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We’re on a boat (and soon we’ll be on a truck too!)

Published on July 11, 2011 in Events and Kasa Indian Food Truck. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

We have LOTS to share in the next couple days as this is Kasa Indian Truck launch week!  The truck wrap is done, permits are completed and events are locked down.

We’ll do a small test run for the kitchen on Tuesday night and will tweet out the location earlier in the day.  Free food for anyone that shows up! Bring your friends,  kids, neighbors, whatever.  Probably 50 people’s worth of food will be cooked.

Separately, we’ve been catering these fun Bollywood sunset cruises in the Bay with the Red & White Fleet.  Yes, it is touristy, but you know it’s still breathtaking to be out on a boat in that magnificent setting.  Plus you get Kasa food, Indian dance performances by our dear friends at Cree8 Productions and you can have a few drinks before busting a move yourself.  Check the details here and email cruise@kasaindian.com as we may be able to get you an insider’s hookup!

Kasa Indian Food Truck “Squared”

Published on June 28, 2011 in Kasa Behind The Scenes and Kasa Indian Food Truck. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

We’re in the final sprint preparing for next week’s Off the Grid launch for the Kasa Indian Food Truck.  The truck is completely built out, the wrap is being wrapped as we speak, our Public Hearing is this Wed Jun 29 to secure our FiDi locations (not too late to help!), the initial menu is more or less decided and the operating plan is operating.

One of our goals is speed — we want to keep our (hopefully long) lines moving quickly!

At first, we figured we should keep it simple and launch the truck as cash only.  But that didn’t sit right with us for a few reasons:

  1. We pride ourselves on being tech savvy.  You can’t have a Kasa co-founder from Google and be behind on this stuff!
  2. We always try to do right by our customers.  You don’t always have cash, ATM fees suck and credit cards are more convenient.
  3. Square made it so damn simple to accept credit cards on a truck!  Square is this super cool startup in SOMA designing beautifully simple transaction systems for local merchants.  We signed up on Friday, got a free square fob in the mail on Tuesday and were up and running swiping credit cards within minutes.
  4. Even better, we shamelessly begged the Square team and got into the beta test for their new Square Register point of sale app on the iPad.  This hopefully will allow our truck customers to set up tabs where they can order and pay for our classic Indian street food without having to even take their credit card out of their wallet!

So…beta Indian food truck, beta point of sale system running on a 4G iPad 2.  Only in San Francisco!

Help Launch the Kasa Indian Truck in the Financial District!

Published on June 21, 2011 in Kasa Behind The Scenes and Kasa Indian Food Truck. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Friends –
We’re within weeks of launching the Kasa Indian Truck in early July!  Where will the truck be rolling to?  That’s what we need your help on!
For our initial launch, we’ll be at various Off the Grid events.  (Follow us @kasaindian for details!)
We’re also in the final stretch of trying to secure permits to serve our Kati Rolls and other delicious Indian street food at specific locations in the Financial District.   We’re one of the first local businesses trying to get permitted through the new Food Truck legislation which was passed in SF earlier this year.
We have a public hearing on June 29 where supporters and opponents to our truck can make their case to the City.  The City needs to know that people support us!
There are two ways you can help:
1) Send an email to the Dept of Public Works — if you work in the FiDi or visit there on occasion, please email the note at the bottom of this email to truck@kasaindian.com before June 27. Every email will help!  Feel free to modify the note however you’d like and pass this along to friends.
2)  Come to the hearing — the hearing is on June 29 at 9am at City Hall, Room 400.  Having a large crowd of supporters present can’t hurt!
With your help, we’ll have have our Kati Roller rolling soon!
Much love from Tim, Anamika & Suresh
SAMPLE EMAIL — SEND TO TRUCK@KASAINDIAN.COM
————————–
To: Mr. Edward D. Reiskin, Director, SF Dept of Public Works
Re: Support for the Kasa Indian Truck in the FiDi
Dear Mr. Reiskin,
I am writing to express my excitement and support for having Kasa’s truck near my building in the FiDi. Like other workers in San Francisco’s financial district, I eat out very frequently for lunch. The FiDi needs additional interesting, ethnic food options. Kasa’s truck will add diversity and balance to the existing food options in this area and will make the overall dining scene here more exciting.
Sincerely,
INSERT YOUR NAME
INSERT YOUR FIDI WORK ADDRESS IF APPLICABLE

Free Kasa Chai and Anthony’s Cookies on June 18!

