Dubai food truck fabricator is a foodie at work and play

As the chief executive of The Foodsters Inc, Reema Shetty spends most of her weekends at food truck events.

Reema Shetty returned to the culinary industry with The Foodsters Inc after a four-year stint away from work. Victor Besa for The National

Reema Shetty is the co-founder and chief executive of The Foodsters Inc, a Dubai-based culinary house which provides vintage food trailers, custom built food trucks and catering. She is the daughter of BR Shetty, the founder and chairman of NMC Health. The 36-year-old, from India, was one of the co-founders of Just Falafel, before she moved on to launch The Foodsters Inc. Ms Shetty lives in the Green Community in Dubai with her husband and business partner, Mohammad Bitar, and their two sons, ages five and three.

qHow do you spend your weekend?

aI work at food truck events. Last weekend I went cycling with my sons at Al Qudra Lakes. We also stopped at Last Exit Al Qudra to see the horse trailer that we refitted into a food trailer, which is based there now. I took off my shoes and ran on the cycling track barefoot with my kids. In India we play in the mud, but here, you’re always in shoes. My husband looked at me and said “you’re a true Indian at heart”.

How did you become the chief executive of The Foodsters Inc?

After growing up in Abu Dhabi, I studied marketing and business administration at business school in Boston, and when I returned to Abu Dhabi, I became the first of five siblings to join my father at the NMC Group. I started in housekeeping – both my parents taught me that if you don’t know every single job, you can never make a company better. My husband and I started Just Falafel while I was still working at NMC, in 2006 to 2007, along with two others. I stopped working in 2010 for four years to spend time with my children, and in the meantime, Just Falafel changed direction, so we moved on from there.

Two years ago, the same group of four of us who started Just Falafel launched Foodsters, with the addition of our chef Tarek Ogden-Smith. We started as food truck operators and we’ve evolved into different culinary business lines.

What is your go-to gadget?

I don’t have a thing for gadgets. If I have to answer, I’d say my camera.

What was the lowest point in your career?

We’ve lived through such an interesting period in this country that there’s never been an opportunity for a low point. So, probably when I was at home and not working. But I learnt instead how to cook and keep the house, which I’d never done before.

What advice would you offer to someone starting out in the food truck business?

First, get your hygiene training. The only way you will drive excellence is if you’ve got the efficiency side right, because you’re working out of a small space which has to be kept clean. You have to utilise every single spare foot to absolute perfection, otherwise things will go haywire. And make sure that anything you cook out of that truck, you cook with absolute passion.

What is your most indulgent habit?

I’m a very big Bollywood dancer. I love music and I hum all day long. Music keeps me smiling all through the day. I’m also a gymnast. I was one when I was 16, and now I’ve found a trainer and do gymnastics three times a week – everything from monkey bars to ropes. I’m obsessed with feeling like I’m 16 again. It’s such a release. I get back in the car and I’m the happiest person in the world.

What do you have on your desk at work?

I have my husband at my desk, right in front of me – we work together.

What kind of car do you drive?’

I have a Nissan Patrol. I’ve got kids and I’m a very outdoors person, so I like a big trunk to throw in everything from bikes to picnic baskets.

How do you achieve a work-life balance?

Working with my husband and friends means that if I need to run back home, somebody else will always pick up and finish that job, so I don’t have the tension between work and home. I’ve found the perfect balance to be the best I can in both environments. And at weekends, when we work at events, we take our kids with us. When you love what you do, you never feel like you do a day of work. I’m the daughter of two very hardworking people, so I’ve never seen it otherwise.

If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?

My chef. I’d love to spend all my time in the kitchen and perfect my cooking. I can’t finish a dish without Indianising it – I take any cuisine and throw in some cardamom. My mother-in-law has taught me beautiful traditional Lebanese dishes and I drive her crazy because I throw in my black cardamom, and she’ll say “it’s not Indian, it’s Lebanese”.