A Tk2,500 online food kitchen in a village, popular across the area in five months
Three sisters in Tamai, a weaving village in Belkuchi, Sirajganj, started a Facebook-page food business with just Tk2,500 in December 2020; their father delivers by motorbike, and pizza, burgers and rice bowls sell best.
During Covid, a young woman who had completed her graduation returned from Dhaka to Tamai village in Belkuchi, Sirajganj. At first she sold local saris and lungis on a Facebook page and got a good response. Then, with her family's support, she decided to launch an online restaurant in the village; on 8 December 2020 it began delivering food, within the village only. She leads it, and her two younger sisters and her mother help with the cooking.
In her words, there was hardly any capital — they started with just Tk 2,500. She never learned to cook professionally; her love of cooking since childhood came in useful. To order, she makes pizza, burgers, kacchi, rice bowls, pasta, tehari, shawarma and various other dishes. The best sellers are pizza (Tk 250–275), burgers (Tk 99–150) and rice bowls (Tk 99). Orders come in from 10am to midnight, more in the afternoon and on Fridays. Her father delivers the food on time by motorbike; three more women work as helpers.
Prothom Alo reported in May 2021 that in just five months the venture had become known in her own village and the surrounding area, and orders were also coming from other villages and towns in the district. Her father says that at first they could not believe such a digital venture could succeed at village level.
Lessons
- 1.Starting from the home kitchen with family labour needs very little capital — here Tk2,500.
- 2.Deliver within a small area (one village) first, and widen it once you have a name.
- 3.Track which dishes sell and when orders peak (afternoons, Fridays) to plan cooking and staff.
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
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