Group A

Syed Muhammad Sabeehul Rehman | 192200003

Muazam Ali |192200011
Muhammad Asghar | 192200004
Qaiser Riaz | 192200002
Nayab Azmat | 192610021

Course Instructor: Dr Umar Mukhtar

Sector 17, a Gujrat Based Fast Food Start-up

MGT718/627 - Entrepreneurship and Family business Management

GIFT University Spring 2020 GIFT Business School

Sector 17, a Gujrat Based Fast Food Start-up
S.M. Sabeehul Rehman, Muazam Ali, Muhammad Aghar, Qaiser Riaz, and Nayab Azmat interviewed the
Gujrat Based Entrepreneur Mehran Tanveer & transcribed this case under the direction of Doctor Umar
Mukhtar exclusively providing material for the final project & a classroom discussion. The authors
intend to bring into account the major challenges & prospective as well as merits & demerits faced while
launching & sustaining a Start-up. The Case’s authors might have changed/concealed some names and
other information that identifies to safeguard the confidentiality.

Introduction

Mehran Tanveer & his 3 partners, the co-founders at Sector17, were quite upset with the sudden
outbreak of COVID19. The pandemic erupted and proliferated through the country in March
2020, affecting every part of the country and everyday life activities. The epidemic turned out to
be a horrendous nightmare for the newly started Sector17, which launched only a few days
before the lockdown happened in the country, hence the restaurant had to stop its operations
within two weeks of its launch. This was the first and major setback for the restaurant.

Background

With a fresh start of the year 2020, four friends made a resolution that they would launch an
outdoor dine-in facility for families living in the Gujrat city. Hence, with limited experience in
the restaurant field and scarce financial resources, four of them launched an outdoor dine-in
restaurant in the heart of Gujrat city. Initially, they planned to offer, exclusively, Barbeque
Platter with a distinctive and delicate serving, that no-one else offered in the area.

Development

Sector17 is an outdoor dine-in plus takeaway fast-food venture. Mehran Tanveer, being a
vegetable exporter, Ahmed Malhi, having a car service station, Awais Arshad, being a supply
chain business, & Tassadaque Abbas, living and working in Europe, got together on one fine day
in the start of 2020, and came across an idea to start up an entrepreneur venture in restaurant
sector. None of them had any prior experience in the cuisine field and certainly had no one to
guide them either, yet they developed a plan and executed the idea within one month of market
research.

They started from scratch and built up the restaurant. “The idea behind the restaurant name is
quite interesting”, says Mehran, “We were planning to have an instantly noticeable brand name
for our venture, and there was a Punjabi song playing in the background by an Indian singer
Honey Singh. What happened is that when one of us asked what the brand name should be, the
song’s lyrics caught our attention and we got our brand name, Sector17.”

Sector 17 has become one of the finest dine-ins in the area and rightly so as Sector17’s
nonchalant, fresh outdoor dine-in approach & Charcoal Grilled Burgers are the talk of the town
and have created a lot of buzz in the minds of laypersons. However, the restaurant’s initial menu
was consisted of only an exclusive Barbeque Platter.

Vision & Mission

The vision of the company is to expand through the district by offering an exclusive &
international taste to the customers. While the mission is to ensure the provision of a cleaner,
fresh, and safer outdoor dine-in facility which is a rare experience in Gujrat & its localities and
staying closely linked to the traditional-cum-oriental taste.

Competition

As a fast-food restaurant, Sector17 competes with around 20 major fast-food ventures along with
the multiple local fast-food & cuisine businesses. Sector17’s direct competitors are Don of
Burgers, KFC, McDonald’s, Bhiya Pizza & Fast Food, Doner Café etc. while the indirect
competitors are Flavours’ Restaurant, Akbar’s Kinara Restaurant, Food Garage, Marinate,
Swad Restaurant and many local fast-food restaurants.
COVID19 & Change of Strategy

As soon as Sector17 launched, the unforeseen trouble came to sabotage the restaurant.
Government imposed two weeks lock down in the country on 13 th March 2020 throughout the
country and blocked all the daily life routine & business activities in the country. It was not more
than 2 weeks that Sector17 had launched and started its service, but due to lockdown, it had to
stop its operation and wait for the government’s orders to re-open. However, the lock down
prolonged for 3 more months as the coronavirus patients started increasing. This turned out to be
a horrible experience for all the business owners around the whole world.

Sector17 had not generated any revenue, however expenses were occurring as the building rent
was being paid, and other utility bills were occurring. While there was no way to start the sales
and generate revenues. And this turned out to be a biggest problem for the owners and the newly
launched start-up. However, they figured out a way as the lockdown was partially lifted.

Theory of Constraints

The theory of constraints describes that once you face a hurdle, you identify the constraint,
exploit it, subordinate & synchronize to it, elevate its performance, and repeat the cycle. That is
what the founders did.

In May 2020, during Ramadan, when lockdown was partially lifted and economic activities were
partially resumed, the founders decided to re-launch the restaurant but limiting only as a
Takeaway service, and hence they collaborated with Food Panda, an online food & grocery
delivery platform, to reach out to the customers. They not only changed their business structure
but also changed the strategy and changed the single item menu to fast food menu (Burgers,
Wraps, Soups).

Re-launch & Marketing Campaign

The Owners, after changing strategy & menu, re-launched the Start-up on Eid-ul-Fit’r 2020, and
created a buzz in the town. The owners stroke a deal with an online food & grocery delivery
service, Food Panda, and started Home-Delivery Service, initially, considering the partial lock-
down and SOPs announced by the governments. They re-established their BBQ restaurant to
fast-food restaurant and did an online marketing through Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
They even did YouTube Marketing, with the help of YouTubers of the Gujrat City. And, also
utilized personal PR.

They designed their facility as well as social-media pages with Yellow & Black graphics, as this
color contrast catches more eye attention. This unique color scheme also worked in favor of
Sector 17.

However, the freshly added menu grabbed the eyeballs and their target market was attracted. The
Tortilla Wraps and Charcoal Grilled Burgers are the audiences immensely favorites. The average
online traffic on Food Panda for Sector 17’s orders was increased by 2/3 rd during the second &
third quarter of 2020 in Gujrat. It has 3.7/5 rating on Food Panda.

Public Reaction & Owners Response

The people have whole-heartedly reacted in favor of Sector 17 and the business saw an upsurge
in its sales after its re-launch. And the demand increases. Hence, by the end of November 2020,
they started the dine-in along with home-delivery. The Dine-in became a rage, as an outdoor
dine-in in Gujrat has been quite a rare option and this attracted more customers towards Sector
17. Along with Dine-in they added Chinese Food into the menu, attracting more consumers. This
not only helped in increase of sales but also enabled the four partners to expand their facility
from one kitchen to three kitchens and more expansion in sitting space.

Future-Plans

The Owners have noticed that the families are also a major segment of the customers. Hence, to
target this segment they have planned to launch another branch in the city to cater to upsurging
demands of the customers around the city.

Conclusion

Lack of experience & insufficient research about the industry analysis led to the challenges the
owners of Sector 17 faced. However, their grit and intelligence enabled them to identify the issue
& tackle it with grace & integrity. They viewed the on-going pandemic and studied the public’s
concerns for the contagious virus enabled them to understand the need of the consumers and led
to change of their business & marketing strategy
Suggestion

With the on-going pandemic situation, and considering the uncertain health & economic
conditions in the country, Sector 17 has to keep their focus on Home-Delivery and must ensure
to cater to the demands and needs of their targeted market via online food delivery.