Recipe for success: Pakistan’s home caterers thrive during lockdown

KARACHI: Eating out is so last season.
And to facilitate the latest trend of Pakistanis “eating in” due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown is a growing tribe of caterers dishing out delicious, made-to-order, home-cooked meals by the minute.
“I take orders on the phone or WhatsApp almost 12 hours before schedule and offer takeaway and delivery services. Nowadays, with the lockdown in place, I deliver food during the lenient period of the day which is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Karachi,” Nausheen Sabir, the 32-year-old owner of Rahbar’s Kitchen (RK), told Arab News.
Sabir began her culinary adventure with RK four years ago from her home in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal, by selling Pakistani and continental food items.
It’s been a happy few years for Sabir with a modest return on investments. 
However, since the lockdown took effect, her “phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
“Orders are pouring in, and now they have reached double the numbers. If earlier, I would get ten orders a day, now they are 20,” she said.
She credits the spike in deliveries to “the closure of restaurants” and the fact that more people “have realized that it’s safer to have homemade food”.
For the purpose, she has two helpers in the kitchen and one delivery boy for customers who choose not to takeaway.
“We ensure social distancing and optimum hygiene measures at all times. Our customers are aware of that, and that’s why they repeat their orders,” she said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by 27-year-old Hima Raza of Missi’s Kitchen (MK) which she operates from her home in Karachi’s Defense Housing Authority.
Raza said while “building trust is important, it’s even more important to maintain it during these trying times.”
“Those who are in the food business have a great responsibility of maintaining hygiene as people trust them to deliver healthy and safe food,” she said, adding that she “wears a mask while cooking and gloves while handling the ingredients” as extra precautionary measures.
Unlike Sabir, however, Raza employs no help as she has comparatively “fewer orders to cater to.”
“I can’t risk hiring someone for delivery or help in the kitchen until I can take full responsibility for their safety and that of my customers. Therefore, I prepare all orders, which are usually eight to ten a day, on my own and strictly adhere to take away services only,” Raza said.
Her kitchen specializes in dishing out select Italian delights and fast food items, with prices dishes ranging from Rs.500 to Rs.750 max.
She says there has been an increase in the overall cost of items as a domino effect of spiraling raw material prices.
Sabir agrees.
“Limited markets are open for a certain time of the day. I’ve had to increase the prices of the set menu as raw materials are not easy to get due to a supply shortage. Those that are available are very expensive,” she said.
It’s a problem faced by Lahore-based caterer, Aminah Khalid, too, who used to take up orders “for entertainment purposes at homes such as dinner or lunch events” earlier, but has switched to individual deliveries “with people confined to their homes, and a ban on social gatherings.”
“Even though most people are in lockdown, my regular and loyal customers are placing orders through delivery and pick up services,” Khalid, 37, who established her namesake catering business last year told Arab News.
Helping her in her day to day operations at her home in the Cantonment Area of Lahore are her “family members who cook and deliver the food,” all the while ensuring that they adhere to the norms of social distancing.
It’s a challenge, Khalid says, adding that she’s prepared for it to get tougher during Ramadan which is right around the corner
Others said they would simply trim the fat by reducing the food items during the month.
“I will only take orders for frozen foods, such as kebabs and samosas which are much easier to make than preparing iftar and suhoor menus daily,” Saima, a resident of Lahore’s Model Town, told Arab News
Since its inception in 2016, her Ghar Ka Khana (homemade food) catering service has been “taking orders in bulk.”
The only thing that’s changed since the lockdown, she said, is that she has altered her shopping schedule.
“I go for grocery shopping once a week or buy vegetables from the hawkers in my street. Since I don’t cater to large-scale orders, it’s been business as usual for Ghar Ka Khana.”