Introduction:

Catering is a booming industry in Bangladesh and the ever so rising demand for food and more importantly differentiated food makes this industry more lucrative than before. For young entrepreneurs a thorough study can show the potential of the industry, the to-dos, how to compete and succeed in the market, to facilitate the market, and to contribute to national revenue etc. A study of the market players can give a better idea as to which aspects have not yet been tapped by competitors and if exploited can prove profitable. This industry also have the potential of leaving impacts globally, but what’s needed is creation of need for Bangladeshi food through proper management of the businesses and remarkable communication and branding worldwide. The reason for choosing catering industry is that although capable but it’s an industry that’s largely ignored or less frequently studied or given attention to.

Rationale behind choosing Fakruddin:

As we are working on catering services and the industry in general it’s imperative to understand the roles, strategies, operations and success factors of the key drivers of the market, Fakruddin being one such. An in-depth study of Fakruddin, encompassing its current position, marketing activities, background, motivation and future prospects and plans would give a clearer picture of the industry and sustainability mantra to anyone having interest in engaging in the said industry.

Brief History:

Fakruddin was ushered by Late Haji Md Fakruddin in the 60s and it started off its journey as tiffin(snack) supplier at the canteen of Viqurunnisa noon school. The story goes on as Haji Fakruddin Munshi who received apprenticeship from Muslim Miah, an aspiring chef who cooked for Nawabs of Murshidabad. In the Nawab’s kitchen young Fakruddin exhibited his natural flair for cooking and quickly mastered the age old method in Dumm cooking and other savory favorites. However, Fakruddin always had the heart for the people of his country and came back to Bangladesh to make them taste the unique, authentic delicacies he mastered from his mentor. What started off as a small favour from Principal Hamida Ali to the founder Late Fakruddin as an opportunity to make some extra earning, after his duty as a guard, turned into a full-fledged business and a success story for all to follow.

Fakruddin mastered the art of cooking to perfection. The proof could be found even in his simple snack items like Shingara, Chicken Roll, Patties etc. On a private occasion Principal Hamida Ali requested him to cook for 10-15 people and from then onwards he did not have to look back. He amazed everyone with his unique cooking style and his signature dish Kacchi Biryani and was appreciated by all. From that day, whenever there’s a private event of someone closely connected to Hamida Ali, they would request Mr.Fakruddin to grace the occasion with his savory and Mughal delicacies. As the words spread and demand increased, on suggestion of his valued clients Mr. Fakruddin started an official catering service in a small scale, taking orders for events, and supplying the orders at the location. Even now, the company shows its gratitude towards Mrs. Hamida Ali for her immense support in fostering the business from scratch. On seeing potential of this venture she offered Fakruddin about 200sq feet area for free on her school premises which served as the kitchen for preparing the orders. This proved to be a major head start and launching pad for Fakruddin because one of its major challenges was to find a suitable location and space for a rather new business. As of now their main cooking for catering takes place at that premises of Viquarunnisa in Baily Road, just that as the business grew the size of the kitchen increased too. Gradually, from the profit earned the business bolstered and has transformed into a globally recognized company FAKRUDDIN. To meet the ever increasing demand of Fakruddin, they have diversified themselves to restaurant and bakery businesses with several outlets all around Dhaka city.

Decision Criteria and Assumptions:

Fakruddin is one of the oldest, strongest and most versatile players of the industry and it’s aspiring to know about a company who has been successful throughout its 50 years journey by filling stomachs of millions with plain Mughal dishes. However

the success mantra lies in introducing the authentic taste of Mughal Dishes to the taste buds of savvy food lovers. This company also has potential to bag in wide scale global appreciation and recognition as they have already ventured in countries like Malaysia, England, and Singapore etc.

This case will prove handy to young entrepreneurs as well as any other business or individuals who want to succeed in the market and engage themselves in this industry as it tells story of a business that stood against time, competition and other hurdles through excellent business strategies and is growing bigger, better and glocal, bagging in a new accomplishment every passing day.

