Wooing customers with a healthy street snack

  • | Saturday | 22nd September, 2018

He then started to sell ‘Kerala red rice sweet’ in Tamabaram but that did not yield the response he had hoped for. "The business has picked up well in the last six months," Basha says.He only sells Kerala red rice sweet at his stall. After trying out multiple failed business ventures, Anwar Basha from Chennai started a unique roadside stall on West Boulevard road in Trichy. His perseverance finally yielded him success as his stall, where he serves a simple, healthy and delicious snack made with red rice, has become a hit among people in just a year.Around 200 people throng his nameless stall on a daily basis to taste the snack, which he calls ‘Kerala Sigappu Arisi (red rice) sweet’. Speaking about how the snack is prepared, Basha says that red rice is soaked in water overnight, cooked in the morning and grated coconut along with white/palm sugar is mixed with it and served.

After trying out multiple failed business ventures, Anwar Basha from Chennai started a unique roadside stall on West Boulevard road in Trichy. His perseverance finally yielded him success as his stall, where he serves a simple, healthy and delicious snack made with red rice, has become a hit among people in just a year.Around 200 people throng his nameless stall on a daily basis to taste the snack, which he calls ‘Kerala Sigappu Arisi (red rice) sweet’. The stall is usually open from 12.30pm to 6pm and is closed on Fridays.Basha, who is fondly called ‘Tambaram Basha’ in the locality, tried many businesses from a fruit shop to a tea stall in Chennai, but he had to close them down as he was incurring losses. He then started to sell ‘Kerala red rice sweet’ in Tamabaram but that did not yield the response he had hoped for. "This is when a relative of mine from Trichy told me that this novel idea could work here and that’s when I shifted a year back," the 35-year-old said.He added that for the first six months, he had put up the stall near Gandhi Market, but since he was asked to shift he has been running it at West Boulevard Road for the last six months. "The business has picked up well in the last six months," Basha says.He only sells Kerala red rice sweet at his stall. Speaking about how the snack is prepared, Basha says that red rice is soaked in water overnight, cooked in the morning and grated coconut along with white/palm sugar is mixed with it and served. "Since only my wife Fathima and I take care of the preparation, we make sure that hygiene is maintained and the quality is of the highest standard," Basha adds.One plate of the sweet with white sugar costs Rs10 and with palm sugar costs Rs15, he said.Basha said that it is the health factor which proved to be a huge plus for regular customers. "People now are really health conscious. Since they know that consumption of red rice helps in digestion and reducing the risk of heart diseases, more people come with families to my stall," he said.Basha says that being able to afford good education for his 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter is the biggest profit for him from this business.

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