The love for food is one of many things that unite us Pakistanis. Whether it’s a roadside stall or a 5-star high-end restaurant, you’ll surely experience the hustle and bustle. That’s why it’s always a good idea to start a food business in Pakistan. Moreover, what could be better than turning your passion into your business?
If you’re passionate about cooking, you can start a food business and support your income. Who doesn’t want to earn some extra income in these financially distressing times, right? Considering that you’re your own boss, it’s up to you whether you want to start the business full-time or part-time. This article will serve as a guide on how to start a small food business in Pakistan.
If you plan to start a food business in Pakistan, it’s important to allocate your budget effectively. Here’s a breakdown of expenses to consider:
- Food cart or stall: Your biggest expense will likely be purchasing a food cart or stall. Depending on the size and type you choose, this can cost around 30,000 PKR.
- Food authority licensing: To legally operate a food business in Pakistan, you will need to obtain a license from the relevant food authority. This can cost around 2,000 PKR.
- Equipment, utensils, and ingredients: To prepare and serve food, you will need to purchase the necessary equipment, utensils, and ingredients. This can cost around 35,000 PKR.
- Logo and branding: To establish your brand identity and make a strong first impression, creating a logo and branding is important. This can cost around 5,000 PKR.
- Website: Building a one-page website can help promote your business and make it easier for customers to find you. This can cost around 8,000 PKR.
- Digital marketing: To generate leads and drive sales, you will need to invest in digital marketing. This can include developing a marketing strategy which can cost around 15,000 PKR
- Implementing S.E.O. services: Search engine optimization services for a food business in Pakistan cost around 5,000 PKR and involve optimizing the website and content to improve visibility and drive traffic from search engines.
 Remember that these are just some of the expenses you will need to consider when starting a food business in Pakistan. Researching and creating a comprehensive budget plan is important to ensure you have enough funds to launch and sustain your business.
How to Start A Food Business In Pakistan?
To give you an idea of launching a specific business, we will discuss a food cart business specializing in serving delicious Biryani. Once successful, you can level up this business into a food stall or a small café.
All these business types have very little risk involved considering that there is very little investment and operational cost involved. Below, we will discuss the step-by-step process of launching your food cart business with a budget of Rs.1 Lac.
Step 1: Identify Your Niche (No Cost)
Deciding on the type of food you want to sell and how you want to sell it is the first step in launching your food start-up. The business models that you may choose include a food truck business, a home-based catering business, or a small café.
On the other hand, your menu can either consist of multiple items, or it can be a one-dish menu. For instance, Biryani, Dal Chaawal, Haleem Naan, etc.
Step 2: Market Research (No Cost)
The next step in starting your food business in Pakistan is determining your target market, budget, pricing, and marketing strategy. Since this is a small food start-up, you need to focus on the people’s needs and wants in your surroundings.
You can conduct a causal verbal survey or talk to your nearest dhaba vendor to know more about what people love eating. There is a big chance that you’ll find people preferring Biryani the most. After all, Biryani is the food of royalty.
Step 3: Develop A Business Plan (No Cost)
The next step to start a food business in Pakistan is to decide the scale at which you want to launch your business and decide the budget accordingly. Create a meal plan and calculate the costs, including travel costs, gas bills, food preparation costs, packaging costs, and delivery costs. Once you get the total cost figure, now is the time to add your profit margin. Below, we give you a rough estimate of how you’ll decide on the price of your Biryani.
| Ingredient | Price |
| Pre-cooked Basmati Rice 01 kg | Rs. 300 |
| Chicken 01 kg | Rs. 600 |
| Cooking Oil (600 ml) | Rs. 400 |
| Biryani Masala | Rs. 150 |
| Vegetables | Rs. 250 |
| Yogurt | Rs. 100 |
Total cost for making 10 plates of 250 grams of biryani: Rs. 1,800 in total and Rs 180 for each plate (Cost Price)
Assuming each plate is sold for Rs. 300(Selling Price), the profit per plate would be Rs. 120, and the profit for selling all 10 plates would be Rs. 1200.
If a person sells 100 plates of Biryani per day, they could make a profit of Rs. 12,000 per day with a profit margin of 120 per plate.
The good idea is to check the offers and prices of the other home-based small food business in your locality. This will help you decide the prices and show you where you’ll stand in the competition. If you can’t find any other food start-ups in your area, congratulations! This is your time to shine and rule the market. Up till this stage, there are no costs involved. Now that your business plan is ready, it’s time to make your first investment.
Step 4: Buying A Food Cart (30,000 PKR)
Setting up a food stall or buying a food cart is a one-time investment. The cart will be the face of your food start-up, therefore, you need to select the best available food card in the market. Make sure that it can accommodate all the necessary items that you’ll need to serve the people in the market.