Target Market Identification and market need of Fakruddin:

Back in the 60’s Mr. Fakruddin felt the necessity to start a catering service to meet the need of consumers as there were very few caterers then who could cook authentic Mughal/ traditional Indian food with the original recipe intact. Because he’s the first to introduce ‘Shahi Mughal Style dishes and his flavors stood out from the rest, he could easily position himself at the top of consumer minds and never faced any strong competition. As of now they have not divulged their secret recipes and hence managed to capture a strong foothold in the industry since nobody can replicate the style, aroma, or the cooking technique of these authentic Mughal dishes, the knowledge of which was acquired from the place of its origination, and from the veteran of the said dishes. From small private occasions to corporate events Fakruddin is catering to a wide array of clients who are loyal to Fakruddin and love its offerings. Fakruddin has become a status symbol for the high class and an affordable, superior quality, food serving eatery for the upper middle and middle class people. Fakruddin takes pride in acknowledging how they are effectively serving all classes of consumers with the same offerings without altering price or compromising with quality. The Admin and Finance Manager Mr. Nazir Hossain Tipu attributed this achievement to effective pricing, quality consistency, differentiated authentic taste and customer advocacy. Mr. Tipu says ‘We are what our customers say and demand, our customers speak for us, and it’s for them and their understanding about good, authentic food that we exist. They realized why we are different and valued it. Fakruddin didn’t become Fakruddin overnight, it required hardwork, patience, consistency, and customer focus which added to brand equity and accentuated our brand value.’

Currently Fakruddin caters to corporate houses like BATB, Rupayan, ACI, TIB etc. British High Commission, BICC, Army GOLF CLUB, Baridhara DOHS Parishad, Shenakunja etc. are amongst few others from which Fakruddin took tenders and entered into contracts to serve at events taking place in the named places. Fakruddin proudly claims that amongst other enlisted caterers in BICC, 70% of programs are catered by Fakruddin because of the wide range of item options they

offer and their brand name and value that can be accredited to their untouched reputation of superior quality, authentic dishes unlike their competitors who customize these Mughal dishes thereby altering the real flavors to great extent.

Case Analysis:

The interviews and researches show that one of the few key success factors of Fakruddin are:

i) First mover- Fakruddin introduced authentic Mughal dishes for the first time before any of its competitors and strictly maintained its core competency and through effective quality consistency they placed themselves at the top of consumer mind. As a result Fakruddin comes as the first option amongst those who tried their dishes at least once as they believe Fakruddin is the best.

ii) Brand Value and unique proposition- Fakruddin ensured never to compromise with taste or quality thereby assuring undented reputation and since it has been in business for more time than any of its closest rivals; it gets advantage of an experienced established brand.

iii) Efficient logistics, ease of ordering and prompt delivery, contractual vendors and suppliers enabling greater pressure handling and short notice orders

iv) Offering a wide range of items for both corporate and private events- Fakruddin believes in non-monotonous food habit for which they regularly update their menu especially the dessert items in-line with customer demand and current trend in Bangladesh. However that does not mean they deviate from their core value of offering only traditional, commonly demanded food items because they believe being traditional gives them their competitive edge. For example instead conventional firni,jorda, fakruddin currently offers a variety of sweets like ChomChom, Dudher Chana, Shahi Tukra, Sponge balls, Pudding etc. which all are mostly indian/Mughal style desserts that many of its competitors don’t offer. Again one might ask for Mutton Korma or Rezala but Fakruddin would not entertain order for mutton stew which is a non-mughal dish.

v) Wide customer base and loyal clients who act as advocates- the customer reach expanded over years and because it provided delightment to their clients, they now act as promoters of the brand and suggest to others.

Operations and Marketing:

Fakruddin’s legacy is currently upheld by Haji Md. Rafique (MD Fakruddin) who is the eldest grandson of founder Haji Md. Fakruddin. It has several outlets in Dhaka,

London, Sydney, Malaysia which are mainly restaurants offering signature menus of Fakruddin and also order and delivery points for the catering business. Orders can be placed over phone and delivered to location by their in-house transport system. Most of the cooking materials are purchased from Hazaribagh and from vendors in contract. Few key ingredients like GHEE, SOUR CURD, Pickles and Mixed Spices are made in-house using special secret techniques to stand out in terms of taste, flavor and be distinct. Previously online orders were taken too but the system was terminated due to unavailability of and difficulty in processing online payments in Bangladesh. They have chefs who have been with Fakruddin for more than 25 years and receive regular training to remain updated with dishes in trend.

