The day and life of a Channa shop

Today we will introduce the story of a man who runs a channa restaurant who we met in Dera Isamil Khan.

His name is Shaukat Ali ***. For about 20 years in a market located in the center of Dera Ismail Khan, Shaukat has been selling dishes using beans called channa.

Channa dishes are cheap, spicy and high in nutrition and are popular among the locals. At Shaukat’s restaurant, the onion yogurt and spice are poured on to channa and rice in front of the customers and it looks really delicious!!

Actually, Shaukat was affected by the great flood in 2010 and his crops that he was growing in a small farmland were damaged.

“It is very difficult to go back to the lifestyle before the flood, but I believe if we continue to work hard, things will be back to normal again.” says Shaukat.

Shaukat is very busy serving customers, washing dishes and preparing the food from 7am in the morning when his shop opens to 4pm when he closes.

He has a wide range of customers including shop employees, families, and government employees, but most of them are students.

120 plates of 20-yen channa plates are served every day, which comes to 2,400 rupees (approximately 2304 yen) in sales.

After the shop closes, Shaukat buys ingredients (channa, rice, tomatoes, onions, yogurt, lemon, spices) for the next day on the way home, which cost 1,900 to 2,000 rupees (approx. 1824 to 1920 yen) per day, so after this is deducted from the sales, his day’s income is about 450 rupees (approx. 432 yen).

Shaukat lives together with his mother, wife, and 6 children in a small house. After he gets home, Shaukat prepares for the next day, which takes about 3 hours, but his family all help him, so Shaukat says he enjoys his job.