By Kamran Hashim
KARACHI: Abdul Wali Khan’s journey from print media to restaurateur has been an interesting one but this journey was full of bumps too. Abdul Wali Khan was speaking with team BizToday at his restaurant that he had launched two years ago by name of ‘4 Seasons Food’ in Karachi’s sub-urban area Landhi which is called as home to some of the most diversified food lovers residing the city of lights.
After completing his masters in International Relations from Karachi University, Abdul wali Khan joined Pakistan’s leading urdu newspaper Jang as a sub editor and from their moved to its sisters concern ‘Akhbar-e-Jahan’ as feature writer. From there he moved to ‘Jahan-e-Pakistan’ as Business & IT reporter and finally to ‘Daily Jinnah’ as feature writer.
One the early challenges that he had to face was to develop the market for this edible items like pizza, burgers, sandwiches etc which had original/authentic taste to them. According to Abdul Wali Khan; “crowd here wants to eat everything as per their taste and as per their required quantity which should be as much as possible. They wouldn’t mind much if that edible item is far from its original/authentic taste”. He also pointed out the fact that; “masses here also isn’t keen on paying more for quality and would prefer to opt for lower priced items rather than opting for pricey items with quality”.
Replying to a question about his venturing into this very versatile of field of being a restaurateur from a senior print media person, Abdul Wali Khan said; “I have been fond of cooking since very early age, but couldn’t get much chance to cook. At the back of my mind I always wanted to be a restaurateur and when opportunity knocked on I availed it. We started off with a focus on delivery and take away and then later on we shifted towards dine-in also for which we have a very limited space. For me cooking is more is like manipulating meats pieces, spices, herbs and veggies into presentable / acceptable form”.
Abdul Wali Khan said; “currently due to limitation on space we are focusing on deliveries and takeaways mostly. We have sufficient staff for deliveries within our locality, but after positive word of mouth from satisfied customers we were forced to look for options beyond our locality. Eventually we succeeded in roping in FoodPanda. We are first eatery in Landhi on FoodPanada’s list. We are also talking with Eat Mubarak and pretty soon they will also be delivering our foodies through the city”.
When asked about standards that are being followed at his restaurant ‘4 Seasons Food’, Abdul Wali Khan said; “I started this restaurant ‘4 Seasons Food’ around 2 years ago and from beginning till now we try our best to follow best possible standards set in the industry and not to compromise on quality of food items. We procure meat from K&N and we do not add anything on meat patty, all are food items are cooked on olive oil and with light spices and herbs. Pizza dough and breads are procured from Bake Parlour, cheese from Deens and spices & herbs from best available source in Bolton Market. We do all the cooking ourselves, I have personally done cooking course specializing in Pizza from one of the top restaurant consultant in Pakistan”.
On being asked about some of top-sellers of his restaurant ‘4 Seasons Food’ Abdul Wali Khan said; “our beef burger is named as Beef Zenger Burger is a must try for beef lovers, it has a crunchy beef patty which will be loved by beef lovers as well as zinger burger lovers. We have developed a secret recipe for our pizzas. Currently we as per public demand we prepare pizzas mostly with pan-crust, we can also do thin-crust. All of our pizzas are prepared in olive oil. We prepare four different sizes of pizzas from student sized to mini, regular and large sized ones. Our pizza fries are also very popular among all ages”
On wraps which are popularly known here as rolls he said; “we have vast variety of wraps/rolls prepared with best available sauces made out of chicken, beef, fish and veggies. Our veggie roll is also a big hit here, this veggie roll which is prepared with mild sauces and seven different vegetables which are mushroom, olive, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, onions and iceberg. Rolls range from veggie roll at Rs 35 to our Fishy Roll which will cost you Rs 135. This means that we have something for every roll lover. We also have variety of sandwiches which are styled in two different way, one being the conventional way other being subway styled sandwiches. We also plan to launch pasta soon”.
On concluding note Abdul Wali Khan was optimistic about his eatery ‘4 Seasons Foods’ and said; “please do visit us for best pizzas, as we proudly say that we at ‘4 Seasons Foods’ serve best pizza in Landhi area. Our burgers and sandwiches are also of best quality and taste”.
