Shicken Satvinder Bains

Name: Satvinder Bains

Job title: COO & Founder

Company: Shicken Foods

What was your first job? Sales assistant at Poundstretcher.

What’s been your worst job interview? Yellow Pages: they thought I was too young and not pushy enough for sales. I always feel any product I’m selling should be solving a problem. However, I ended up getting the job and got my first mortgage secured from it!

What was the first music single you bought? New Kids On The Block – The Right Stuff.

How do you describe your job to your friends? Jack of all trades. Most local people know me as the Shicken Kebab lady.

What is the most rewarding part of your job? Working with people – I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love making people happy and putting a smile on anyone’s face, whether customers, our work family, suppliers – or a delivery driver who turns up.

What is the least rewarding part? People that let me down. I put everything into what we do and I take it personally when I’m let down.

What is your motto in life? People buy people.

If you were allowed one dream perk, what would it be? An extra day in the week.

Do you have any phobias? Spiders. I have to shout for my dad even now.

If you could change one thing in grocery, what would it be? Increase in choice and availability of Indian plant-based food, our family have limited options at mealtimes.

What luxury would you have on a desert island? A photo album as family is everything to me.

What animal most reflects your personality? A koala, because I love hugs.

What’s your favourite film and why? The Magnificent Seven. I grew up watching all the John Wayne films with my Bibi -Gi (grandma) who barely understood English but she still loved them.

What has been the most embarrassing moment in your life? Walking into a glass panel in Bluewater shopping centre. It had been polished so clear I didn’t see the glass panel alongside the glass door and I went flying into it. My husband was crying with laughter.

Which celebrity would you most like to work with and why? Romesh Ranganathan. I love his sense of humour and would love to cook alongside his mum.

What would your death row meal be? Anything homemade by mum, but I especially love her samosas.

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