Thursday, August 17, 2006

Pizza with Farook

Farook called today, Wednesday, around 3:30 p.m. and said he wanted me to go with him to look at a pizza place. The new pizza place is located in The Greens. It is called Hurrah Pizza, and the owner, Bahram, is hoping the restaurant will grow into a large chain.

I told Farook I’d go with him on Saturday, since I was supposed to help Phillip this evening (though I hadn’t told Phillip when). Farook said, ‘OK.’ Half an hour later, he said, ‘I’m coming. Please be waiting outside.’ I tried telling Farook, ‘I have an appointment at 6:00. I have to be back at 6:00. Couldn’t we do this Saturday?’ No luck.

‘I have you back before 6. Maybe before 5. This only take few minutes.’ Out I went.

It is common here for new restaurants to put down a small deposit; rent doesn’t start until the restaurant opens.

Bahram, however, agreed to pay rent during construction. This being the Middle East, on many days, the contractors didn’t bother to show up, so progress has been slow, but the rent still has to be paid. He also has 10 workers on staff, so his cash burn rate must be high.

The place I saw was very nice, but tiny, with almost no space for customers. Bahram intends that most of his business will be take-out or home delivery.

He has prepared a lot of promotional materials to distribute as soon as the restaurant opens, all with his 800-number, ‘800-Hurrah’ printed in large letters. Only there are no 800-numbers available where he is located.

In the Greens development, Etisalat is not the telephone service provider. The provider for the Greens charged Bahram for an 800-number but, so far, hasn’t delivered, and won’t have the ability to deliver for some time.

Farook promised that, using his Citizen’s attire (though he isn’t really a Citizen) he will be able to intimidate the phone company into providing an 800-number. Bahram was very grateful, and asked Farook to come by. Somehow, I got invited to tag along.

When Farook and I arrived, Bahram said he wanted a computer system that would use Called-ID to give the address and order history of the caller, but, when he asked about such a system, he was told that this has never been done. Which seems strange, since I’ve seen such systems working.

Bahram had ordered Caller-ID for the restaurant phone, but it wasn’t working, which would have made life difficult for the computer program he wanted, if he had been able to buy it.

Bahram insisted on giving us free pizza, partly to repay Farook, and partly so that we could see that he had developed a better pizza, and I have to agree that it was a nice pizza. Prices are normal for Dubai, about €5 for a small pizza or about €10 for a large. Farook told Bahram that he should double the price of the pizza.

Bahram invited me to come back regularly, but it’s a long way from the part of Dubai where I live.

I kept saying I had to be getting back, but Farook kept talking on the phone, promising to provide visas to Australia and/or Canada, and was setting up appointments for this service. But finally, he drove me back (with a few detours).

When I finally arrived home at 7:00 p.m., I called Phillip, but he said it was too late, so we re-scheduled.

To pay for my pizza, I looked at the instructions that came with my phone and called Bahram. I explained that, if he would dial 182, 2, 3, that would start the Caller-ID service. He called, and the automated system promised Caller-ID within 24 hours.

But whether Farook will deliver on the 800-number remains to be seen.

1 Comments:

Blogger Harsha said...

hmm alot of places have that system here. Its nice to be greeted with your name when you call to order..and hang up as soon as you've told them what you'd like to eat.

9:23 am  

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