His vision has paid off with a rapidly expanding chain of restaurants and a halal butchery, filling a delicious niche in the community. As his chain has expanded so have the services WM New Zealand provides.
Initially referred to WM New Zealand through a friend in 2022, Rizwan was introduced to Commercial Sales Specialist Iren Kohli to get waste services for his first restaurant in Papatoetoe. The initial requirement was simply for a general waste front-end skip, collecting all the restaurant’s waste.
As Rizwan’s businesses – all located within a tight radius in a busy commercial precinct of Papatoetoe – have expanded at a rapid rate, his waste services have needed to keep pace.
Iren worked to set up recycling services to deal with the large volumes of cardboard and plastic wrap waste from the sites, recovering these from landfill, as well as separating out food waste from the butchery.
With the popularity of his first restaurant soaring, Rizwan expanded his business with Khanz Fusion Buffet Restaurant located just 250m from his first location – bringing together authentic Mediterranean flavours with South Asian, Southwestern, and Pacific influences, resulting in a bold and delicious fusion of tastes.
The generous serving sizes and the popularity of the fusion concept saw the need for dedicated cardboard recycling alongside the general waste bins – all collected twice weekly.
Rizwan also saw a need to meet customer demand for quality meats, artisanal small goods, and fresh produce, leading him to open a superette and halal butchery adjacent to his first restaurant, to conveniently serve the local Muslim community.
With a focus on sustainability and ethical practices, Khanz Butchery staff now utilise – alongside larger front load skips for general waste and cardboard – three food waste wheelie bins. The food scraps and waste collected from the butchery are sent to a composting facility, ensuring it doesn’t simply end up in landfill.
WM has been able to quickly offer new, competitively priced services as the Khanz chain has grown; Iren and the sales team also work hard to ensure things run smoothly, responding quickly to any requests.
“It’s all about the trust between WM and the Khanz groups of restaurants,” Rizwan says. “Whenever I need to open a new business, I just need to send an email to WM – they know my requirements.”
We do have a plan to expand our business as a franchise. We are expanding; that means WM will be with us forever.
Rizwan Ullah Butt
Owner - Khanz Restaurant Group
