Meet the man behind the British Kebab Awards - putting the UK industry on the map - video Dailymotion

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The British Kebab Awards celebrates those working in the kebab industry

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00:00So hello Ibrahim, thank you so much for joining today. We're just going to ask you a few questions

00:05to kind of get to know you and more about the British Kebab Awards in general. Can you just

00:10tell us about the British Kebab Awards and what they exactly celebrate? So I have started British

00:17Kebab Awards about 13 years ago, initially to give a voice to the industry, to a fast-growing industry

00:24in the UK, across the country from a small takeaway to a large sit-down restaurant and the idea was to

00:32put the kebab industry onto the map and make sure that those who are working so hard within

00:37those businesses are appreciated, acknowledged and rewarded in a way. And obviously you've kind

00:44of touched on it a bit but when you did set these awards up, what was the decision behind that and

00:49what was the aim? So I already started working in a small kebab restaurant when I was 14 years old

00:55in London in Mayfair. So and I worked there for about five years from the age of 14 to 19.

01:01It was hard work, it was long hours, you know alongside my studies and so I carried on working

01:07in that business. So but throughout those five years I have always felt there was something

01:12missing and so many people like me started as an entry-level job within this industry but there

01:18wasn't much acknowledgement or appreciation by the media or by decision makers, by larger businesses

01:24and so on. So I thought we need to come up with something that puts this industry, this growing

01:30industry onto the map and that people working within those industries across the country

01:35feel supported, feel appreciated. And for 2025, obviously the British Kebab Awards have been going

01:42for quite some time now like you said, can we expect to see anything new? So this year what

01:48happened is numbers of businesses nominated have gone into a huge record number now. So we would

01:56normally get five to eight thousand nominations from businesses across the country. This year we

02:02have over nine thousand nominations coming to you. So to bring that down to 200, 220 businesses onto

02:09the finals requires a huge job. It's a lot of time going through these businesses, going through

02:16their food hygiene ratings, identifying the public support for them, checking their google reviews

02:21and all that takes a lot of time. But we have managed to bring that down to 200 businesses

02:25and there are many new businesses who are newcomers to the awards and they have made it

02:31to the finals for the first time this year. And what do you think it is about kebabs and the British

02:36kebabs industry in general that is so special? I think the quality of ingredients and product

02:43we can reach, we can tap into in Britain is amazing. Welsh lamb, Scottish beef is the best

02:48product you can have for a meat sort of based kebab. But as you would know, kebab is not just

02:55about meat. There's a growing number of vegan kebabs across the country. Kebab is literally

03:00a cooking method. That's amazing and it's really interesting because I don't think a lot of people

03:05realise that is what makes a kebab. What in your opinion would be an amazing kebab? What do you

03:11think makes a good kebab? So for me it's always a lamb. It's a Welsh lamb. The lamb has to be from Wales.

03:18The marination technique has to include tomato paste and pepper paste and so on and

03:24then you've got to grill it really carefully, delicately in a way for about seven to eight

03:30minutes on a charcoal. That makes a delicious lamb shish kebab for me and that's my favourite.

03:35As you know it is a challenging time for restaurants and small business owners currently.

03:40What do you think is needed to support them in the current climate that we're in?

03:44So the biggest problem is the cost of running business which is becoming harder and harder.

03:49I think you know government could start with for example abolishing the business rates for

03:54high street based businesses. Government can look into reducing divinity on food. I mean you know

03:59if they don't want to do this on all consumption, outdoor consumption in a way, food and drink,

04:05they could start you know using other countries examples and bring the VAT on food from 20% to

04:10maybe 10% to start with and then this can help the consumer. The product price will go down

04:16so there will be more consumption. This will help growth. This will help businesses to make more

04:20money which will mean they will hire more people or they will invest to create new businesses.

04:25I think you know small businesses are the backbone of this country's economy and it's key.

04:31It's very important that the government you know supports

04:34provide practical measures to support small businesses across the country.

Meet the man behind the British Kebab Awards - putting the UK industry on the map

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