. There a few items are available like, Chicken Fry, Burger, French Fry, Shashlik and others. The evening hour is like a peak hour. Different people come here and eat, where young people are mostly interested. Apart from the above mentioned popular food carts, new carts are popping up every now and then in every nook and corner of the city. Right beside the BRAC University campus buildings, a dozen new carts had been opened in the past year - a few are even student owned. And while we are on the discussion regarding food trucks, lets not forget the hot new juice, smoothie, milkshake and desert carts that also seem to make an appearance here and there. Some of the items on the menu are simply unique and at times can catch a few by surprise. For instance, I once walked into a cart (Clover 211) and was amazed to find exotic drinks like Apple cherry, Pineapple Passion, Mango Chill being served. You no longer need to go over to expensive cafs or restaurants in order to avail these delicacies. While not every van that sells food ends up being a bang for your buck, there will always be hidden gems in the crowd. Some carts have been set up in partnerships with food delivery services such as HungryNaki and Foodpanda which means if you dont want to have to tolerate bad weather to eat your favourite cart food, you can always order them to your home. While talking with the chef of The Flame Throwers Grill, Mohakhali , he told My owner started this business recently after seeing the growing success of food carts. Previously, he worked as a kitchen staff in a restaurant so he had relevant ideas to take our cart to a decent level. People think carts dont cook with proper hygiene but the business is now so tough that those who dont maintain healthy standards will lose out. We were very hygienic and sincere about our food from the beginning since our owner was previously involved in the food business. We were one of the first carts to set up in this area but now a lot of new ones have started appearing. Some have even closed down but thankfully, ours is still going strong. Our business used to be better when there were fewer carts but even now, we are still operating at a profitable level. Some renowned fast food businessmen spoke out regarding the food cart in term of hygienic. MD Mojammel Hossen, owner of Burger n Boost, opined Many of the youths that are getting involved in fast food industry are incompetent so the risk of the food quality not being up to the standard is very high. Nowadays, it is very easy to find a fast food cart everywhere but no one is ensuring the quality and the hygiene. On the other hand, lots of qualified investors are investing their money in fast food industry. They are looking to improve the food industry in Bangladesh by bringing leading fast food chains like KFC, Pizza-Hut, Nandos to our country. Students have started to join this industry and they are getting the opportunity to experience working life, but this industry requires a lot of changes to go further. Proper minimum education standard and training facilities are required for all who want to get involved in this business. Apart from this, we also need infrastructure development to provide proper guidelines for the business owners. Despite the early success, its evident that a lot of owners are also selling off their carts. Posts and advertisements seeking buyers are frequently seen in many Facebook groups and pages. It is only rational to infer that the owners are having a torrid time keeping their business profitable and hence, are looking to invest elsewhere. A lot of carts that used to be opened such as Wireless, Burger 101, Bitebuzz and the very famous Cart Company have come and gone. One of the reasons is the growing competition which makes survival difficult unless there is anything unique about the carts food. The food cart business has certainly had its share of success. It allowed an excellent start up opportunity for new entrepreneurs and will definitely continue to be a successful venture for more people. However, the standard has been raised so without appropriate planning and adequate capital, survival in this trade is going to be very challenging indeed.