Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: Ali Abas Al Busaidi enjoys cooking, whether it be chopping, draining, cropping, grating, slicing, whisking, squeezing, boiling or baking. He jokes about his smash burger ingredients, which he says can be continuously improvised.
The Omani entrepreneur started his successful food truck after he resigned from his regular job.
The Salsa Truck is the first moving restaurant in Oman, according to Ali. Salsa is a Latin American spicy tomato sauce, as well as the name of Latin American music. “We chose Salsa to mix the taste of spicy sauce and the soft music,” Ali said.
The young Omani earlier disliked cooking. “I left my official job. I was always thinking of a new idea in restaurants.
“I was the only one who would go to kitchen and play with everything at home,” Ali joked.
“Slowly , I developed a passion and desire for a salsa truck,” he said. Ali worked for an oil company for four years, though he did not find the work too interesting. He quit the job, thinking that he would come up with an uncommon private project of his own.
Salsa idea
During his free time, he tried to make new chicken mixes to produce a recipe similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken. After a taste approval by his family, he sold some meals to local customers from his home kitchen. The starting point was his home.
“The chicken idea was really difficult and needed a long time to prepare. Then I gave up on the idea of a chicken restaurant,” he recalled. “What started out as a sudden hobby, turned into a small moving truck,” Ali added.
Ali then spent six months creating new sauces, and found special meat tastes after much experimentation .
“My American neighbour Alex was helping me in making new mixes. He was a good taster,” Ali noted. However, his idea for a truck was not accepted by the Municipality. So he involved his brothers and cousins - the truck team -to deal with all the official obstacles.
Truck’s design
The Salsa Truck was designed by Ali and his cousins, but was manufactured by a Chinese company.
“When we decided to carry out this project, we did not have capital. Then we decided to create a small place,” he remarked.
“We received the truck after seven months. We spent two months designing it,” he recalled.
Salsa meals
“We use an American bread called Mackenzie bread, which is meant for burgers. It is fresh, soft and light. Our goal is to let our customers taste the strong flavour of meat, not the bread and appetizers,” he pointed out.
“We cook smash burgers by using three types of fresh meat. The smash burger comes with a crispy layer of meat. This layer prevents the meat from coming out,” he said. “The best burger produced by Salsa is the Granada burger. The special ingredients are arugula, pomegranate, pomegranate molasses, cheese, granada sauce and smash burger.”
When he made this mix, he thought that he was the first person to do it, but later he discovered that it was available in other countries, as well.
“This meal was made for the first time when I was on a trip with my family,” he said.
Salsa provides five main meals– the salsa burger, Granada burger, crispy burger, classic burger and spicy chicken. It also provides four flavours of sauces: salsa sauce, hot sauce, Granada sauce and barbeque sauce.
The Salsa team also produces sides, such as fries, cheese fries, salsa fries, smash fries, homemade onion rings, and chicken wings. It also offers drinks, such as lemon and mint, strawberry, blue lagoon, passion fruit, and milkshakes. The lowest full meal price at Salsa is OR 2.20, and the highest price is OR 3 for a full meal. The full meal includes juice, sandwich, and fries.
Salsa team
Ali said he is the star chef, and he employs between four to six cooks. “All of us are dishwashers and serving staff at the same time,” Ali pointed out.
“All staff are my cousins, brothers, and one of them is a friend. They all graduated from secondary school and college and joined me, and we built a good team,” Ali said.
“Our team was able to create a brand from the ground up. We want to make it unique in the customers’ minds, so our plan needs real hard work,” he added.
Challenges
Ali’s challenges are, “Overcrowding and too many orders. Sometimes we receive dozens of orders, so we need a longer time to prepare them.
“Sometimes we stop working because of shortages of ingredients. People come looking for Salsa constantly, so we have to overcome such things too keep our reputation up,” he emphasised.
Another challenge is capital. Ali said that he did not receive any government support.
Participations
Salsa has participated in many national events. Its first appearance was at the Winter Souq at the Al Orimi Centre. Ali recalled, “We participated at the Sultan Qaboos University events, the Muscat week, the Marah Land Food Trucks Festival, and the Oman Automobile Association.”
Ali’s advice to young Omanis is, “Do something from nothing because you want to, not because of money. Salsa is a case of let’s be great and then the money will come.”
