At an age of 40-plus when most professionals look at settling down in life and in securing the future of their family, Iqbal Khan decided to take the road less travelled. Well ensconced in his role as marketing head of IT company, Iqbal decided to throw caution to the wind and has dared to follow his dream.

Waving off his 22 years job in a strong position with healthy salary, the 45-year-old launched Mak’s Kitchen, a pure vegetarian eatery on wheel.

Launched on 21^st May 2013, Mak’s Kitchen is the first officially permitted eatery on wheel which serves Chinese and Italian cuisines. The custom made van equipped with modern kitchen and supporting amenities is managed by two experienced chefs hired by Khan.

Mak’s Kitchen has already started attracting many passersby to experience their food van parked near Residency Road. The quality of food and hygiene value remains the priority for Khan and his well trained team.

“I have been working since my early teens. The responsibility of my family came on me after my father’s death. The concept of Kitchen-on-wheel has been on my mind for many years and finally I decided to quit my full time job to start Mak’s Kitchen” said Khan, whose sparkling eyes revealed enormous amount of self confidence.

Besides serving food on street, Mak’s Kitchen is also available for private parties and weddings. Elaborating more on the concept, Iqbal Khan said, “Mak’s Kitchen is designed in a way that it can be used for wedding reception or banquet. The outer design and interior of the van has also been done by me.”

Over past few years quite a few several similar eateries on wheel have been started in the city but most of them are neither licensed nor do they care for hygiene while serving the food. What makes Mak’s Kitchen different is that it is licensed by civic authority and the team ensures that the area where they park their van is clean from food waste.Khan informs that, “we encourage our customers to place order, pick and move. Hence no seating arrangements have been made on roadside.”

When asked as to why he chose to step into food industry after working in IT sector and other corporate for over two decades, Khan said, “It was a dream to start my own business in food industry. I just followed it by taking voluntary retirement from my job and starting Mak’s Kitchen.”

Khan seems to epitomize the famous hindi saying: “Manzil unhi ko milti hai, Jinke sapno me jaan hoti hai, Pankh se kuchh nahi hota, Hauslon se udaan hoti hai”