Indian food in Britain is a money-spinner

Monday, 02 February 2004, 20:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
LONDON: Indian food in Britain is a money-spinner and considered one of the quickest ways to reach the millionaire club -- and now a mother-son duo has proved this once again. Yasmeen and Mamum Rashid started their meal company four years ago, and today is one of the largest in the business. It has also received royal approval from Prince Charles. Charles has found the company's ideas so tasty that in February the small manufacturer will unveil a new range, this time of chilled English dishes, produced specially for HRH's Duchy Originals label. Deals with Duchy, Sainsbury's and other big names in the pipeline are an indication that the four-year-old Organic India is a rapidly rising star in the competitive ready-meals firmament. Yasmeen and Mamun Rashid, who employ a 31-member staff, say the company's one million pounds turnover is expected to touch six million pounds by 2007. The company's gleaming factory in Enfield, Middlesex, will produce 50,000 meals this year. "We've taken a colossal bet," says Mamun, 34, who used his skills as a former financial trader to make a detailed analysis of the organic-meals market before pitching one million pounds of his family's restaurant money into the venture. "We were in the Indian food trade and we could have positioned Organic India in that way but then we would not be any different from many other companies," he explains. "Working in the financial sector helped me understand the weaknesses and strengths of a market and plan accordingly. The explosion in organics is the real commercial opportunity and continual food scares only underline that. "We are an organic-meals manufacturer, that is the key to our growth and scope. As merely a dedicated Indian meals company we would never have landed the prestigious Duchy contract." The Rashids have the capital and the facilities but they also have another jewel in their crown - the mother-and-son boardroom relationship. When each is asked about the benefits of this family team, they give the same answer. "It is equal: there is no power struggle, perhaps because we are mother and son," says Yasmeen. "We utterly respect each other," says Mamun. "There are no knives to fear, nothing to prove, only trust. We talk until we agree."
Source: IANS