The Hive: The new restaurant sensation in town
The term food court has become synonymous with the food culture in Dhaka City. From open places to closed corridors, many have tried and very few have succeeded to survive. With the ever-growing fascination and demands of the young city dwellers, restauranteurs are always on their toes to keep their patrons engaged with their hospitality, quirky marketing strategy and succulent food!
The Hive is one such venture, even though at its infancy, aims to hit bullseyes in all of those targets. It plans to integrate and introduce a Boutique Food Hall culture while catering to six different franchises under its umbrella; Hungry Rooster, House of Tehari, Pimentos, Asian Express, Sugar Rush Bakery and Punjab Kitchen.
Situated on a quiet road in a not so quiet area, The Hive plans to open its doors to young adults and office goers in Banani. When asked about the name of the venture, Fareeha Chowdhury, the brains behind the House of Tehari and Sugar Rush Bakery says, "We all gave it a lot of thought, we wanted something that will create a hype while representing our voice. A hive consists of hexagon structures, the six sides represent six of the restaurants."
Adding to Fareeha's point, Shahmat Ali, the co-owner of Hungry Rooster and Pimentos stated, while laughing, that the main players want to attract the busy bees of the city with their six homegrown honey jars. "We have been nurturing our brands for quite some time now. They amassed a good following during the lockdowns. Since things are getting back to normal, we believe that our ventures and our patrons are ready for the dine-in experience," he added.
Being at the heart of bistros and eateries, The Hive and its players are carrying out their R&D to iron out any and all chinks in their culinary armour. Ariq Mansur, another founder of Hungry Rooster and Pimentos believes that trial and error will pave the way to the future. "Being able to talk among ourselves and having the same entrepreneurial frequency is our edge. If one aspect of the services, which we provide, is not pulling the numbers we anticipated, we can always go back to the drawing board and approach it differently and, if need be, we will implement those changes to our brands as well," interposed the restauranteur.
When the question was raised about the preference between taste and health, Asian Express and Punjab Kitchen's Kazi M Ahmed doubled down on the idea of Bangladeshis are inherently drawn to food that possesses the extra zest and flavour. He says, "in plain words, whichever dish or dishes appeases the palate of people like you and I will gain more popularity."
Speaking of popularity, the founders of The Hive believe that in the post-pandemic era food vlogging has become one of many faces of marketing. Shams Adnan, one of the co-owners of Asian Express and Punjab Kitchen, adds, "It's kind of a double edge sword, on one end you have genuine content creators who hold the expertise or the integrity to review products and on the other end there are those who would post anything and everything for the sake of views. The pros and cons always persist in this regard."
However, another stakeholder of Punjab Kitchen and Asian Express, Faiyaaz Hasan interjected by stating, " food vlogging, sharing your thoughts or review online for your followers or your platforms is here to stay. It allows us to learn more about our products and our brands. We are open to ideas that go with our vision."
After much laughter and painting out their vision, the head honchos of the boutique food hall concluded the day by expressing their plan to expand and evolve their venture nationwide in the near future and they hope that their followers will be with them at every step.
They will stay open till midnight on the weekdays, 2 am on the weekends. And on the month of Ramadan, they will serve till 3 am!