The only way to do great work is to love what you do…
Food & Facts
Food and Facts- Enterprising Networking Event
Wednesday 4th November 2015 3pm-4pm
Room TBC- Cap at 40 attendees
Street Food is an ever increasing movement; it is eaten by 2.5bn people per day across the world (food and agriculture organisation of the UN). With places in Birmingham like Digbeth Dining Club and local pop up food, bars and events hosted by companies like Taste and Liquor, Birmingham is buzzing with this flavoursome phenomenon.
In this one hour session, you will get the opportunity to learn about the recent experiences of student and graduate start-up businesses Desi-licious bites and Cake Doctor. The founders of both businesses, who have been supported by the BSEEN programme, will be open and honest about the rewards and risks of setting up a mobile catering business alongside studies and other commitments.
Desi-licious bites, founded by Aston Pharmacy student Asma, are freshly prepared, homemade, traditional savouries with a twist.
Cake Doctor founder, James, has combined his love of baking with his passion for vintage vehicles, to create his brand, Cake Doctor. James is the baker of exquisite cakes, desserts and whoopie pies, all lovingly served from a 1979 Ford ambulance.
After the chance to ask the entrepreneurs any questions you may have, you will have the chance to network and try their delicious food!
Agenda
3pm Registration and networking
3.15pm Informal presentations from Asma and James with chance to ask questions
3.35pm Sample food and networking
4.00pm Close
Desi-licious Bites Flyer!
Find us on add to event!
Interview Day!
So interview day arrived and as I’m sure you all can relate, I was so scared! I did some last minute preparations by making the Samosa’s in the morning. (They really do taste best nice and fresh!) After that I went to University where I had to collect a certificate on completion of an extra module. Lucky for me, I’ve passed my driving and don’t have to rely on public transport anymore so I didn’t have to worry about leaving extra, extra early. The module for which I was getting the certificate was the means through which I actually found out about BSEEN.
Where I waited to be called in…
After picking up the certificate from the office, I headed for the interview. I was fifteen minutes early and while its better to be early, I have never had a more tense fifteen minutes in my life. Instead of preparing and practicing for the presentation I was expected to give at the interview, I kept re-reading the details on my certificate because I was so nervous.The interview would be for six minutes; in this time I had to tell them about myself, my business idea and how BSEEN would help me.
Interview Room…After all that wait, I finally got called inside the interview room by Carolyn. After all that daunting talk, I gave them some of the samosas to taste. The samosa’s were in a basket and the judges had liked them (wooo! yaaay me!) but as they never finished them all but wanted to eat the rest they asked me if it was okay to keep the basket. Talk about food lovers! – they finished all the samosas and returned the basket a whole month later!
Acceptance!
After sending the application in a rush, it was easy to forget I had even applied with all the revision stress and exam preparation going on but on the 3rd of June at precisely 2:34pm (Yes I noted down the time! lol), I received an email inviting me to an interview on the 9th of June at 3:30pm in the main building of my University. The email made my day but following on from my initial burst of happiness it dawned on me that this would still be during exam season as my last exam was on the 12th of June in the afternoon.
I didn’t want to give up on such a great opportunity so I replied to the email stating my circumstances and asking to rearrange the interview. Luckily for me this wasn’t an issue. Unfortunately however, the new date was on Friday the 13th of June! I know what you’re thinking….Bad luck! But so far luck has been on my side..so let’s see what happens!
Happy Halloweeeeen!
Taking advantage of seasonal festivities, Emma, my mentor from the studio (www.studiovenues.co.uk) has given me the opportunity to advertise my business at the Halloween party at the Studio. She has also introduced me to REWIRED, her PR company who will be recording the event and will hopefully get desilicious bites some good press coverage on the evening. I am really excited! It is an amazing opportunity to spread the word and give people a flavour of some of desilicious’ specialities. I’m going to be at a stall advertising mouth watering food all dressed up as a halloween devil. What’s not to like? Free food and freaky costumes! It’s a win win idea!
My preparation checklist:
1) Flyers and business cards printed
2) Halloween accessories for myself and Desi-licious character (to be named)
3) Fresh food tasters for the guests
How it all started…
Hiiii guys!
Before I get started let me tell you a bit about myself. My name is Asma Inayat and I’m currently studying Pharmacy (3rd year) at Aston University. Here’s some random stuff about me—->>. My mind has just gone blank but here you go: I was born in Pakistan, did half of my primary school studies in Pakistan and half in Saudia Arabia. I also wanna mention my mum & dad in my first blog so- Child of amazing parents Mr. Inayat and Mrs. Parveen. I have a Saturday job at Lloyds pharmacy. I have a really annoying dust allergy. 😦 And at the moment I have a vimto lollypop in my pocket. My earliest memory is when I was about 4 years old, in Saudi. I was sat on the floor outside our flat drinking orange juice along with my little sister, waiting for mum and dad who had left us two at home and had gone to do some early morning shopping. For some reason, at that time I thought it was much safer to sit outside rather then waiting inside.
Like all great things, my idea for Desi-licious Bites was rather random. It all started with a chance encounter with BSEEN. For those of you who don’t know who they are, BSEEN (Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network) is a student and graduate start-up programme. It is a collaborative initiative between Aston University, Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham. (http://www.b-seen.biz)
As part of an extra curricular module I was undertaking at university one of the tasks was Enterprise & Entrepreneurship associated. For which I attended a grand finale where candidates for BSEEN were pitching for money. I must say each and everyone had great ideas. Just before the presentations started Mike Bandar who was one of the judges approached me. I asked him about the event and whether a Pharmacy student could apply or was only for Business students.
The first thing that came to mind was the samosa training that my mum had me do in the previous summer holidays. Everybody loves a bit of Desi starters and having an appreciation of good food there was no way I was missing a chance to earn some spare cash. Especially when I had first hand experience of how amaaazing my mum’s samosa recipe was.
I’m sure any student with an upcoming exam can relate to the pressure to revise and make the most of every second. Unfortunately for me the application deadline for BSEEN was at a similar time -> (1st of June) to my Pharmacology exam so I didn’t really get the chance to fill out the application to the best of my ability. Regardless of the pressure though, I still had a go. After a good 30 minutes, I had completed the application and sent it off, hoping for the best. Too bad that exams aren’t the same! As soon as that was done I carried on revising there was still so much to do!
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