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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.