THE LIFE OF A LUNCHBOX
CATERER

Got myself into the lunchbox catering business with a friend recently. It all started with a friend posting on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in a new business venture. Since the workshop business was kind of slow, I got in touch with him and we discussed it for some time. A few names were bandied around before us settling on the name Hot Chicks and pasta, which described our business to a T. 

Finally, we did a food tasting session on 1st November this year, which, coincidentally, was my sister's birthday, and the anniversary of my dad's passing! The two of them are real foodies, and on such an auspicious date, how can anything go wrong?!

The food tasting session was an unprecedented success. With four flavours confirmed for the initial menu, we even did the photoshoot for the menu on the same day!

So once we got the costings right and the menu confirmed, we started taking orders and the first eight packs were sent out on 25th November.

So, what is the life of a lunch pack caterer like? Well, it all begins two days prior to delivery, with the search for the freshest halal slaughtered chicken. All the chicken that we use are slaughtered on the same day that we buy and has to be between 1.5 to 1.7kg in weight. This is to ensure that the chicken remains fresh and it will fit into our compartmentalized boxes.

The chicken is then brought back to be cleaned and quartered. My pet peeve when eating chicken from any shop is that there are coagulated blood in the inside of the chicken, something that I thoroughly remove during the cleaning process. Any feathers that escaped the cleaning process at the slaughterers are also removed at this point.

All the marinade is made fresh, with the freshest ingredients and the cleaned chicken will be soaked in the marinade in almost airtight sealed bags in the fridge for two days. This is to ensure that the chicken absorbs all the flavours before being grilled, to bet the best tasting chicken.

Depending on the size of the day's orders, waking up at 5am in the morning to start preparing for the day is not unusual. The carrots and broccoli needs to be cleaned and chopped to manageable sizes, the penne needs to be boiled and the chickens need to be roasted, depending on the quantity, for up to two hours at a go. All the equipment and ingredients used are free of porcine contaminants, to aplease local sensitivities.   

When all the cooking's done, it's time to pack everything and head to our central kitchen. This is where we heat the chicken again and pack them according to the orders and delivery locations. 

By eleven am, all the orders would be ready for delivery, waiting for the runners, who would then deliver the food to the respective customers. If time permits, we actually do deliveries on our own too. The cycle continues, with me going to the chicken shop, looking for the freshest chicken to marinade for the coming orders.

This job can be tiring, but if you really like to cook, this is a pretty rewarding one. So next time you order a Hot Chicks Chicken meal, you will know all the work and the freshest ingredients that makes the meal a great one!