‘Chacha’ takes to social media to boost sales of his Pakistani eatery

‘Al Jamal,’ a small Pakistani eatery located in a by-lane of Bin Mahmood area of downtown Doha, has devised an innovative way to attract people during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The restaurant has taken to the social media to keep its menu updated and inform about the same to its customers. The customers can access the day's menu through WhatsApp.

Shabbir Ahmad, popularly known as 'chacha' (uncle), who runs the shop said, "A month ago, we decided to take the help of social media and formed a WhatsApp group with our customers. Soon over 650 people joined it. Then we started sending the evening's menu to all our online customers so that they knew it in advance."

"My philosophy of business is to give to the customers the best at a reasonable price. My goal is to provide homemade food prepared with fresh ingredients such as vegetables and meat. Frozen food can never match fresh food in taste," Shabbir added.

According to Shabbir, the daily menu of the restaurant depends on the availability of fresh vegetables on that particular day and therefore keeps changing.

"For over 30 years, we’ve been known for providing our customers food with unmatched freshness and homemade taste at a reasonable price," a second generation member of Shabbir's family said.

Shabbir's nephew, who came up with the idea of using social media to connect with customers, said they no longer needed to call the restaurant to find out about the day's menu.

Narrating how he started this business, Shabbir said, "I started my business with a samosa shop three decades ago after having got a broken arm in an accident, which cost me my mechanic's job. Gradually, my business picked up with the Pakistani school being my most important customer in those days."

Later on, the samosa shop turned into a full-fledged restaurant and more members of Shabbir's family got engaged in the business.

Today, Shabbir has a team of 10 people who help him in running the day-to-day affairs of the restaurant. He gets help from two assistant chefs, one from Pakistan and other from India.

Courtesy: Qatar-tribune.com