The biggest food festival is back in Karachi this weekend, and as promised by the organizers it is definitely bigger and better than the previous year. The festival is celebrating its 5th Anniversary and has promised 125 stalls this year as compared to 95 last year.
The talk of the town (or at least of all the food groups!) is Karachi Eat these days, as people anxiously wait for the event to take place on the 12th to 14th January 2018 at the Benazir Bhutto Park. Ever since its inception, the Karachi Eat Festival had been taking place at the scenic Frere Hall but due to traffic issues the location has been changed to Benazir Bhutto Park. The new location is an attempt to make the people of Karachi reclaim and activate public places, and this park and festival is iconic in its own way of showcasing all the flavors by the sea!
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Omar Omari of CKO Architecture speaking to Dawn.com on the location change said,
“We’re setting up shop at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park this time around. Part of our goal with this platform is also to reclaim and activate public spaces. They spent loads of money on that park and nobody ever goes there! It’s a pity that it’s become more or less just a visual park. We want people to come check it out, it’s a gorgeous space and we’re going to be doing fireworks on the last day over the water. We’ve gotten them sponsored so they’re going to be bigger and grander.”
The event is definitely bigger this year with around 125 stalls, as compared to 95 stalls last year.
Arranging easy transportation for the people, not only a large parking space and valet is available, but Karachi Eat has also partnered with Uber. People can use the promo code UBER2KHIEAT and get Rs150 off on two trips from the service. Careem also has a special promo for Karachi Eat: EAT100, enabling customers to ride to and from Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park in just Rs 100!
The ticket for Karachi Eat will cost Rs 300, with Rs100 being redeemable on the ticket. So it’s definitely good news for the people! Furthermore, the organizers are also rolling out an app called Eatsapp where you will have access to the directory of all the restaurants present, their reviews and pictures by the attendees.
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Also, if you are one of those people who don’t like carrying around Keenu Mobile Wallet app has got you covered where you can simply add money on to it and pay via the app!
Speaking to IDG Pakistan about their partnership with Karachi Eat, Keenu said,
“We are excited to be a part of this event and facilitate customers with cashless, instant and rewarding payment experience via Keenu Wallet! It’s the first step towards changing the way people pay in Pakistan. With our offerings we want Pakistanis to enjoy to the fullest with hassle free payment experience topped with exciting cashbacks and rewards.”
Bloggers and various food groups found on Facebook are also gearing up to try out what Karachi Eat is to serve the people, by making bucket lists of what they are waiting to try and new food ventures that have them salivating already!
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Karachi Eat also serves as a platform for budding entrepreneurs to try out their foodie ideas. One of the new additions at the Karachi Eat who are putting their ideas to the test is BabaMoo. IDG had a chance to speak to its co-founders, Nabeel Abbasi and Myra Faisal.
“For us as a team when we thought about launching our passion project BabaMoo the first thought that came into our mind was “when is the next karachi eat?” Over the years, Karachi Eat is a space that set all our goals into motion and got the BabaMoo brigade in gear It helped us set targets for the job ahead and work backwards keeping in mind the kind the pressure and the competition it involved.”
“As entrepreneurs and risk-takers, we’re definitely scared. But as scared as we are going into this three day roller coaster of a festival, we are extremely excited and looking forward to experimenting within that space to introduce our jacket potatoes and scrumptious unicorn candy apple sandwich. We hope everyone will enjoy it as much as we’ve loved working on it. The one thing that keeps any kind of business going is innovation and feedback. And Karachi Eat is the perfect platform for both these things. “
Alizeh Imitiaz, founder of the Waffle Cart said
“As an entrepreneur Karachi Eat is a very good platform to showcase your products, especially if it is a new product. It is a great way to get a feel of what high volume sales are like. As a visitor I would also like to say that it is a lot of fun, you feel a good sense of community and there is good music and there’s good food. What can get better than that in Karachi?”
There will be live concerts happening at the Karachi Eat with big names such as Atif Aslam, Asim Azhar, Fusion and Aaroh playing. You can also indulge in a little art therapy with Easel Bay as they will have their camps set up with canvas and paintbrushes all around the venue!
With all of the exciting things that are all set to take place at Karachi Eat this weekend, we hope you are ready to experience Karachi Eat like never before. Because we know we are!
Image source: Karachi Eat/CKO
