In an endeavor to provide hygienic and affordable food to office goers, city-based mobile fast-food joint “Chew n Brew” launched its outlet at Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) premises in Karan Nagar.
The outlet was inaugurated by SMC secretary Hilal Ahmad Dewani in presence of officials and scores of other people.
The innovative fast food outlet, opened by Sajad Ahmad Bhat, is sponsored by Jammu and Kashmiri Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) under its Seed Capital Fund Scheme (SCFS).
‘Chew N Brew’ fast food outlet is outcome of hard work and online research of Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a young management graduate from Wazir Bagh, Srinagar.
Bhat had learnt the basics of running a fast food outlet in Pune immediately after completing his MBA from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth University (BVP).
‘Chew N Brew’ has various delicious fast food non-veg items on its menu including tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, fish tikka, fish fry, chicken shwarma, chicken momos, chicken biryani, butter chicken and chicken kanti.
Sajad Ahmad Bhat, who runs it, had struggled lot to be self-employed after he completed his MBA from Pune.
Sajad was just two-months-old when his mother died, and yet to complete first year of his life that his father too passed away. If it may not have been for his maternal grandfather, who took the responsibility of upkeep and education of Sajad and his two year elder brothers, Sajad said, there was no chance that they could have witnessed proper upbringing, forget about getting any education.
“Till I reached my 12th class, every need of mine was taken care of and I did not know where money comes from,” said Sajad.
But it was not meant to be easy for Sajad and his grandfather too passed away when he was studying in BSc 1st year at Amar Singh College.
“After death of grandfather, I had to face the real challenge. I, with my brother, started doing odd jobs here and there. As we have to shoulder all our responsibilities, to meet our basic expenses and to support our education as well,” said Sajad.
For next few years Sajad did every kind of job he could find. From driving an auto rickshaw to working as an office boy at local LIC office, he did whatever he could lay his hands on until a year after he completed his graduation.
With some little saving in his hand, Sajad took educational loan from J&K Bank and went to Pune to pursue a professional course. At Pune, he did MBA with specialization in international business and marketing from Kolhapur campus of Bharti Vidyapeth in 2007-2009 batch.
“At that time my plans were to work in Pune only as I had to pay back the educational loan as well. With a good job in BPO sector, I was able to repay my loan in three years instead of seven years. Later, with a friend, I started a Kashmir wazwan restaurant and was doing well,” said Sajad. “For six year I was in Pune only, till the 2014 floods struck Kashmir and our house collapsed due to the flood and I had to came back leaving behind everything.”
As Sajad lost his home in Kashmir, his Pune restaurant without his presence there went into losses within months and ultimately has to sell his share for peanuts. After deciding to stay in Kashmir, it was the question of what to do next?
Finally, Sajad’s consistency paid off and he started to run his food truck on daily basis after EDI supported him. Today, he opened his second outlet at SMC premises.
“It is good to see that local youth are taking up their careers like this. The struggle, braveness and results achieved by Sajad is a message,” SMC secretary Hilal Ahmad Dewani said.
He added that his outlet would provide hygienic food to employees and visitors at affordable prices.