Published on June 12, 2011 in Castro Neighborhood News, Events and Specials. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Kasa turns 3 years old on June 18!

We’ve been thinking through how to celebrate and show how much we appreciate you.

Giving out sweets for special occasions is a wonderful tradition in India. Endless amounts of  mithai, gulab jamun, jalebis, halwas and ladoos are purchased from specialized artisanal mithai stores.  They are often covered with pure leaf silver, boxed beautifully, exchanged among friends and families,  displayed lavishly, and fed in small bites to whomever the celebration is in honour of.  Then of course they are consumed by everyone else too.  When Suresh and I got married, we both had major sugar overload as hundreds of people shoved mithai in our mouths!

We don’t make traditional Indian sweets at Kasa, but we still wanted to pass out sweets for our anniversary. And we offer two of the best sweet treats in San Francisco at Kasa, so…..

On June 18th, we’ll be giving out complementary Kasa Chai and cookies from our friends at Anthony’s Cookies!

No crazy purchases required or anything.  Supplies may run out at some point so come early.

Much love for all of your continued support of Kasa!
Anamika, Tim & Suresh
P.S. Thank you to Anthony’s for providing cookies for this special event!

My Life Resume

Published on May 24, 2011 in Existential Ruminations and Kasa Behind The Scenes. 2 Comments Tags: , , .
This post is dedicated to my cousin Namrita.  Namrit is a beautiful, gentle, intelligent woman trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life and is beyond belief frustrated. And of course as a woman, and an Indian woman in particular, there’s always this nagging doubt that you’re expecting too much from life and should simply get on with it.
So I’m sharing this Life Resume that I wrote at the peak of my own frustrations a few years ago.  I had no idea what I should do nor what my skills were, and worst of all I knew I was absolutely HORRIBLE at writing a resume and interviewing!
But I was sure of one thing:  that I had SOME Life Skills that must amount to something.  In hindsight, a lot of these skills are actually really useful in the restaurant world.
Namrit – don’t get offended by the fact that I claim to be my grandma’s fav:)
Personal Specifics
  • Name – Anamika Jiya Tanya Khanna
  • Age – 35 years old
  • An only child (This in itself says a lot)
  • My Grandma’s favourite!
  • Book and Street smart
World Knowledge
  • Lived on three continents (Europe, Asia and America)
  • Speak English, Hindi, Punjabi and a lot of Spanish
  • Dated lots of guys from different cultures, and hence have insight into many cultures
  • Grew up in the projects but went to a very snooty university – hence have both those worlds covered
Core Skills
  • An Idea person
  • A futurist
  • Intuitive
  • A+ Flirt
  • Good cook
  • Great card player – excellent poker face
  • Wrote a children’s book
Physical Attributes
  • Great legs
  • Beautiful hair
Other Skills
  • Can walk well in super high heels
  • Can get ready in 6 mins flat (shower included)
  • Can stay up SUPER late
  • Excellent night vision
  • Good rhythm
  • Can take quick short naps
  • Do not get sick when travelling — stomach of steel, including drinking tap water from 3rd world countries
  • Can be friends with stupid people
  • Can drink scotch neat
  • Can recite the alphabet backwards
  • Can talk myself out of almost any situation involving the police
  • Can solve the Rubiks Cube
Driving
  • Passed my driving test first time in two countries
  • Can drive on both sides of the road
  • Good parallel parker
Computer Skills
  • Can IM and Email at HIGH speed
Temperament
  • Fiery – not easily intimidated
  • Opinionated
  • Loyal
  • Not a gold digger
Affiliations
  • Co-founder of The Shotz Club – whose mission was to try a shot of every kind of alcohol during the members’ lifetime
  • Indie Film Critics
  • Indian Cultural Club
Membership