Women led business

Pakistan is known for its delicious food. While restaurants, street vendors, famous eateries, and food streets are a go-to, home-based food businesses have acquired their space too. Many of these are run by talented, hard-working women who have mastered the art of cooking and running a smooth business in a place where women and their talents are greatly neglected.

We have compiled a list of five successful food startups founded by women:

1 – Kitchenette by Khans

Kitchenette by Khans is run by 2 sisters from IoBM together. Uswah Khan and Soha Khan kick-started their venture during the lockdown when restaurants survived on take away orders. The duo introduced hot flamin’ Cheeto sliders as their first item that quickly became a crowd favorite.

1) Please tell us a bit about yourselves. What was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

Hello, this is Uswah Khan and Soha Khan. We are sisters in relation and have recently started a home-based food business. It’s known as Kitchenette by khan’s, and it comprises fast food and Italian cuisine. Our main prospect, the biggest motivation to start with this business, was to execute our passion in trying out new recipes and the love for cooking. We took a start during the mid of the pandemic, and it’s been 6 months to it now Alhumdulilah. Lockdown definitely boosted our confidence to implement it and to bring something out of it. We both have always been a foodie; hence, we love to eat and cook. After tons of experiments, we created our own recipes and gave a start to our business. It wouldn’t be possible without the love and support of our family members who were always there to help us in every possible way.

2) What are your best selling items?

Our best selling items are HOT FLAMIN’ CHEETOS SLIDERS and HOT FLAMIN’ CHEETOS BURGERS.

3) How much time do you need to spend personally involved in the running of the business?

We have our timings fixed in which the deliveries are made between 3 pm-10 pm while the pickup is available even after that, but the amount of time spent personally depends upon the number of orders per day. We generally have to work for about 5-6 hours per day, but it keeps fluctuating.

4) Top dishes you have on your menu?

• Hot Flamin’ Cheetos Sliders
• Hot Flamin’ Cheetos Burgers
• Cheesy Chicken Lasagne
• Chicken Khao Suey
• Nutella Fudge Brownies

5) What do you envision about your brand, and where do you see it growing?

Initially, when we started the business, we had mentally prepared ourselves and had no high expectations, but apparently the response we received since day one was astounding! Hence, we aim to never compromise on our quality as well as the quantity of the food. Customer service is one thing that has been our priority since day one, which has got us so many loyal customers today. We have a long way to come ahead and bring out many innovations and strategies to expand our business further.

2- Yummymummyandme

Yummymummyandme is run by a mother-daughter duo, as the name suggests. CityFM89’s Sundus Rasheed randomly asked her mother if she could sell some lunch to Sundus and her co-workers, and this is where it all began.

1) Please tell us a bit about yourselves. What was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

Most of my career has been in broadcast media. I’ve been Head of Programming and Business Development at CityFM89 and an RJ. Currently, I am a communications consultant and a teacher/lecturer. We started close to 10 years ago because where I worked in Karachi had no decent lunch delivery options, really. So, I asked my mother if she would sell us some lunch. And here we are. But the motivation to keep going and innovating comes from this desire to create food experiences for people. As a family, we love feeding and entertaining people, and that carried forward into the business. The kind of food we offer is really very different. My mother, who is the force behind YummyMummyAndMe is Iraqi. As a family, we have been exposed to many different food cultures, including Middle Eastern and South-East Asia (I spent 5 years living in Malaysia). So it really comes from wanting to share the food we love with people.

2) What are your best selling items?

Our best selling products range from Chicken Khao Suey, Zaatir Chicken, and our famous Mutton Biryani.

3) How much time do you need to spend personally involved in the running of the business?

I personally spend close to 3 to 4 hours daily on YummyMummyAndMe on a regular. That’s for meal prep, cooking and marketing. When we have larger orders, the day starts at Fajr and ends when we get feedback from the customer.

4) Top dishes you have on your menu?

I think they are: Nasi Goreng, Zaatir Chicken, Chicken Khao Suey, Prawn Masala, and the Middle Eastern Platter

5) What do you envision about your brand, and where do you see it growing?

I see YummyMummyAndMe extending to a small, cozy, inclusive space that serves comfort food. With free water and dessert for everyone.

3- Eat & Treat

Eat & Treat is run by Humaira Khalique, who is currently working in the Airline Industry. Humaira and her daughter have their hands full in the kitchen. The duo entertains dinner orders only.

