A small tehari shop in Dhanmondi: daily sales fell from Tk 2-2.5 lakh to Tk 70,000-80,000
A small tehari shop in Dhanmondi opened in 1987, and a staff member later became its owner. Around 2010-11 it sold Tk 2-2.5 lakh a day, but crowds of lookalike-name shops have cut that to Tk 70,000-80,000.
A small tehari shop at Dhanmondi 13 opened in 1987. A year later a man joined as an employee; around 1991 the owner prepared to go abroad, tried and failed to rent the shop out, and gave him temporary charge. In 1992 he paid an advance and began running it himself. He learned to cook on his own; three cooks now follow the head cook's recipe, and any new cook is trained by him, which keeps the taste the same. The tehari uses boneless meat, chinigura rice and mustard oil brought straight from the mill. The shop seats 20-22 people at five or six tables, serves from 10 am to 10 pm, and dishes cost Tk 200-400. Around 2010-11 it sold Tk 2-2.5 lakh of tehari a day, eat-in and takeaway. Now daily sales are Tk 70,000-80,000 and profit is not much. The owner says tehari shops of every kind now stand at every corner of Dhaka, many with similar names, and this has cut his sales. Over a maund of rice goes into the day's tehari, with the same amount of meat.
Lessons
- 1.Keep taste steady by holding the recipe with one person and training new cooks under them; this shop's flavour has stayed the same since the start.
- 2.Copycat names split customers; as similar shops multiply, sales and profit fall.
- 3.Do not assume today's sales hold; this shop fell from Tk 2-2.5 lakh to Tk 70,000-80,000 in about a decade and a half.
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
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