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From hobby to business: home cooks take their food online post quarantine
This quarantine, people have adopted a myriad of ways to keep themselves busy. Needless to say, food and cooking are at the very top of the list. And if the number of social media posts isn’t enough of a testament to this, then the booming number of online homemade-food businesses surely is. Today, we’ll talk about some of the journeys of these homegrown businesses amidst the pandemic. Saucepan – By Tazree
Saucepan – By Tazree, run by Farisa Tazree Ahmed, offers delicious brownies for delivery and takeaway. Tazree is an undergraduate student at North South University and Saucepan is the manifestation of her love for baking and cooking.
Starting with baby steps
Tazree’s passion for cooking stems from watching her mother cook, and the first food she learned to make from her mother was brownies. Tazree also has completed a professional culinary course from Tony Khan Culinary Institute. Talking about her plans for Saucepan, she said, “I dreamt of being a Saucier when I was a child. I believe a good sauce makes everything taste better. Even though I have started my journey with only brownies, I’ll soon offer different sauces and savoury items in Saucepan’s menu.”
Orders and procurement
Saucepan- By Tazree always takes pre-orders with a specified delivery date. “I buy all my packets and containers from wholesale markets and I print the stickers myself. But due to the pandemic, I have been taking extra safety measures in sanitizing the packets and containers before discharging them for delivery”, she said. “The biggest challenge was finding a good delivery company which charges reasonably,” she added. All the deliveries for Saucepan are carried out by a third-party company.
The Homemade Chefs
The Homemade Chefs, or THC, as they call themselves, is a venture by two sisters-in-law who offer a variety of delicious homemade dishes. Maliha Tasnim is currently studying as a major in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at North South University, and Sumaiya Nasrin Rayta is a Computer Science graduate from Brac University. The Homemade Chefs is the result of the sisters’ obsession and experimentation with food amidst the quarantine.
Creative and appealing visuals
The Facebook and Instagram pages for The Homemade Chefs are filled with nice photographs and visuals of their food. THC also sends handwritten and customized notes when requested by customers for any special occasion. The creative visuals also help them attract customers by boosting their most loved posts and setting up social media ads.
Orders and deliveries
When there are many orders for a day, the chefs complete some of the preparations the night before. “Since we strive to keep up the quality of every order we prepare, we limit ourselves to a certain number of orders per day. Time management had been a real challenge in the beginning and we would easily feel overwhelmed,” said Maliha. As far as the delivery is concerned, THC gained Shohoz as a delivery partner within Khilgaon after they applied online. They use their car to complete some deliveries. They used Pathao Parcel a few times as well. For the packaging, they fixed a shop after looking for good rates at various places both online and offline.
Ammurrannaghor
Ammurrannaghor offers tantalizing food straight from Mrs Tanzima Mahmood’s kitchen. Mrs Tanzima is a mother of two, and it’s the appreciation of her entire family that motivated her to start this venture. Ammurrannaghor is where Mrs Tanzima’s passion for food comes full circle.
The logistics
Mrs Tanzima sources her packages and containers from different places. The boxes are mainly bought from Gulshan Market, but in times of emergency, she buys them online as well. Once the packages arrive, the entire family sits together to clean and disinfect them. She buys the baking items from Gulshan Market, but the rest of the ingredients are bought along with the monthly bazaar from New Market. She starts her work from the morning and finishes all orders by noon. The delivery for all the orders received by Ammurrannaghor is done by Mrs Tanzima’s car and chauffeur.
Customers and a sense of responsibility
From offering unique food to including items popular in demand to sending personalized messages – Ammurrannaghor goes above and beyond for the customers. “When people are ordering homecooked food this quarantine, they expect the freshest and most hygienic food,” said Mrs Tanzima, “and it’s my responsibility to give them food of the best quality.” Like any other business, customer satisfaction is important for online homemade-food businesses as well.
As for advice to any home cook aspiring to enter this business, Mrs Tanzima said, “There’s a lot of things to consider here. My husband and two daughters help me in all sorts of ways, so having everyone’s support really helps. It’s important to properly consider the hygiene factor as well.”