Most of their marketing and promotions are conducted by the delighted customers but that doesn’t stop them from marking their footprints in social media, print media etc. Fakruddin has a Facebook fan page where it regularly updates its new additions in the menu, promotions, offers, discounts etc. and reply to queries. It also maintains a Youtube Channel that has videos of few of its recipes and important events and activities it participates in. Fakruddin also attends various local and foreign food festivals, trade shows in India(Delhi), Malaysia, London, Jordan etc and receive immense appreciation. In this way they not only strengthen their network but also make foreigners taste the mouth-watering Mughal dishes that Fakruddin specialized in and receive requests to cook in international events too. Fakruddin envisions starting a new show in a Bangladeshi TV Channel where recipes of only Fakruddin’s signature dishes will be shared. Since Fakruddin is highly customer centric they often offer package deals to their corporate clients, and other promotional discounts like GP STAR offers, priority customer privileges, EID/Puja festivity discounts to their valued clients.

Fakruddin’s Long term vision-

Fakruddin dreams to cater to need of Kacchi Biryani and other Mughal dishes worldwide both by Bangladeshis residing abroad and foreigners who grow fond of Fakruddin’s taste once tried. According to the Admin and Finance manager Tipu, Fakruddin has huge market in nations where Bangladeshi Community prevails who long to have Deshi dishes like biryani, polao, roast, rejala etc. even when they are away from home. To tap that opportunity Fakruddin already started few outlets in

certain countries and to their amusement they were welcomed with warm hearts and are generating fair profit. These restaurants also are used for dual purpose: eatery and order station for the catering service.

More than anything Mr. Rafique envisages to convey the world what we Bangladeshis are capable of and delight foreigners with his food so much so that they never forget the flavor and keep longing for more. Fakruddin would become a representative of Bangladesh making us all proud rendering positive image for Bangladesh globally. Consequently Mr. Rafique was approached by Prince of Jordan to cook for his daughter’s wedding ceremony followed by countless pleas to open outlets in Jordan, as they claim to have tasted Mughal dishes like never before and expressed their surprise at the potential Bangladesh possess. Mr. Tipu shared ‘ We receive many phone calls from abroad and outside Dhaka to open outlets there as they don’t want to miss out on the savory delicacies of Fakruddin; satisfied clients posts reviews on our page and inbox us telling about their experience with Fakruddin. It’s our vision to open outlets in major cities like Chittagong, Sylhet, Bogura etc.within Bangladesh and we are planning on entering market in UK and New York( Jackson Heights) soon where huge chunk of NRBs reside’

Conclusion:

Mr Rafique takes pride in sharing his belief that their catering services are comparable to foreign caterers as they maintain standard, quality, timeliness, commitment and keep customers at the core of their focus which aspire him to enter foreign markets as well. He believes perfection cannot be attained without learning from others what one lacks and that’s how he improved his logistics support, supply chain management and online services when he went on to visit various nations just to observe how their catering services efficiently perform. He is not ashamed to share that there are more ways he can improve his operations and marketing to give it global recognition and make it a world class catering business and he’s adapting gradually. However with a heavy heart he conveyed that due to inefficiency and unavailability of online payment option in Bangladesh, he had to curtail that service for those clients who order and pay from abroad using cards for an event taking place in Bangladesh. This undoubtedly impedes the growth of business and disappoints those who want to order online but they are working on it to find an alternative solution for online payment.

Learning outcome from the case:

This case tries to address the following questions:

1. What would be the key business success factors of Fakhruddin biriyani?2. What are your core business strategies to operate in market and to ensure

sustainability?3. How do you plan to tackle your competitions, challenges, and what future

business opportunities are you seeking to undertake? What is the prospect of your business and this industry in general?

4. What motivated the founder to start the catering business?5. What were the challenges, strengths, opportunities and threats?(SWOT

analysis)

APPENDIX:

Personal interview of

Md. Nazir Hossain TipuManager, Admin & FinanceFakruddin CateringHouse # 54/A | Road # 133 | South Gulshan-1 | Dhaka-1212Telephone # 88 02 9861521 | Mobile # 01744-993311Email:  info@fakruddin.com | fakruddin@dhaka.net 

Links used:

http://www.fakruddin.com http://www.fakruddin.com.sg http://www.fakruddin.co.uk   http://www.fakruddinfoodsme.com   https://www.facebook.com/FakruddinBiryaniBDhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJpfLDmNQ64ZRTfAVhEj5Fw