JEDDAH: Advertised on light posts and social networking sites, the business of home catering during the blessed month of Ramadan and Eid has been thriving over the last few years with some home-based kitchens reportedly raking in as much as SR50,000 during the holiday alone.
Profitable for its proprietor or not, local authorities have begun to question the establishment of such businesses with the main focuses on health and food safety as well as the legality of the trade for not being licensed by the concerned authorities making them inaccessible to proper health and quality inspections.
"The home-catering business is a new phenomenon in Saudi Arabia related to, I believe, the increase in health problems and food safety, as many people consider it homemade food," Dr. Mohammed Al-Hamad, president of the Consumer Protection Association (CPA), told Arab News.
Al-Hamad explained that from a health standpoint he would advise consumers to use home catering services before resorting to eating from ordinary restaurants in the Kingdom.
"Most restaurants, even though being properly licensed, do not care how many calories or how much fat is in their foods and how they harm the public," he said.
The president also cited several reports done by local and international health authorities that prove fatal diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer have increased in Saudi society, adding that he thinks that the availability of home cooked meals would be a healthier alternative but stated that currently the legality of the business is debatable.
"For the time being there are no laws regulating or licensing home-based kitchens and even though many restaurants are operating legally under a license many have been closed down for food contamination and safety issues," Al-Hamad continued.
To further control home-based catering businesses while still allowing home-cooked food to be sold, the Jeddah municipality rents kiosks that are constantly monitored. Nevertheless the debate hasn't fazed many patrons who feel that purchasing food from home-catering businesses is an easy and affordable way to get a home-cooked meal without the effort of cooking and cleaning up.
"I have been ordering from the home-catering services a lot lately during the holy month, primarily because they are affordable and because I am working and it is difficult for me to come home after my shift and begin cooking Ramadan recipes that take several hours to prepare," said Umm Suliman.
Another active customer of home catering, Suhaila Jamal, said she saved money by ordering for an annual sahoor party.
"In the past, I had spent SR4,000 ordering food and treats from a local hotel, but I was informed recently of the home catering business and decided to try them out," she said. "Everyone was happy with the meal and I paid only a third of the price I normally do."
With the convenience also comes the secrecy and the inability for consumers to see where and how their food is prepared.
One advertisement found online recently from a catering company claimed that the success of the enterprise in past years led them to expand into Makkah. A phone call to the business to inquire about visiting the location where the food is prepared yielded little more than a voice on the other line claiming the food is prepared in "a Jeddah compound." It became clear quickly that the business was adverse to anyone stopping by.
At a well-known residential compound off Madinah Road, an open door to a yard revealed two African women caterers placing hummus, stuffed grape leaves and other pre-made, canned food items on plates they were selling as a homemade appetizer package for SR1,700. When the women saw this reporter looking in on their operation, they slammed the door to the yard.
Not all catering businesses are involved in this deception of selling canned food as homemade specialties, but clearly there are unlicensed and deceptive catering operations deceiving customers with impunity — and possibly making people sick because of lax hygienic conditions brought about by operating beneath the radar of health inspectors.
