Zeeshan Baklani’s post-retrenchment life includes many more dishes.
Bakrani, 34, has spent nearly a decade working in product management while pursuing his culinary ambitions on the side. Last year, after a second layoff, he decided to go full-time with Nishaan, his Pakistani-American street food restaurant in New York City’s East Village.
His menu, he says, “combines all the flavors of both cultures that I grew up with.”
He now works much longer hours, often 14 hours a day, but has more initiative and freedom than before. No more endless meetings and negotiating priorities with your boss. “I can come up with an idea here and have it done within a week,” he says.
A fusion of Pakistani and American flavors
Baklani grew up in Devon, which he describes as a “very diverse” part of Chicago, with cuisines as diverse as Indian, Pakistani, Polish, Bosnian and Mexican, “where you could find food on every corner.” Bakrani said Nishaan draws inspiration from the fusion of flavors of the foods he eats at home and in his neighborhood.
His mother “elevated the flavor” of typical American grocery staples. For example, he made a chapuri kabab (spiced meat patty) sandwich on white bread with ketchup, mayonnaise, and sauce, or he cooked spaghetti and seasoned it with store-bought sauce by adding onions, hot sauce, chili powder, and coriander seeds.
“She had no rules” in the kitchen, he says. This is the experimental mindset I adopted when I started cooking in seventh grade.
Zeeshan Bakrani takes orders at Nishaan, a Pakistani-American street food restaurant in the East Village.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Make It
As he sat in his kitchen watching Food Network, he thought to himself, “I want to recreate that, but with a different spice cabinet.” Spices such as cumin, coriander and chili powder added “a completely different range of flavors” to his home creations. He tried making quesadillas stuffed with spiced ground meat and cheese, using parathas or roti flatbreads instead of tortillas. Alternatively, the burgers were sometimes seasoned with cumin, coriander, and chili powder and topped with a sauce made from chutney.
Nishaan’s menu currently includes dishes like Pakistani Chopped Cheese, Bihari Barbacoa Tacos and Buffalo Tandoori Chicken Sandwich, as well as drinks like Mango Fizz Refresher and desserts like Dubai Chocolate Paratha Funnel Cake.
“I’m Pakistani and American,” he says. “I’m going to embrace parts of both.” When it comes to fusion cuisine, Bakrani’s guiding question is: “How do we make these flavors work together while respecting both cuisines?”
I’m Pakistani and American…I’m willing to embrace both parts.
Zeeshan Bakrani
founder of nishan
His blockbuster Pakistani chopped cheese, for example, is “more than just a kebab in a sandwich,” he says. “We’re really, really re-envisioning it.”
That means tossing the peppers and onions on the grill next to the star of the show (a 12-spice chappli kebab patty), crumbling and chopping the mixture, topping it with pepper jack and American cheese, and finally moving it all onto a buttered, toasted hero drizzled with mayonnaise, tamarind chutney, and lime-cilantro sauce.
He says that by starting with well-known foods like chopped cheese and tacos, even those unfamiliar with Pakistani flavors can get some idea of what to expect.
“I don’t want to be in the corporate world anymore.”
Bakhrani says he was laid off from two product management jobs while building Nishaan on the side.
In November 2023, several months after the first layoff, he said he was having trouble finding work and was running out of unemployment benefits. At that point, he drained his savings and started food pop-ups in cities like Dallas, Chicago, and North Brunswick, New Jersey. He found full-time work again in July 2024. A few weeks later, he says, he started selling at Smorgasburg, a food market in New York City.
This paved the way for him to participate in Season 18 of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race.” Bahrani and his two teammates were less experienced than their rivals, but he said they managed to win. He said he took home the trio’s share of the $50,000 prize, not to mention a huge confidence boost.
After that win, he recalls feeling like “the whole world was telling me to open a restaurant.”
Zeeshan Baklani offers fusion street food at Nishaan, combining traditional American and Pakistani cuisine from his childhood.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Make It
Baklani said he put $70,000 of his savings into a down payment for a location, electrical work, appliances, renovations and other costs to open the restaurant in August. He currently pays $6,150 a month in rent for the restaurant.
While Nishaan is making a profit, Bakrani says he still has no money at home and instead lives off his retirement savings and past bonuses. He considers himself a frugal person, adding that he has no debts or major expenses other than rent, and that his wife earns a steady salary as a consultant.
November was an important month for Baklani. It was the best thing ever for Nishaan. The business brought in about $140,000 in revenue that month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. It was also at this time that Baklani was fired again.
He remembers thinking, “This is a sign. I shouldn’t be in the corporate world anymore.”
Building a community
Bakrani sees Nishaan as a community space. “It’s very small, but you can comfortably sit and enjoy your meal with friends and family,” he says.
Customers enjoy late night snacks at Nishaan.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC Make It
Bakrani hopes to add cheesesteaks and chicken Caesar salad to Nishaan’s menu in the near future. “For people who eat halal, we don’t have all the options, so we want to expand into something that covers everyone,” he says. And someday, Bahrani said he hopes to open more stores, including one in New York and another in his hometown of Chicago.
Bakrani said there has been a “significant increase” in sales from the South Asian patrons who support Nishaan’s business. He wants to pay it forward, hoping that after patrons taste his fusion menu, they’ll want to try more Pakistani cuisine. When he and his colleagues recommend each other’s business to customers, “we all benefit,” he says.
On social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, Bakrani openly shares her recipes. He hopes his dishes and their videos will “enable more people to taste it, experiment with it, have their own versions, and sell them,” he says.
He said, “I hope this flavor profile continues to spread across the United States and becomes a normal part of American cuisine.”
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