Chomok brings fresh tastes in Chattogram

When most businesses across the country remained closed since 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, two students' fast food startup "Chomok" expanded exponentially in Chattogram as they offered novel tastes in their food items.

Mehedi Hasan and Ali Newaz started their business with a capital of only Tk7,000, and their current capital is around Tk50 lakh.

Chomok's journey started on 27 October 2017 with the online sale of pizza and burgers made in the kitchen of Mehedi's mother.

"We sold fast food worth Tk1.72 lakh in the first month," Mehedi tells The Business Standard.

Inspired by their initial success, the young entrepreneurs expanded their business in February 2018 and turned it into a cloud kitchen – with no physical space for dine-in. Later in November, they also launched an outlet. However, that outlet was not as profitable as they had expected.

The duo closed it down after a couple of months, but continued selling pizzas online.

Then, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 appeared to be the biggest turning point for them. Their sales online increased several folds thanks to the reputation they had built for their delicacies.

Mehedi and Newaz then launched Chomok Burger and Pizza House in the Lalkhan Bazar area of the port city.

Mehedi is not a trained chef. He developed recipes for pizzas and burgers by experimenting on his own at home. He focused on the quality from the beginning while creating unique recipes. As a result, the taste and quality of Chomok's food has won the hearts of the people of the port city in a very short time. They are now going to open a new outlet in the Bashundhara residential area in ​​Dhaka this November.

"I used to go to different burger and snack joints and tasted different types of foods when I was a student. That's where the hobby of making burgers comes from," he said.

The young entrepreneur said they strictly control the quality of their pizzas and burgers. They first started making classic hand-stretched crust pizza in a live kitchen in Chattogram. Recently they have also started using their own brioche buns for burgers.

Chomok currently offers 14 types of burgers and 13 types of pizzas. Their prices range from Tk99 to Tk1,049.

Chick Supremo is one of their most popular burgers. It is made with chicken marinated for 8-10 hours. The combination of mustard mayonnaise and BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and beef bacon have made the taste of this burger unmatched.

In addition to that, their Beef Joe, Chorizo ​​Beef, King of Birds, PB & J, and BBQ with Cheese burgers are at the top of popularity. The prices of these burgers range from Tk210 to Tk399.

Chomok's Special pizzas are also very popular. The price of a regular size pizza starts from Tk289 and goes up to Tk1,049.

Chomok's Meatlovers, Americano Cheese Burst, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Favorite Fiesta, and Pizza Meatballs are at the top of the customers' choice.

"The path was much more challenging due to a lack of previous business experience. But, I did not give up and that is why I was able to turn around even after failing initially," Mehedi said.