AN independent Bradford fast food chain is marking 25 years of serving customers.
Mahmoods, founded by CEO Tariq Mahmood, is celebrating a quarter of a century in business today after opening its first branch on Great Horton Road in 2001.
Mr Mahmood launched the business to address what he saw as a lack of consistency and professionalism in the independent fast food market.
He said: “That was something I wanted to achieve, you know, give the customers an experience.”
In particular, he noted that few chains offered halal food without concerns over cross contamination.
He said: “We’ve just been progressing since. We started the second one on Leeds Road, third one we went to Leeds, fourth was Oak Lane, fifth was Nottingham and then we did the Keighley shop.”
Marking the anniversary, Mr Mahmood reflected on the journey.
He said: “I’m proud of every day. Every day is a different challenge when you work for yourself.
“When I first started, I used to do a double shift. That’s 16 hours of operating. Sometimes I used to go and have a little kip in the car just to sort of catch up and recharge the batteries.
“We have put our blood and sweat into the business.”
He credited the people of Bradford for supporting the business from the beginning.
He said: “Bradford has been so good to us. We’re Bradford lads and we started our operation here.
“It’s an amazing place to do business and we have some amazing people here as well.”
Mr Mahmood also praised the dedication of his long-serving staff.
He said: “We’ve got staff that we’ve had employed for 25 years. Three people that were with me from day one. That speaks volumes of our business.”
To mark the anniversary, Mahmoods will offer the first 100 customers at each branch a free cheeseburger meal.
A buy-one-get-one-free offer will also run across all products from July 27 to 30.
“We’ve never done an offer like that before” he said.
On what might be in store for the next 25 years, Mr Mahmood said: “As a business we’re looking at expanding as well, we have got a few things in the pipeline.”
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He recently welcomed his son, Mohammad Ibrahim, into the business, who he said will be key to future plans.
He said: “Younger blood have different ideas and whatnot, so he’s going to push the business forward.”
