When Naaz Anjum moved to Hyderabad in 2010 publish marriage, she turned to her past love, cooking. A textile engineer by career, she couldn’t pursue her profession attributable to private causes. Having attended courses by celeb chef Sanjeev Kapoor, she earned a number of followers for her cooking in her new residence. 

Her neighbours had been enamoured by her meals and couldn’t get sufficient of it. Nevertheless, the bachelors in her constructing had been those who truly impressed and pushed her to begin her personal enterprise. They might initially drop in on the finish of the day, requesting her for some curry or salan (a spicy gravy) to have with their dinner. Quickly, they requested her to make tiffins for them, which kicked off her journey into the meals enterprise.

Their insistence gave start to ‘Anjum’s kitchen’, which grew to become one of many first women-owned cloud kitchens in Hyderabad, resulting in many extra blossoming in its wake. 

From delivering her first order in 2016, the house kitchen has now delivered over 20,000 orders thus far. The enterprising chef delivered over 500 orders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and retains on the lookout for new methods to ship genuine home made, wholesome meals to Hyderabadis. 

Anjum’s drive displays over the cellphone as she passionately talks about what meals means to her. It’s been a vessel for her to realize her goals and serve others, she says.  

Biryani- The meal to everybody’s coronary heart

Persuaded by her neighbours, Anjum’s first trial of kinds was throughout the month of Ramadan in 2016 whereas making desserts. She offered her ‘Double Ka Meetha’, a tasty Hyderabadi dessert, and ‘lauki halwa’ (bottle gourd) at her brother-in-law’s restaurant. Each had been a runaway success, and instilled confidence in Anjum that she was on the precise path.  

Shortly after, she acquired her first order, which she remembers like yesterday. It was a mutton dum biryani for a small residence gathering in HITEC Metropolis. The friends relished it a lot that they too began putting orders along with her. 

Her enterprise has grown via word-of-mouth and through posts on her Fb web page. Anjum would make all of the orders on her personal from her kitchen, after she completed cooking for her kids and husband. 

When she began, nobody thought she would develop a lot, and he or she was a one-woman military. She laughs as she remembers that she began with simply Rs 80.

“Anjum’s kitchen started unexpectedly, once I obtained the primary order. I had confidence in myself and knew that I’d do it. I used the Rs 80 to purchase the greens I wanted. I used to be the primary residence chef in Hyderabad at the moment. Because it was new, nobody knew whether or not one thing like this might even work,” Anjum tells The Higher India. 

It’s this self-confidence and arduous work that has made Anjum’s Kitchen so profitable as we speak. She has about 25-50 orders every day, which embody every day tiffins and biryanis. She additionally will get social gathering orders and dessert orders. 

She doesn’t do any advertising, she says, as she has her arms full. Whereas she did all the things from cooking to delivering by herself to start with, she quickly needed to rent two supply boys and a assist to prep the meals. 

Her day begins at 4:30am along with her morning prayers, adopted by making breakfast for her three kids at 6 am. After they’re off to highschool, she enters the kitchen at 9 am for her every day orders. 

“I make all the things contemporary every day. My husband will get the meat and greens each morning. As soon as my helper is finished with the cutting-chopping-peeling, from 9am-12pm, I give attention to making the curries, rice, and chapatis myself to not compromise on the style,” she explains.

By 2 pm, her two supply boys ship all of the orders throughout the town. After lunch, she begins engaged on her night orders, that are primarily for events, and embody starters, biryanis, rooster curries and desserts. She accepts social gathering orders about 4 occasions every week. 

She sends these out by 5:30 pm after which it’s time for her children to return from faculty. 

A stickler for high quality

What has made Anjum survive within the cloud kitchen enterprise, which is extraordinarily aggressive as we speak, is her fixed improvements. When she realised that individuals wished one thing past biryani, she launched ‘iftar platter for one’, which features a dahi wada, haleem, starters, fruits and dates, amongst different issues. 

“I introduce one thing new each few months as folks count on that. You have to innovate always. I began with the iftar platter, which individuals actually favored. In the course of the COVID-19 waves, I began ‘jashn-e-dawat’, which was marriage ceremony meals, served in a single tray, for one individual, as folks weren’t capable of attend weddings and missed that meals,” she says.

She additionally launched desserts like Panjiri ke ladoo, gond ke laddoo throughout winters. She obtained permission from the federal government to serve meals throughout the COVID-19 lockdown and served over 500 meals. 

Her every day tiffins have a set menu, which she additionally tries to offer one thing new, like mirchi (Chilli) bajji, pakode, custard and extra. They price Rs 400 for lunch and dinner per day. 

“I hold eager about my clients, particularly the older women and men who order. I attempt to give one thing completely different. Since many are diabetics however love sweets, I give them one thing like a custard which I make with little or no sugar for them,” she provides. 

One in every of Anjum’s common diners is Obaid Khan, who has been ordering his every day meals from her for 2 years. He says that her meals reminds him of residence. 

“The style, amount and high quality is de facto good. What actually differentiates Anjum’s meals is the amount, which is far more than what others supply. She retains the menu attention-grabbing as properly. Her mutton kofta curry is out of this world,” says Obaid, who works in Hyderabad.

Anjum’s bestseller is the mutton biryani, which sells for Rs 1800/kg and may feed 6-8 folks. The explanation, she says, is that she makes use of equal portions of mutton and rice in her biryani. Different crowd favourites are the double ka meetha and rooster tikka.

Regardless of her busy schedule, Anjum finds the time to conduct on-line cooking courses for folks residing overseas.

Crediting her success to sheer arduous work, Anjum says, “If we need to make a reputation for ourselves, we’ve to work very arduous. It requires loads of effort. I’ve been blessed with good orders for the reason that time I began and have a really cooperative household.”

Finally, style and high quality matter, and that’s the place Anjum stands out, in line with clients like Obaid.

Beginning with Rs 80, Anjum earns over Rs 1 lakh per 30 days as we speak. For anybody wishing to begin a enterprise, dedicating your self fully to the job is the solely method to thrive. 

“Hold hustling and put in your one hundred pc. Apply makes one good. Hold at it until you grow to be the perfect. Don’t work for cash. I experimented with my tiffins and look the place I’m as we speak. You can also make it should you hold your eyes on the objective and revel in what you do,” says Anjum.

You possibly can place orders via Anjum’s fb web page. 

Edited by Padmashree Pande.