MARO Tandoors, a culinary outlet, started by four young, talented individuals, offers a new take on the widely popular flatbread, commonly known as Naan. Being basically a tandoor, it provides all the products that are the norm at such places, for example roti, naan, khamiri, aloo naan, chicken naan, beef naan. Where it differentiates itself from the conventional is in its Pizza Naan, Cheese Naan and Nutella Naan, which are its specialties.

Yes, you read that right, nutella naan! You might be wondering as to how such a thing might taste. Well, you aren’t the only one; this creative idea has piqued the interest of a lot of people. For the makers, it is an east-meets-west combo -- getting the best of both worlds, as it merges our cultural food, naan, with a western one, nutella sweet chocolate.

If you are also itching to get a taste of the various naans, you could visit its first and, at the moment, only branch which is located in Model Town. It is open from 12 noon till 4:30pm and, after a gap of two hours, from 6:30pm to 10pm.

As the popularity of this freshly opened outlet grows, so does its clientele. On a random visit to the place, one finds people coming in from different parts of Lahore, be it DHA or Township, and with family and/or friends. The people seem to not just be attracted by the unique offerings but also by the standard of hygiene implemented here. While Nutella Naan remains a favourite with the younger customers, Cheese Naan comes a close second.

The people enjoy the ambience of the place and are more than satisfied with the service provided.

Founded by Ali Ahmed (the CEO), Saifullah Minhas (the CMO), Zaeem Shahid (the COO), Zain-ul-Abideen Hassan (the CFO), all of them studying at LUMS. They have been managing MARO and their studies simultaneously. Their mission statement is "to make clean rotis and naans accessible to everyone in Pakistan."

The four have had a notable journey. Ali Ahmed brought the other members together and formed a team that began researching on tandoors and laid the initial groundwork for the project. Then they encountered the LUMS Centre of Entrepreneurship (LCE), a business incubator situated inside the campus. It was a perfect platform for them to develop and nurture MARO Tandoors further. They were anxious to get a chance to be a part of the LCE. So, they presented their idea to them and, luckily for them, the management (of the LCE) was impressed. They were then welcomed to be a part of the LCE, even though its registrations had closed.

The next six months, since they joined the LCE in July 2014, they conducted intensive survey of the market and product research. They further developed the concept of MARO, perfecting it as much as they could. This was their first experience in the business world, and they also had limited financial support; hence they had to get it right the very first time.

With the help of the LCE, they were able to successfully launch the tandoor in Model Town, Lahore, in January this year.

The MARO team admits to have struggled a lot in the first two months. They were precariously close to going out of business at one point; however, they didn’t give up. They spent days and nights trying to correct their mistakes and tried to innovate ways of running the outlet, introducing products no one had ever heard of. Slowly but surely, they started gaining ground. Today, they are doing very well.

Interestingly, MARO’s adjoining building is another naan shop, which was established long before MARO and offers traditional dishes. But after the new tandoor opened, the naan shop began to feel the heat and was compelled to add products similar to MARO’s.

There is a certain curiosity attached to the name MARO. The team members say it was chosen because "it represents the passion and aggression in us as well as in the youth of Pakistan." It has proved to be quite catchy. Another aspect of their outlet’s name is that "maro" means "apna" or "my own" in Sindhi language.

Team MARO plans to expand its business and open tandoors all over Lahore. In the future, they see themselves branching out to other cities of the country also. However, their immediate next spot is a branch at LUMS. This would be their way of returning the favour.