After Perween Warsi moved to the UK from India she became increasingly dissatisfied with what the Brits passed off as her home country’s cuisine.
In 1986, she began her mission to rectify the situation by making finger foods for her local takeaway, but from day one it was always her vision to have the whole nation enjoy her traditional recipes.
“It was very challenging at the start,” says Warsi. “I was still at home in my little kitchen when I began knocking on supermarket doors. It took a few months to convince them to look at my products, but then I beat the competition in taste tests.“I set up a small factory and my products were in Asda six months later.” It was with Asda that she developed the Curry Pot concept for the deli.
As founder and CEO of chilled ready meals manufacturer S&A Foods, Warsi is now running a £70m operation with 800 employees, with numerous business awards under her belt. Warsi has also extended her successful formula to Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and American cuisine, and travels extensively to look for new trends.
She says: “My aim has always been to constantly come up with new ideas to keep excitement in the category – never let the consumer feel there is nothing new going on. “I have always been good at spotting what the consumer wants. “I look ahead well in advance and I have got exciting new ranges coming out. “I decided to diversify into other types of cuisine because of the company’s strength in terms of flavours and innovation, so I brought in good chefs to work on the products. “Each cuisine has to be authentic, so that meant I had to bring in real experts to help me create that. “I enjoy learning and my goal is to learn every minute of every day.”
In 1986, she began her mission to rectify the situation by making finger foods for her local takeaway, but from day one it was always her vision to have the whole nation enjoy her traditional recipes.
“It was very challenging at the start,” says Warsi. “I was still at home in my little kitchen when I began knocking on supermarket doors. It took a few months to convince them to look at my products, but then I beat the competition in taste tests.“I set up a small factory and my products were in Asda six months later.” It was with Asda that she developed the Curry Pot concept for the deli.
As founder and CEO of chilled ready meals manufacturer S&A Foods, Warsi is now running a £70m operation with 800 employees, with numerous business awards under her belt. Warsi has also extended her successful formula to Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and American cuisine, and travels extensively to look for new trends.
She says: “My aim has always been to constantly come up with new ideas to keep excitement in the category – never let the consumer feel there is nothing new going on. “I have always been good at spotting what the consumer wants. “I look ahead well in advance and I have got exciting new ranges coming out. “I decided to diversify into other types of cuisine because of the company’s strength in terms of flavours and innovation, so I brought in good chefs to work on the products. “Each cuisine has to be authentic, so that meant I had to bring in real experts to help me create that. “I enjoy learning and my goal is to learn every minute of every day.”
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