The built of cart should be strong enough to endure the harsh weather in Pakistan. A new food cart will cost you approximately 30,000 PKR. However, you can find food carts online if you’re looking for a cheaper option. There are many resources available online that can help you start a food business in Pakistan.
Step 5: Obtain Licenses and Permits (2000 PKR)
To ensure you meet all the food security standards of running a food business in Pakistan, you must obtain the necessary licenses and permits from the relevant authorities, such as the local government and the food department. If you’re using good quality products in food preparation, chances are you won’t face any issues obtaining the license.
When you start a food business in Pakistan, gaining trust is essential. The appropriate licenses and permits will help you gain people’s trust and earn maximum income. Once all the legal requirements are complete, you should now start focusing on the product and make a list of equipment and supplies that will be required.
Step 6: Acquire Equipment and Supplies (35,000 PKR)
The next step is to purchase essential equipment and supplies for your small food business, such as cooking utensils, plates, spoons, and ingredients. According to the current market rates, the ingredients for Biryani will cost you around 15000 PKR that can last for a week.
The utensils that will be used on the spot will cost you approximately 5000 PKR. For people who prefer takeaway and home delivery, you also need packaging material, shoppers, disposable plates & spoons. These items can cost you around 15000 PKR.
Step 7: Create a Logo & Start Branding (5000 PKR)
If you really want to stand out in the market, you must not forget to invest in the branding of your food cart business. While it might seem like an easy task, branding requires extensive market research, story-telling skills, designing skills, and arranging engagement activities. You should allocate a budget of around 5,000 PKR for branding purposes. Services like Get Digital Pakistan can offer you complete branding solutions to help you start a food business in Pakistan.
This includes logo designing, menu designing, and panaflex designing for your business. This will not only give your business a whole new identity but will also leave a lasting impact in the minds of the people. If you want to manage the designing and branding of your business yourself, we also offer a complete graphic designing course. This course will enable you to be in charge of your brand’s appearance in public.
Step 8: Build A One-Page Website (8,000 PKR)
Once you’re done with branding, now is the time to work on your online presence. In Pakistan, food delivery services have seen tremendous growth in recent years. More people now prefer to have food delivered to their homes and offices. Building a one-page website lets people order food online from your food cart business. Get Digital Pakistan can help you with website development and offer complete design services.
For just 8000 PKR, you can get a simple one-page website that includes your menu, location, and contact details. However, if you’re one of those entrepreneurs who love to take things into their own hands, you might prefer to develop the website yourself. For that, you’ll need web development skills, for which we recommend that you take a web development course offered by Cealea, one of Pakistan’s premier short course academies.
Step 9: Develop A Digital Marketing Strategy (15,000 PKR)
Now that your website is set, you should start working on building your social media presence. While it may seem that anyone can promote food business on Instagram and Facebook, it actually requires lots of skills and expertise. To ensure that your business reaches the right audience and produces the highest ROI, you should allocate a budget of around 15000 PKR. For this amount, Get Digital Pakistan can run successful digital marketing campaigns, such as social media ads and influencer marketing for you.
If this amount is not affordable or your want to maximize your income by saving this cost, you might prefer to manage your social media yourself. After all, you must ensure maximum revenue when starting a food business in Pakistan. In that case, we recommend that you complete the digital marketing course offered by Cealea. This will give you enough insights into managing your social media accounts, reaching the right audience in Pakistan, understanding the metrics, and monitoring your success.
Step 10: Implement Local SEO (5000 PKR)
Great job! Your business is set, your website is live, and people visit your social media pages. Your next focus should be leading the competition and becoming the best food business in your area. You must stay at the top of Google and social media search results for that. Your business should appear whenever someone searches for the word “Biryani” in your area. For that, you should invest in implementing Local SEO. With just 5000 PKR, services like Get Digital Pakistan can help your business implement local SEO tactics, such as claiming your Google My Business listing and optimizing your website for local searches. Apart from that, GDP will also ensure the listing of your business so that it can be found easily on SERP.
SEO is one of those skills that every entrepreneur needs to master nowadays. For that, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with all the basics of SEO through the SEO courses designed by Cealea. These courses enable you to stay ahead of your competition and ensure that you make maximum money out of your food business in Pakistan.
Pro Advice: To Start A Food Business In Pakistan in 1 Lac
Even if you are outsourcing branding, digital marketing, and web development services, it is still important for you to have basic knowledge about the use of these services. This will allow you to troubleshoot the problems yourself instead of calling an expert for help. This saves both time and costs for you. We suggest you polish your logo design, website development, digital marketing, and local SEO skills by enrolling in Cealea’s in-person or online training programs.
Conclusion
This is it! Your dream to start a food business in Pakistan is now a reality. With just 100,000 PKR, you now have your own food business startup. However, if you’re still unsure if you want to start a business, you can consult Get Digital Pakistan for customized and professional help with logo design, website development, digital marketing, and local SEO.
