São Paulo – After a few trips to the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, nutritionist Fabiana Piccinalli Marietto realised catering companies were lacking in the region. In a few months, Fabiana devised a project, found an investor and presented her idea to the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, Mohammed Bin Saqr Al Qassimi. Last June, the project took form as the Jais Catering company.
“I used to see lots of construction sites and wonder: where do these people eat?,” said to ANBA the nutritionist, who is now in the city of São Paulo. According to her, the workers had no options and ate in precarious conditions, and that gave Fabiana the idea of putting together some kind of service to cater to those workers as well, since she was already willing to create a company in order to serve collective meals.
Before Jais Catering started operating, it took Fabiana 13 months of research and negotiation to put together an industrial kitchen with all-Brazilian know-how. “The main obstacle facing me was the cultural barrier,” said the nutritionist, who had to adapt the dishes to the taste of the majority of workers at construction sites in Ras Al Khaimah, who come from countries such as India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
“I hired an international chef and got started. I mostly take care of the sanitary part, the hygiene and nutritional balance of the foods,” said Fabiana. Presently, 20,000 meals are produced each day, which are then packed and transported, still hot, to sites in the emirate. “We currently have four vans for transportation, but I am in the process of buying two more,” added the nutritionist, who has hired 38 employees.
According to her, the main meal cooked for construction workers is the Biriyani, a popular dish in India and Pakistan, comprised of rice, chicken and a spicy stew with lots of pepper and curry. Sometimes, the chicken is replaced with fish or lamb meat, for a change.
The idea of the hot meals was so successful that Fabiana wants to increase her number of employees to 50 and produce 100,000 meals per day. The creation of the company is creating opportunities not only to immigrants in the Middle East, but also to Brazilian nutritionists that Fabiana made a point of bringing over to the region. “As I expand the number of employees, I bring in more Brazilians,” said she.
The work does not stop there. According to Fabiana, by September, Jais Catering should also start serving schools and hospitals in Ras Al Khaimah. The Brazilian specializes in school meals, therefore the menu of Arab children will be prepared in a well balanced manner. “In the future, I want to work with Arab food catering for marriages, and who knows maybe further on I can bring in some Brazilian food,” she said.
According to her, the secret to her company’s success was establishing partnerships with the right people. “In my case, the partners were a Brazilian investor, the sheikh and his manager,” said Fabiana, who should travel to the Emirates again in August and remain there for 15 days. “I do it every 30 or 40 days. I go over to check the expansion, oversee the company and start new projects,” she added.
From nutritionist to businesswoman
Holding a degree in Nutrition from the Bandeirantes University, a postgraduate in School Nutrition from Instituto Ponto Crítico de Ensino (IPCE) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Health Management, Fabiana worked for 11 years in the commercial sector at a food company. She got in touch with the royal family of Ras Al Khaimah as a result of her foreign market experience.
In between trips to and from the Emirates, Fabiana developed her project and set out to establish her own business. “I took a chance and it worked,” said she, who is married and has three little daughters.
Contact
Jais Catering
Telephone +971 50 199.7170 (United Arab Emirates)
Mobile (+55 15) 8112.2043 (Brazil)
E-mail: piccinalli.fabi@uol.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
