Food Writer, Masalamommas
By Salima Jivraj @halal_foodie
Owner of Daddy’s Ribs, Fatema Memon, balances work and family life running her new and growing home based catering company which specializes in ready-to-cook Miami style-cut beef ribs. Fatema’s parents are from a village called Andleshwar. After moving from India to England, Fatema was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. With 14 month old baby boy in tow, Ms. Memon sits to discuss with us her trials and tribulations of becoming an entrepreneur in the catering industry. Here’s our interview.
What was meal time like in your home growing up?
Meal time has always been a serious event. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were always a big deal. More so if everyone was home together. Weekdays, my mom worked nights which was difficult but always made sure a freshly prepared meal was ready waiting to be heated. No matter who was home, we would sit at the table to eat together. We’re also known as a barbeque/grilling family. My dad is famous for his summer-time weekend get-togethers where our family would swoon over the barbeque to get first dibs. We always had a ton of food, but no one wanted to take any chances!
What inspired you to start your own business?
Once my son was born I knew I wanted to stay home full-time. I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving him. I know many women do it and I applaud them because it takes a toll on you mentally and physically, something I didn’t want to put myself through. Unfortunately, we’re not in a situation where I could just drop everything and take care of him – we needed a second income. Lots of ideas flew into my head for several months thinking – what could I possibly do? My big “ah-HA!” moment came over the summer when my dad would make ribs for home barbeques, word spread to my husband’s friends and they were requesting that I bring the same ribs to their barbeques. Then people I didn’t even know got my number and offered to pay for the ribs for their functions. My dad couldn’t commit to making it for anyone else since he works full time himself, so I requested the recipe from my dad and started to make them from home to sell.
Do you plan to expand your product line?
Yes, absolutely! I want to do a whole summer barbeque menu: sheesh kebab, chicken wings, burgers, whole tandoori chicken and chicken legs – even barbeque platters for larger events which seems to be where the demand is at the moment.
As a mom, what are some challenges you face trying to balance family life with a home based business?
Making ribs I need the whole kitchen, marinating them, weighing them and then packaging them; it’s a big process. It’s difficult to make them while my little one is with me. He wants my attention all the time especially now that he is walking. I have to wait until he’s sleeping before I can even start preparing for an order, which means late nights! I’m usually not in bed until after midnight which actually works out because the ribs get the night to marinate in the refrigerator before pick up. I also get lots of help from my husband. He comes home from work after a twelve to fourteen hour shift with the ribs fresh from the butcher. We eat dinner as a family, put my son to bed and then we start. I love working in the kitchen with him because it’s our quality time and it’s productive, so it’s rewarding – and the biggest pay-off is that I get to stay home with my son.
You’re definitely an inspiration to many South Asian moms, what advice can you give to others who want to venture into the food/catering industry?
You need a lot of time and patience – especially in the food industry where it’s very competitive and long hours are the norm. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Try out different dishes – go outside of your comfort zone. I’ve had lots of situations where I’ve made food for a group of people and it didn’t turn out the way I intended. My family and friends had to put up with my experiments but they are always my number one critics so I have to be open to criticism. That was hard for me. But at the end of the day when you make something and you see other people enjoying the dish, all the hard work just pays off in that single moment and is a priceless feeling. The biggest advice I can give is make sure your product can speak for itself because as a busy mom, there’s not as much time for marketing. I rely heavily on word-of-mouth.
Follow Fatema Memon & Daddy’s Ribs on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/daddysribs/ or on Twitter @Daddysribshalal
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