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Variety
is the spice of life for Midland curry king Abdul Salam and now he
has his own factory to prove it.
Abdul, who won a place in the
Guinness Book of Records for the world's biggest curry in 2005, has
branched out into specialist sauce making after 25 years at the helm
of his Eastern Eye restaurant in Lichfield.
While his Staffordshire
restaurant continues to be popular, his new Masterchef UK factory in
Lichfield is pumping out 5,000 jars of paste a week.
Abdul's authentic Indian
restaurant sauces are available at selected locations throughout the
UK and now the Bangladeshi entrepreneur is targeting the mainstream
supermarket sector to increase the paste's profile.
"I have been working for
37 years in the restaurant trade but running the factory is a totally
different world for me," he said.
"Most people in the
Indian restaurant market use pastes and curry sauces but I always
thought that I could do better than the ones already on the market.
At the moment we make eight curry sauces and eight pastes and we are
looking to add other products, such as poppadoms, spices and pickles."
"Since April, we have
sold over £180,000 worth of products for use in the UK and we
also have orders lined up from Germany, Switzerland, Spain and elsewhere."
Abdul's factory in Eastern
Avenue, Lichfield, currently employs around 20 full-time staff and he
hopes to increase the workforce to up to 100 depending on demand.
"I did my homework before
launching into the market - I visited India to research the
authenticity of spices and also travelled to the Middle East and Africa,"
he added. "Our products are now being used by people
throughout the UK's catering sector."
Abdul has now put his son Mamun
in charge of running Eastern Eye while he concentrates on the
Masterchef UK business.
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