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The Bradford businessman realised that, for Muslims
throughout the UK, it was almost impossible to buy
halal fast food of a consistently high quality other
than a veggie burger.
And with more than 1.5 million Muslims in the UK
(Census 2001) representing the second largest
religion and 2.8% of the population, Tariq knew
there was a huge potential market for a new fast
food offer. So in 2001 he, along with business partner Mahboob
Hussain, launched Mahmoods, one of the first halal
franchises in the UK, offering burgers, pizza and
southern fried chicken.
Since then the business has become so successful
that three further branches have opened in the last
six years, including a second branch in Bradford,
and one each in Leeds and Dewsbury.
And the company has now developed a franchise offer
to spread the Mahmoods name even further, working
with North West franchise specialist Franchise
Development Services Northern (FDS Northern).
For Tariq, the success of the business can be
clearly attributed to the development of a quality,
branded fast food offer which is completely halal.
“The Muslim population of the UK is growing, as
people settle and have families here, and they want
to enjoy the same things as other people,” he said.“And this includes enjoying foods like burgers,
pizza and chips, but the Muslim faith makes it clear
that any meat used in cooking must be slaughtered in
a halal way and this isn’t something the existing
fast food chains in the UK do.“So it seems obvious that there was an opportunity
to develop a consistently good, tasty fast food
business, which could guarantee all the meat served
was halal and respected the guidelines for preparing
food outlined in the Koran.”
The menu was developed to reflect both what was
currently available on the high street, like
McDonald's, Pizza Hut and KFC and the Asian
influences behind Mahmoods. So alongside burgers and southern fried chicken,
Mahmoods also offers a keema achar pizza and
traditional Indian kulfi ice cream.
“We wanted to offer a wide range of products rather
than specialise in burgers or pizza, because the
choice in halal food can be limited,” said Tariq.
“But we also recognised that the customer would be
looking for quality and choice in each product offer
– so for example when we developed the pizza range
it was important to have a wide selection, including
vegetarian and Indian inspired dishes.”
The food reflects the big brands in more ways than
one – all the meals are served in clearly branded
cups and boxes and there is a specially created
children’s meal, which comes with a free toy.
All the recipes on the menu are developed by a
skilled team of chefs, who source the best
ingredients and products to ensure the quality of
the end product.
The list of ingredients for all the dishes is
available to customers in the restaurants and on the
company website.
Plus Tariq and his team have worked very hard to
offer the same consistent customer experience that
is clearly demonstrated at the likes of McDonald's
and Burger King.Staff in all the branches undergo stringent training
to ensure the quality of the food is correct every
time and that the high levels of customer service
required are met at every one of the branches.
These high standards are what Tariq believes will
create the basis of the success of the franchise
offer, which the company launched in April of this
year.
“The success of our existing branches showed there
was a real market for expansion, especially in other
areas with a high Muslim population like Birmingham,
London or Leicester,” he said.
“Our customer base really is a cross section of the
community – from young Muslim families to pensioners
who are delighted at being offered a halal option to
non-Muslim people in the local community who just
love the quality of the food.
“The feedback we receive at the restaurants is that
the food tastes good and is served up hot, fresh and
well presented in a pleasant environment.
“But we wanted to be sure that we had the core brand
right before we rolled out across the UK.
“Franchising seemed the obvious option, because we
could offer new franchisees a strong product with
great growth potential and a powerful brand behind
it,” he said.
“But the team was determined to make sure the
franchise was right, because we didn’t want to risk
the brand we had already worked so hard to create.”
So Tariq and his team called in FDS Northern’s
managing director Tony Urwin, who has more than 30
years' experience in the franchising world, to help
them develop the franchise offer.
The first thing on the agenda was to create a
franchise package which offered new franchisees the
optimum level of support and training throughout
their partnership.
“After discussions with Tony we recognised that
potential franchisees may not come from a catering
background, so we needed to make sure that they hit
the ground running,” said Tariq.
“All our new recruits get four weeks’ training
working in one of our existing outlets while their
restaurant is fitted out.
“Then one of our managers will work with them on
site at their outlet for at least two weeks to make
sure they are happy.
“The franchise will then get ongoing support from a
designated manager and the in-house marketing team
to ensure the business succeeds, because we
recognise the success of our franchises is our
success.”
The second job was to put together the franchise
manual, which covers in a simple, clear step by step
way every process involved in running the business,
ranging from making the pizzas to cleaning down at
the end of the day.
“Creating the manual was a revelation for everyone
involved, because I don’t think any of us knew
exactly how much information we retained in our
heads until it was committed on paper,” said Tariq.
“We had to document everything from the recipes for
each individual dish to where each of the
ingredients was sourced from.
“Tony and his team must have asked thousands of
questions to create the manual but the end result is
fantastic and really thorough. It covers every
aspect of the business.”
Working on the launch of the franchise offer with
Tony has not only helped to create a high quality
business proposition, it has also improved the
performance of the core business, Tariq added.
“Because Tony examines every bit of the business in
such detail and makes suggestions on how to improve
the processes, it has had a real impact on our own
restaurants,” he said.
“And while developing the franchise has involved
time, money and effort, we have seen the benefits
almost from day one – now we are looking forward to
welcoming our first franchisees on board.”
Mahmoods has tapped into a growing market in
catering for different ethnic and religious groups,
according to Tony Urwin.
“Mahmoods fits the bill for several key criteria in
creating a franchise, starting with the fact that
they have identified a gap in a growing market which
is expanding at a national level,” he said.
“The business already has a strong brand identity
which can easily be replicated and recognised by the
customer base and it has a proven track record for
success.
“The Mahmoods branches which Tariq and his team run
have been a perfect ‘pilot business’ to iron out any
glitches before the franchise offer was developed
and rolled out.”
Tony is confident any new franchisee coming into the
business will receive the right support from day
one, which is essential for the success of any
franchise.
“Tariq and his team were clear from the outset that
they wanted to give every support to their new
franchisees, because the continued success of their
existing brand was to a great extent dependent on
the new stores,” he said.
“So they put in place a
robust support and training package for franchises
which will maximise the potential for success for
every new outlet from the moment the doors open.
“Adding to this is a continued commitment to
developing all the Mahmoods outlets, through menu
development, marketing support and the sharing of
best practice and I am confident the franchise
operation will succeed.”
For further information on Mahmoods visit
www.mahmoods.biz for franchise details and a
full menu.
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