Written by: Aiman Javed
Posted on: May 17, 2019 | 
| 中文
Najia and Ali Paracha
Treat is a new Islamabad-based food venture by the entrepreneurial brother-sister duo of Ali and Najia Paracha. Their healthy food delivery service kicked off last December, and just five months in, they’ve become very popular in Islamabad, especially in diplomatic circles. With diverse dishes from around the world, their weekly menu changes every day, and each day consists of a vegetable, chicken, beef and salad dish. Besides this, they also make granola and desserts, and are available for catering.
As Najia and Ali put it, the food industry probably “runs in their blood.” While Najia has been in the food business for about 10 years, Ali has been cooking more informally for friends and family. Najia was still getting her Bachelor’s degree when she first began catering. Her specialty is desserts, and she reminds us of her old outlet, Jia’s Deli, which was based in Beverley Centre, Islamabad. Since Ali specializes in other assorted dishes, the two joined forces with Treat.
At a personal level, both were motivated by a need to lose weight and a lack of healthy eating-out options. Ali tells us about his weight-loss journey from two years ago, when he lost almost 30 kg through diet and exercise. “I was able to sustain that by experimenting with food, and cooking myself healthy meals which also tasted good. When we talk to people who are trying to lose weight, they complain that diet food is just steamed and boiled items. With Treat, we want to show that you can actually enjoy your food as well as diet,” he says. Even now, both of them are eating from the Treat menu, and continue to lose weight.
When probed about the lack of good restaurants in the city, Ali and Najia mention that, “A lot of our friends complain there’s nowhere healthy to eat at lunch time, especially in the office. At restaurants, even after spending Rs1500 to 2000, you still get fried and grilled food with excess oil in it. Our food tastes better and it’s healthy.”
With Treat, Najia and Ali want to provide a quick and easy solution to young professionals who want to eat healthy; after placing an order over Whatsapp in the morning, the food just arrives at lunch time, and you don’t need to plan your meal. While their food isn’t as expensive as high-end restaurants, it’s not cheap either. However, the money goes into “maintaining the quality of the products.” They also focus on the hygiene, overseeing everything themselves, and making sure all raw food is being properly cleaned.
The Treat journey began last year when Najia and Ali began experimenting with different ingredients and eventually Najia created a nutritious 5-seed granola. When we ask if they are using organic products, Ali clarifies that the lack of a Food and Drug Authority in Pakistan, means that anyone can get away with claiming their product is organic and charging high prices. “We don’t go after the term organic, but try to find the best locally sourced high-quality ingredients. For example, we always use whole grain, and now we’ve also found a very good local brown rice,” they tell us.
While setting up Treat, they looked for suppliers who could provide quality ingredients. Even when expensive, they were willing to invest in the food, but the rest of the business was kept low-cost. Currently, they operate out of a home-based kitchen, but considering their fast growth, they may move into a commercial kitchen. When we ask the duo why the Treat menu changes each day, they explain that they didn’t want a huge kitchen or staff to start with. “We wanted to keep it streamlined, to manage what we are delivering, and do justice to it. Now that the staff is trained, we can introduce new items. We also offer gluten-free desserts. Eventually, we would like the consumer to have the option of ordering whatever they want, and not being bound by the day’s menu.” Despite this, Treat does take individual orders for desserts, granola, and catering.
Though weight-training was one of their prime motivations, they aren’t providing calorie counts or diet plans to customers yet. However, Najia has a health degree and plans on using that when they go into that phase of expansion. “It requires a lot more work, and we’ve a small team of 6 people right now. But we do have the calorie breakdown available for anyone who requests it,” she says. Treat has had a largely positive response, with feedback pouring in through Instagram. The business growth has mostly been through word of mouth. Besides using wooden cutlery, Ali and Najia are also trying to source bio-degradable and non-plastic packaging from vendors.
They believe their success lies in the taste and quality of their food, and not because of its’ marketing. Najia also mentions that they put in a lot of hard work, such as buying the vegetables themselves, overlooking the cleaning, overseeing all food preparation, and being available for feedback. Moreover, the partners share a good working relationship, where Ali ensures food quality while Najia looks after purchasing and managing the staff.
When asked about future plans, they say that Treat won’t be turned into an eatery, due to the high overhead cost. “Our food is cheaper than having a meal at Kohsar Market, but it’s not too cheap either, because of the high quality of food. At some point, we might open a small shop just for desserts and cakes, but besides that we’d rather focus our energies on the actual food, and not on operations.”
Keeping Ramzan in mind, we ask them about any special deals, but they aren’t offering a sehri/iftar menu. Najia reveals that a lot of their clientele are foreigners, who will be looking forward to the regular lunch menu. “Another reason is that our food isn’t desi, and Ramzan food is often not very healthy. Moreover, when people are fasting, they really don’t want a salad,” they say.
As the interview comes to a close, we are surprised to learn that besides Treat, Ali runs his own car servicing business while Najia is a teacher of hospitality management. Yet, they seem fully invested in Treat, and their passion for food shines through their conversation. By bringing together healthy and hygienic food, conveniently delivered to you at an affordable cost, this home-based venture is gaining a loyal following of customers, bound to give tough competition to local restaurants.
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