“There are so many new challenges to navigate and understand but this is what I’ve always wanted,” the owner of Curry Me told The Northern Times, shortly after opening a physical restaurant in Groningen based on his Indian homemade food delivery service.
Starting his business from his home kitchen, owner Fahd Rayees recently opened his restaurant which offers take-away and dine-in options. Rayees was studying in Groningen when his mum came to visit from India. “You know, the food here is really pricey and not worth it,” she said. Rayees agreed and immediately started working on Curry Me.
Curry Me started when Rayees moved to Groningen to pursue a master’s in small business and entrepreneurship. when he found a place his mom came over to help him settle in. “It didn’t take long for her to reach the same disappointing conclusion I had:
Now that Curry Me has shifted from a home kitchen to a proper physical outlet a lot has changed, but not necessarily from a customer perspective.
“The menus are roughly the same albeit with a limited number of options. The idea is that we would rather serve fewer items of a higher quality than roll out the entire menu and not be able to maintain the quality,” Rayees said. Once he gets the hang of things the menu will start to grow.
Rayees says that the feedback from customers has been very encouraging.
“My days are extremely long but it’s very enjoyable to see people enjoying the food and validating my work,” Rayees said. Luckily he’s not doing it all on his own and can count on the support of his business partner Joeri.
Owning a physical outlet has always been Rayees’ goal.
“In 2017, my family and I had the opportunity to start a restaurant in Oman. It did not work out then and I had the fire in my belly to start my restaurant,” he said when he worked with Zomato, a discovery platform for restaurants in India, that was his most immediate route into the industry together with his bachelor’s in Management Sciences.
When starting Curry Me, Rayees wanted to make food affordable and accessible.
“My personal belief is that you don’t have to pay well to eat well,” he said.
However, he also knew that a restaurant needs big investments, something he’s been aware of from the start and planned for accordingly. “I was constantly working towards what would be the next steps from my home kitchen and I had identified a few routes, namely a food truck, a spot at the market or an outlet. We’ve been working towards getting to an outlet for the last year and a half or so.”
The physical outlet has already opened and Curry Me has soft-launched on their Instagram and WhatsApp group, but they’re also planning on doing an official launch.
“We are taking things slowly so far since this is a new experience for us. We are going one step at a time to make sure we don’t get too overwhelmed, and also, because we want to make sure what we’re doing is right,” Rayees said.
If you want to stay updated on new developments regarding Curry Me, you can follow them on Instagram or join the WhatsApp group.
The Northern Times had spoken to Rayees earlier this year to learn more about how Curry Me first started.
