Bangladesh’s wedding food business: From basic meat-rice menu to Tk20,000cr industry
The wedding food landscape in Bangladesh has transformed from basic menus prepared by local baburchis to lavish, multi-cuisine offerings provided by high-end catering companies, reflecting a significant shift in trends
If you grew up in a Bangladeshi village in the '80s and '90s, you likely remember the typical menu for a Muslim wedding. The wedding feast was usually divided into two menus: one for the host community and a special menu for the guests.
For example, when the groom's family arrived at the bride's home on the wedding day, they were served polao, chicken roast, egg bhuna, and beef. Meanwhile, the hosts, or the bride's family, ate white rice, yellow lentils or mung beans, and beef curry. In Noakhali and the surrounding regions, it was called 'Chion Khana', or the special food.
Hindu weddings featured one or two fish and vegetable dishes, and instead of beef, they served mutton. For dessert, everyone was given sweetened curd and the sweets brought by the groom.
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The food was prepared by the local baburchi (chef) and the community members, with no convention halls, community centres, or catering companies involved.
"Not everyone could afford to serve polao and roast to all guests. People simply didn't have that kind of money. Moreover, if you weren't part of the Nawab family, there weren't many varieties of food back then," said Ibrahim Miah, owner of Yousuf Decorators in Malibagh.
However, the landscape has changed over the past few decades. Now, not only do we have various Mughlai dishes on wedding tables, but multiple cuisines are also available on a catering company's menu.
Up until the last decade, decorator companies provided everything for weddings and other events, especially in urban areas. They supplied everything from chairs, tables, and cutlery to light decorations and even chefs to cook. Now, the wedding industry has grown significantly, and decoration and catering have become two separate industries.
People no longer have the time to search for a local chef and make a list of dishes and groceries. All they want is a service where everything will be brought ready to serve.
"The catering industry is now a Tk20,000 crore a year industry according to our calculations," said B M Jahid Hossain Maruf, the founder and managing director of Premier Catering. "It's not just weddings; people now call catering companies for office parties, birthdays, and khatnah [circumcision] ceremonies. Even convention halls deal with catering companies now."
Let us try a crude calculation. On a certain Friday, if 100 convention halls in Dhaka host wedding programs and the average food bill is Tk4 lakh per event, that totals Tk4 crore in a single day. With 52 Fridays and 52 Saturdays in a year, this amounts to Tk416 crore annually from these 100 convention halls alone.
"During winter, there are weddings and other events nearly every day. Holidays and Eid vacations are also popular times for arranging weddings. When you consider this and include all the catering companies and convention halls across the country, the catering industry has become a significant revenue generator," Maruf explained.
From polao to kacchi and jurdah to baklava
Maruf noted that modernisation of the Bangladeshi wedding food menu is relatively new, with most changes having occurred in the last 20 years.
"With the basic polao, roast, beef, egg, jurdah menu in the '90s, Bangla-Chinese food also made an entry in the wedding menu. However, it had a niche client base in urban Dhaka. Because Thai soup, Chinese vegetables and wonton wasn't something the traditional Bangladeshi taste buds were ready for," Ibrahim Miah said.
It was in the first decade of 2000 when tikiya kabab and burhani became popular. Biriyani was there, but not everyone accepted it. It was in the last decade when 'biyebarir kacchi' became a thing.
Even the rice grain for cooking kacchi has also seen a change — from chinigura to basmati. And for the past few years, it is not just the kacchi biryani main course, or the rice item; people now prefer naan and chicken tandoori or jhal fry and raita as starters.
Nowadays, people set menus according to their social status. It is more of a status statement than feeding the guests. Some want to feed, while others want to show what they are serving. These people choose a big menu that has all kinds of items.
Back in the '80s, sweetened curd and roshogolla were the only kinds of desserts. In the '90s, jurdah, or orange sweet rice, was added to the menu. Later, in the first decade of 2000, firni, payesh, etc., became popular.
Now, the dessert section has shahi tukra, baklava, malai bunda, gulab jamun, etc., from different cuisines. In the last 20 years, taste buds have changed, people's living standards have improved, and so has their buying capacity. Due to media and exposure to international experiences, especially Indian food through movies and dramas, people want to include variety in the menu.
From your local baburchi to catering industry
The traditional local baburchi or chef who would come with his team and start cooking on the previous night of the wedding is not seen in any urban weddings these days.
But two decades ago, people were dependent on local baburchi or chefs for any occasion — be it a wedding, naming ceremony, or birthday. The four or five items that a baburchi could cook, he would make a menu card with them.
Now, it has become a proper catering industry with a corporate culture. "If you go to a catering company, they will present cuisines — from Mughal, Chinese, and Indian — there is no end to the criteria. As per your requirements, they can arrange every menu you desire. You pay the bills and name the item — hilsa, pomfret, lobster, prawn — anything is possible," said Maruf
"People, even the convention centres, prefer hiring a catering company with an office, a reputation and experience. They have the proper papers, quotations and service quality. To extend the market and business, the catering companies also want to bring variation to their menu. They are now suggesting the clients add new items," Maruf added.
According to Maruf and Ibrahim, there are currently more than 50 well-established and reputed catering service companies in Dhaka. Some even get 200-300 projects annually.
Premier Catering gets 150 big projects a year. The ones who have a ready catering kitchen get orders 24/7 for small gatherings like Akdhs.
Although it is a growing industry now, banks have yet to provide loans to catering businesses. "We are paying 15% service tax on every project that we get, but the banks do not want to give us loans," Maruf said.
