Plan to set up a stall at Karachi Eat next year? Here are some tips for success

Home-based stall owners share ways to have a successful food festival

KARACHI: Now that you have digested all the gastronomical delights offered at Karachi Eat Festival 2017, are you convinced that you should set up your own stall and offer some of your unique cuisines? The Express Tribune spoke to some home-based stall owners to find out their experience.

"If you are a first-timer here at the festival, try and be an early bird," shared Naye Namoonay's co-owner Zeerak Jarrar. "Late comers do not have an advantage at all."

Jarrar had to face some problems when the rain played havoc with their food. "Most of our food was wasted," she said. This weekend, the most popular item at her stall was their 'Paan Shot', a blend of paan and vanilla ice-cream. She managed to sell 500 of these unique concoctions over the first two days of the festival.



It seems the more unique your food, better you will do. Waqas Tariq of Peshawar shared that they brought their cook all the way from Afghanistan. Offering juicy and delicious Rosh and Booti, Tariq boasted how their Rosh was completely sold out on Saturday.

Similar was the experience of Hadi Akber Ali, owner of NomNom Tacos - a stall with long queues from morning till night. Ali is already planning on bringing a new dish to the festival next year.

Home-based stalls did, however, face some hurdles that come with managing large crowds. Ali said he remained patient but he had trouble with using the SimSim Wallet application for cashless payments. "I wasn't able to figure it out, I could not download it," he said.

Even festival organisers admit the home-based stalls are the ones that bring the most energy. "The home-based stall owners put their best foot forward, they have less expectations from us and they put their heart and soul in their food projects," said Omar Omari of CKO Events Architecture.

For anyone planning to set up a food stall next year, he said: "Come here, if you have passion for food." Omari said they want to promote local businesses. "People want to try out new things. So come with your best intentions, not just to put up your banner."



Home-based vs big names

As for the visitors, many of them came with their game plans to get the maximum out of their visit to Karachi Eat. Sufiyan Mir, who visited the food festival on Friday, said he avoided the big restaurants at the festival. "Mainly because we can go to the restaurant at any time and try their food. But we don't get to try home-based ones," he said.

Mir tried everything from Crepe Tease's Nutella Strawberry crepe and Fatso's Fat Dog to chapli kebabs at Chapli Kabab House and Manakeesh's Kunafa.

But there were others who preferred the familiarity of known brands. "I prefer known eateries because there is no rush [at those stalls] and they are tried and tested before," said Khalid Khawaja, who played safe with Chairman Mao's hot soup.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2017.