FUSION QUESADILLAS: A TASTE OF MEXICO
Get a tortilla ( wrap) filled with cheese, meat and spices on the street
Otsile Ramosamo has a secret to transforming and showing off that street food can be fancy, and affordable.
Ramosamo is the brains behind one of Gaborone’s promising concepts in the culinary industry. He is the founder of Fusion Quesadillas, a street food company located in Block 9, Gaborone.
The business has been operating for a few months now, and is fast gaining momentum. While many street food companies are notorious for selling ordinary food like fresh chips, and Russians to mention a few, Ramosamo is a breath of fresh air.
He is inspired by the Mexican/ American quesadilla and is giving Batswana a taste of Mexico. A quesadilla is a dish comprising of a tortilla ( wrap in simple English) which is filled with cheese, meat and spices and other fillings. Ramosamo’s mainly consists of two flavours - chicken and beef. Seeing him sweating and masterfully giving client after client an order is a marvel. He runs a one man show, but is doing a good job. He makes the tortillas at home. And he gives his clients a front row seat on how he creates the quesadilla.
This reporter opted for the beef version, and it was pretty good. Customers can opt for a chilli or non- chilli version. And it is not difficult to see why clients keep coming back for more.
The business has been operating since September last year, and he used his last P2000 to procure ingredients and equipment. And today, it is fast taking the market by storm.
He told this publication that in 2019, he found himself joining the many unemployed Batswana. He has previously worked at some of the leading restaurants such as Fego, Mugg N Bean, Gaborone Sun ( prior to the name change), as well as the Phakalane Golf Estate.
He holds a qualification in Hospitality Operation from the Gaborone Technical College. During his tenure in the restaurant industry, he was employed as a Bartender and Barista.
It was during those days that he got exposed to what happens in the kitchen. And so, it was that he decided to tap into his wealth of knowledge to earn a living.
He started with a few batches of tortillas and gradually realised that there was demand and then he increased the numbers. “The market has been kind to me and business is not bad”, Ramosamo said. On average he makes over fifty ( 50) tortillas. And on a good day, he can sell them all for a small charge of P17 each.
Having seen that there is potential for his business, he is now looking into expanding to other parts of town and getting an extra employee.
Quizzed on whether he can break even, he explains that his costs are very low, and that the only expensive thing that he buys is cheese.
He manages his time by doing some of the preps at home, in order to ensure that his clients don’t have to wait for long. The recent changes in curfew times and the changes in trading hours for bars have negatively affected his business.