I Got Laid Off — Now My Chopped Cheese Shop Brings In Up To $140K A Month

0:00 The way I would describe Nishaan is Pakistani American street food.

0:03 It's unreal.

0:04 It's taking American classics and adding Pakistani flavors into it.

0:08 Chopped cheese.

0:10 Good, right?

0:12 This is banging.

0:13 I'm Zeeshan, founder of Nishaan, home of the Pakistani chopped cheese.

0:19 My whole goal in life is to feed people.

0:21 I'm an American kid with a Pakistani background.

0:24 It's all the flavors I grew up with from both cultures,

0:26 American and Pakistani, and I'm just combining them into my menu at Nishaan.

0:31 So I grew up in Chicago.

0:32 I grew up in Devon, which is a neighborhood of like Pakistanis, Indians.

0:35 My dad was a taxi driver in the beginning,

0:38 and now he's been working for American Airlines

0:40 as a baggage handler for the last 25 years.

0:41 And my mom has just been a homemaker.

0:43 But all through our lives, she's done something to like help support

0:46 the family from like catering to teaching,

0:49 like tutoring kids, working at a warehouse.

0:51 Seeing her the way she cooked, there was never any rules for her.

0:54 She would eat like lentil, like dal sandwiches with cheese in it,

0:57 like just pass it out to my cousins.

0:58 And they're like, oh, this is delicious.

0:59 And like, nobody ever said like, oh, this is weird.

1:01 Don't do this.

1:02 I never grew up with that attitude.

1:03 It was always just like, hey, make stuff that tastes good.

1:06 My menu does not exist anywhere else in the world.

1:08 And Nishaan, we saw the Pakistani chopped cheese.

1:11 We take a classic kebab, some of the spices from there mix it

1:13 into a ground beef patty, top it with pepper,

1:15 jack and American cheese and finish it off with our lime,

1:18 cilantro, salsa tamarind chutney and wrap it in a toasted hero.

1:21 It's delicious.

1:23 You saw our barbacoa tacos,

1:26 which is spicy Smoky Buffalo Tandoori Chicken Sandwich,

1:29 which is a kind of classic.

1:30 Imagine buffalo chicken meets tandoori masala.

1:35 Crazy sandwich.

1:36 So many layers of flavor.

1:39 It is just unbelievable.

1:41 Unbelievable.

1:43 New York City is just a place for food like this.

1:46 The people are here that will taste it.

1:48 It's delicious.

1:48 And it makes you level up to a place where, like, it has to be good.

1:53 You can't miss.

1:53 If you miss in New York, you're gonna find out fast.

1:57 Before all this came, I kind of went down the standard path,

2:00 went to college, got a degree, got a job, mainly worked in finance companies.

2:03 I was at JP Morgan for a little bit and when I got laid off,

2:06 I couldn't find a job and I was like,

2:08 I know how to cook and I think I can sell food.

2:11 At that point, I signed up for Smorgasburg,

2:12 which is a food festival in New York City, and we sell out in like two hours.

2:16 I get a message like four days after it ends, like,

2:19 hey, do you want to be on the great food truck race?

2:20 We're casting for it.

2:22 We had our ups, we had our downs.

2:24 We were almost out of the competition.

2:25 But at the end we, we we won.

2:30 So they gave me this confidence of like, I, I, I have to open a restaurant now.

2:36 I had a budget of $70,000 like my life savings.

2:40 I've been fasting all day.

2:41 The sun is down.

2:41 It's time for my first bite.

2:42 Of course it's gonna be a chopped cheese.

2:44 You know, I don't eat that many anymore, but every time I do.

2:50 $30,000 was just the deposit.

2:52 It was about $10,000 in electrical work.

2:55 I'm making my hot chicken spice mix for today.

2:58 $15,000 in equipment.

3:00 Just like $10,000 on remodel.

3:02 Hello?

3:03 What's up?

3:05 You coming down?

3:06 Nothing.

3:06 I'm about to go chop some cheeses.

3:09 We've been open for around seven months now.

3:13 In September we made 75,000.

3:15 In October we made 100,000.

3:17 In November, which was our biggest month was 140,000.

3:20 In December, we did 120,000.

3:23 In January we did 114.

3:25 In February we did 113,000.

3:28 We got 2323.

3:29 Make sure you have your tickets.

3:31 23.

3:32 My rent is 6100 a month.

3:33 I think I spent like 15,000 just on me.

3:36 My employee cost is about like 25 to $30,000 a month.

3:41 We are profitable, but I'm just kind of investing it back

3:43 into business and make sure we have a rainy day fund.

3:45 I'm surviving off of like laid off severance money right now,

3:48 so I don't need the income from the business.

3:50 I think for any restaurant to be successful,

3:52 you have to have people in the door.

3:53 Look at the steam coming here.

3:55 And the best way nowadays is to use social media to get people into the doors.

3:59 Oh, I saw a video on TikTok.

4:01 It was definitely worth the hype.

4:02 Like I saw it on TikTok and stuff.

4:04 Bon appetit was the one.

4:06 She blew my she blew my like restaurant up and she just.

4:09 It's a hilarious concept where she rates things by moans.

4:15 Mhm.

4:17 Oh, paratha.

4:19 Homemade bangin.

4:21 And the inside.

4:22 Look at all that bacon.

4:23 It's got aioli.

4:24 It's got onion which brings the freshness I rate Nissan.

4:32 9.1 big dumb number 132.

4:38 The community aspect of Nishaan has been a big huge boost in the sales itself.

4:42 You'll be able to survive if your community shows up for you.

4:45 I like supporting local small businesses,

4:47 especially businesses that are owned by South Asians.

4:50 So whenever there's a South Asian business, we have to come and represent.

4:54 I say like, I'm, we're 1% of America, 99% is everybody else.

4:58 If I can capture 1% of 99%, I can survive.

5:02 I need to check off every order that's been sent out.

5:04 I used to work four hours a day.

5:05 Now I work 14 hours a day.

5:06 I wouldn't say I'm overwhelmed.

5:08 I'm tired.

5:08 I would say I'm tired.

5:11 My brain is getting fried, bro.

5:13 My brain is getting fried.

5:14 Standard for everybody like that opens up like a fast casual spot is expand.

5:17 Open up more locations.

5:19 That'd be awesome to do.

5:20 But I also look at it from an aspect of like,

5:22 do the work and the results will come as they are,

5:25 and I'm just gonna continue working on that same path,

5:27 same attitude that I've had, and I'm just gonna see what happens.

5:33 Masala.

5:33 Garam masala.

5:34 Hot chicken.

5:37 47 47.

5:39 Come back 47.

5:40 I don't want to take these inside.

5:52 Every day.

5:53 Packed house.

5:54 It's actually a crazy feeling.

6:07 You want me to source it?