FIRST ROADSHOW AND LAUNCH of ‘The Catering Circle’ TO DISCUSS HOW TO SAVE THE CURRY HOUSES OF THE FUTURE

Everyone has a favourite ‘ curry house’ and Curry is one of Britain’s most loved food. Currently it is a huge industry generating over £4.1 billion for the economy with over 15,000 outlets in the UK. Yet the industry is struggling to survive. Agroup of around 100 Southend curry houses and businesses gathered to discuss the slow death ofthe curry house in Britain.

 

The event looked at how ‘Curry’ has become an integral part of British culture yet the

Curry Industry faces an epidemic crisis -threatened with lack of chefs, staffshortages, tax rises, escalating business costs and the emergence of technology resulting in the potential death of the traditional curry house. The first Roadshow of

‘The Catering Circle’ took place at theCafe Masala, The Broadway in Southend with eminent speakers from the Bangladeshi Caterers

Association and Channel S TV. Key Speakers such as Mr. Pasha Khondokar, Mr Enam Ali MBE, Mr. Bajloor Rashid MBE, Mrs Sadia Hussain JPas well as experts across a number of fields advising business owners on a whole range of subjects from immigration, the legal sector, technology and keeping up to date with your accounts.

 

Mr. Ahmed Us Samad Chowdhury JP, Chairman of Channel S and Chief Adviser for the Catering Circle  said:

 

“Bangladeshi’s have been at the forefront of contributing to British society by creating this vibrant industry- Curry has gone on to become one of Britain’s most loved

cuisines. With many Bangladeshi’s arriving in Britain in the1950s -the curry house

has been the first stepping stone in building their futures and that of their children’s in

Britain. It now stands as a symbol of pride in their history and heritage. Yet is dying

and we need to take steps to save it”

 

Mr. Abdul Haque, Founder of Catering Circle and Vice Chairman of Channel

S said:

“ The concept of the programme came to me as I realised the industry was suffering. What better way to unite everyone by creating a TV show that looks at the burning issues within the industry? Coming from an IT background I realised how important it is for curry house owners to get up to speed with technology in order to make their

businesses more efficient and cost-effective.  We hope to take this Roadshow into

the heart of the communities and our next stop will be Birmingham. By engaging with the grass roots catering staff we will be able to understand and produce a well informed TV programme- as well as include the voice of the Curry House owners”

 

The 1st Roadshow in Southend will be followed by a TV programme exploring the burning issues within the curry industry. The show called ‘ The Catering Circle’ is due to be broadcast this summer on one of the UK’s leading Channels dedicated to the Bangladeshi community- Channel S (Sky 814) in association with Purple-I Technologies.