00:00Hello everyone, this is Anjana Kumar and I'm here in Ajman in a food facility with me is
00:09Ayesha Khan.
00:11She is an entrepreneur and she runs the food ATM.
00:16Now what is food ATM?
00:17As you can see here, some interesting egg biryani happening here for 200 people.
00:24Well, this is what this facility is all about.
00:29The food ATM basically caters to feeding blue-collar workers and those in need of,
00:36you know, help when it comes to food and the food prices here are so reasonable.
00:43Take this, a meal is just three dirhams and a whole day meal, which is like three meals
00:49a day comes for just dirhams nine.
00:52We were curious when we heard about this and that's why we are here at this facility in
00:56Ajman and we want to know hands-on from Ms. Ayesha on why she started this and how it
01:03has been a roaring success so far.
01:06Where do you find three meals for dirhams nine?
01:11Thank you so much.
01:12Welcome.
01:13Thank you, Anjana.
01:14That was a beautiful introduction.
01:16Coming to the food, this is beyond going for any introduction, I would like to jump to
01:22the thing.
01:23How come three dirhams?
01:24Nine dirhams for three meals?
01:25The fact is when I relocated from Dubai to Ajman, I used to think when I wanted to have
01:29this project, like 10 dirhams is okay for a meal and let me base it there.
01:34But then I thought, let me have a quick survey done because I wasn't aware of the ground realities.
01:39When I met the people, came to know the ground realities, I came to know that they're sharing
01:44food which they are buying for four dirhams, five dirhams, two, three people share it.
01:49So that was the ground reality.
01:51So we actually had to base ourselves somewhere where we could be of some help to them.
01:57That's the project.
01:58Okay.
01:59So basically, it was from the fact that you saw people sharing food, which was not completely
02:06for themselves, but just for four dirhams.
02:08And here they're getting their own meal pack for three dirhams.
02:12Okay.
02:13So they used to take one curry and two people used to share only one curry.
02:17So they had to pay separately for the chapati or the roti, separately for the rice.
02:21So that's why we came up with a solution that let's have a full meal for them, one person
02:25at three dirhams, and it should be a situation where they're able to save something from
02:30their small salary, send it home to their families.
02:33So kind of formula to reach goodness to 200 countries by just saving their money.
02:39Right.
02:40Amazing.
02:41Okay.
02:42And here she has displayed the menu.
02:43Of course, we all want to know what comes for three dirhams.
02:49So here it is.
02:52Yes, about the menu.
02:55We are all very blessed to be in UAE where there are so many nationalities.
02:59There are so many different menus for the reason that we are handling multiple nationalities.
03:05We being in UAE, we are also lucky to meet people from 200 countries.
03:09At the same time, they have different cultures and different cuisines.
03:13So we try to have some balanced food given at this small cost, but to involve them and
03:18their participation and their likings.
03:21Let's take the example of these menus.
03:22There are eight different menus.
03:24I'll take you through a very generic menu where we have the breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
03:28And every day, either once for breakfast or lunch or dinner, we give one sweet.
03:33Seven different days, seven different sweets.
03:35So there are seven different breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
03:38These meals include vegetables, meats, fish, and the chicken.
03:43The idea behind this is to maintain the nutritional value.
03:47So even the cost is low, we try to give them a wholesome meal, including a sweet.
03:52Plus, with every meal, there's a 500 ml water bottle free.
03:55So as an example, on Saturday, the breakfast is white chana and paratha.
04:02Then there's dal, baingan fry, rice, roti, halwa for lunch.
04:08There's aloo pulao, tomato chutney, aloo curry, roti, stew for dinner.
04:14And the seven sweets are suji halwa, custard, semaiya, chawal kheer, china grass, wheat
04:21kheer, white noodles in coconut powder.
04:23How interesting.
04:26This is also a social inclusion that they are away from their families.
04:30So they feel that somebody cares, like a mother, like a family member.
04:34And I see a healthy menu.
04:39The healthy menu, it stands out because this is for people who are having diabetes and
04:45people who can't just go for the regular greasy food, rice and all.