1) Please tell us a bit about yourself. What was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

I am a professional woman working in the Airline industry. Cooking has been my passion as I am also a food lover myself and my husband & kid’s compliments motivated me to take this passion further, and I started my Facebook page ‘Eat & Treat”.

I believe that when you cook food with love – it becomes far more flavorful & delicious.

Initially, it was just a hobby as I would make new dishes and post pics on my page, but slowly and gradually, it’s become my profession, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

2)  What are your best selling products?

Signature Marble Cake and Dam Ka Qeema

3) How much time do you need to spend personally involved in the running of the business?

100% …..it’s just me & my daughter. Being a working woman, I try taking orders for the weekend, but I also take dinners.  Lunch orders are not possible due to work.

4) Top 5 dishes you have on your menu?

1. Signature Mutton Karahi
2. Dam Ka Qeema
3. Signature Marble Cake.
4. Seasonal Gajer ka Halwa
5. Channay ki Daal ka Halwa etc. etc.

5) What do you envision about your brand, and where do you see it growing?

Like I said I am cooking because I enjoy it and I’ll take it as it comes.

1) Please tell us a bit about yourself. What was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

I’m a graduate with a degree in Communication Design from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture and married.
I used to bake from a very young age and had a very amateur page that I removed a few years ago. However, the passion was very much alive, a year into university, I was studying design, so I thought why not design my own logo and menu and restart my page, so I named my venture “The SecondServing” – which for me defines, that’s one is just not enough, you’ll always come back for a second. University got really hard, and I took a break, graduated, got married. 2 months into my marriage, my husband suggested I did something for Valentine’s Day. And that’s when I started at a full pace.

2) What are your best selling products?

My best selling products are the Lotuslicious cheesecake, Smash the heart bombs, The chocolate smashing spheres, and my custom made buttercream cakes.

3) How much time do you need to spend personally involved in the running of the business?

I spend a great amount of time running this business. Initial 8 months of restarting I would handle social media and be in the kitchen from 8-5 almost every day, sometimes during heavy days I’d be up at 4 am baking.
However, now I’m in the kitchen from 9-5 and have hired a social media manager to handle my social media

4) Top 5 dishes you have on your menu?

The Lotuslicious cheesecake
Lindt dark chocolate tart
Smashing hearts
Smashing chocolate spheres
Hot chocolate bombs

5) What do you envision about your brand, and where do you see it growing?

I want to grow the brand big, and I have put my heart and soul into this venture, cried on bad days and been really thankful for the good days. I definitely see it growing into an outlet Inshallah shortly with the help of all my client’s support and their love.

5 – Cheesy Affair

Anusha Sachwani is the co-founder of a home-based food startup called Cheesy Affair. The startup began as an experiment during lockdown amid the pandemic. Estimating by the progress, the cousins together decided to run the start-up full-time. You can also place orders with them through Foodpanda.

1) Please tell us a bit about yourself. What was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

I’ve always wanted to have my own business since I was young. I guess I wanted to be my own boss and show what I am capable of. Cheesy Affair started as an experiment in July when my cousin and I talked about how tough the current circumstances have become due to the pandemic. And then we just decided out of the blue that there will be no better time than now to start our own business, and here we are

2) What are your best selling products?

Our Mac & Cheese is our top seller, followed by our chicken lasagna and Alfredo Pasta.

3) How much time do you need to spend personally involved in the running of the business?

A business is like a baby; it needs your undivided attention 100%. As the owner, it is essential to be personally involved in the whole process from marketing to making the menu to dispatching the customer’s order.

4) What do you envision about your brand, and where do you see it growing?

5. We want to take this business a notch further, we want to be an established brand one day, which is well recognized in Karachi. It would be a truly amazing feeling if people knew us as the team behind Cheesy Affair. About 5 years down the line, I would love to love to see at least 2 branches of the brand opened with customers coming in hungry and leaving 101% satisfied.

Home-chefs are not pros like restaurants, but we are hard-working, dedicated people who strive to give our customers the same experience. We want to ask the customers to understand this because every opinion matters to us and every day we are trying to improve, we want your help to do so, so instead of bringing home-chefs down by slamming them, help them by giving them proper feedback and a chance to provide you better service the next time around.