04:49So in every account of ours, say we are handing a company with 600 labours, at least a handful
04:55of them do have problems with eating rice, with having oily food, with having the typical
05:01gravies, which, you know, we Indians, Pakistanis, all of us eat.
05:05So for them, we have these healthy meals, which are not the typical gravy meals with
05:10a lot of, you know, spice and oil.
05:13Instead, these are grilled food.
05:15So they will have vegetable salads, they will have some grill and they will also have sweets,
05:19but in moderation.
05:21Okay, so I see here Pakistani menu, Malabari menu, Indian menu, tell us about that.
05:29This is to ensure that people eat what they've been eating from their childhood, whatever
05:33they've been used to.
05:35When times were different, they had to put up with a loaf of bread, a kuboos and maybe
05:40a banana or sorts.
05:42But now that we are there for them, so we might as well give them something which they
05:46are used to eating.
05:47So we have different cooks from different parts of the Asian countries, not all over
05:52the world.
05:53But yes, so we are trying our bit to do something for them.
05:59The way forward for Food ATM is by 2024, we intend to feed 80% of the labor accommodation
06:06of UAE.
06:07And beyond that, we want to reach out to all the countries where we have lower income,
06:12lesser privileged communities and workers.
06:14That's exactly why I've been approaching United Nations to be part of the Global Compact
06:19Projects, which they actually accept projects which are businesses and trying to do a social
06:24impact cause to help lives.
06:28So how many people work for you?
06:3117.
06:3217.
06:33And they include how many?
06:34They include the cooks, nine of them.
06:36Nine chefs.
06:37So they're all big and small, but when we term that is like somebody can handle the
06:41whole cuisine themselves.
06:43Some of them are assistant to the main cooks.
06:45Right.
06:46And what nationality are the chefs?
06:48Primarily Indians and Pakistanis and Nepalis.
06:50So India, Pakistan, Nepal.
06:52Right.
06:53And I wanted to know actually how viable is this for you?
06:57This is, you know, when people ask me this question, I tell them it's a trade secret.
07:03I'll tell you.
07:04I'll tell you how.
07:05When I started off this Anjana, I was very sure that I want to do it on a very large
07:09scale.
07:10But when I said that, it always had to be bulk purchase.
07:13So I cannot survive with any retail things.
07:16I cannot survive with a retail purchase, retail sales.
07:19I have to purchase in bulk, which gives me a good margin.
07:23And then I have to sell also in bulk.
07:25Because at Three Dharam, you know, transportation, the packaging, the content itself, because
07:30we are known for quality and quantity.
07:32We are dealing with adult workers who are doing physical intensive work.
07:36So giving them small quantity doesn't work.
07:39So that's why I say only bulk is our secret.
07:42Otherwise, we can't survive.
07:44Right.
07:45And obviously, yes, bulk is the way you survive.
07:49So the more contracts you have, the more viable and you are increasing your facility now,
07:55right?
07:56Yes.
07:57You are expanding it.
07:58Yes.
07:59We got a lot of orders from Dubai, which has, as we all know, in the world, we stand at
08:03number three when it comes to tower cranes, Dubai.
08:07So many tower cranes.
08:08That means so much of construction happening, engineering projects are there.
08:11So there's a lot of demand for our kind of work and services.
08:15But then since Ajman is far from Dubai, we are having challenges with accidents and traffic.
08:21Nobody has control on that.
08:22So that's the reason why we have now got a facility coming up in Sonapur in Dubai.
08:28Okay.
08:29And your primary demand comes from which cities?
08:34Demand for these meals are from all the labor intensive companies based with their labor
08:40accommodations in Sajjah, Sharjah, Dubai and some part in Ajman.
08:44All right.
08:45Okay.
08:46And with that, it's a wrap.
08:48How interesting is this story?
08:50If you know of someone who's doing such a beautiful project, helping the community,
08:57going out of their comfort box to do something to help people in need, do let us know.
09:03For now, this is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.
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