When Second World War veteran Mirza Khan used his pension funds to set up a family grocery shop in Bradford few would have predicted just how successful the business would go on to be.
By Annette McIntyre
Over the course of around 40 years the shop on Little Horton Lane has developed to become the UK’s largest group of specialist catering cash and carry outlets, with nine outlets serving thousands of customers every week.
From its humble beginnings Adams Foodservice now has outlets across the North, as well as in Birmingham and Nottingham, with a current turnover of around £80 million.
It’s a fantastic success story brought about by the vision and hard work of the business’s founder and his family.
Adams’ current Finance Director Mohammed Kola said: “The company was originally set up using the pension funds of Mr Mirza Khan, an ex soldier who fought for Britain in World War 2. He used his pension funds along with funds from his sons to set up the original business. The sole purpose of Mr Khan’s original investment was to keep the family together. The pooled funds helped buy property in 1982 on Little Horton Lane, and the shop traded as Fresh Fare.”
Mr Khan was born in 1922 when India was under the rule of the British Empire. He had come to Britain in the 1950s after service in the British Army and fighting in the Burma campaign. He won a number of bravery awards, including the George Medal, from the British armed forces and he went on to serve in the army of Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
After Mr Khan’s son Amjad Pervez took over the running of the shop, it grew to incorporate several shops in the same row. Amjad boosted the grocery business by gearing its stock to the tastes and needs of the large local Afro-Caribbean and Asian population – and business began to boom.
Soon he was seeking new customers among local restaurants and takeaways. And he identified a niche, setting up Seafresh to deliver seafood – and especially prawns – to local food establishments.
In a previous interview with the Telegraph and Argus Amjad said: “We were developing Seafresh at a time when the mills were closing down and many ethnic people used redundancy money to set up takeaways and other food businesses. The rising popularity of package holidays also increased people’s taste for different types of food. I had worked closely with frozen food firm Fullers in Leeds who gave me some good advice that helped us progress in an emerging market.”
The business grew still further after customers began asking Seafresh to also supply other products such as oil, rice and flour. This in turn led to its expansion into cash and carry, with the first outlet opening in 1995 on Thorncliffe Road.
The new cash and carry arm of the business was called Adams.
Mohammed said: “Amjad Pervez who was the then managing director introduced frozen seafood, specialising in king prawns, the business evolved into the fondly known Seafresh Wholesale Distributors. As the business has grown to nine sites the focus shifted from seafood to more generic foodservice items used in hospitality. The business is now proudly known as Adams Foodservice Trading Ltd.
And although the company has moved away from being a family business in some ways, there is still a very strong family involvement.
“Out of the five brothers two remain as directors, and six of their children are currently working in the business,” Mohammed said. “The business has transitioned away from being a family business to be run by an experienced management team, this has enabled the business to grow and transition. The management team has managed to introduce a solid structure for growth.”
He added: “The company has experienced steady growth over the years, in the last few years the company has fast tracked its ambitions and the company has benefited with it reflecting in the company’s turnover figures. The current turnover is circa £80 million.
“The high point for the business was to introduce its first satellite store in Preston in 2002,” Mohammed said.
“The initial move allowed the company to transition from being a single site operation to operating a number of sites nationwide.”
It now has two outlets in Bradford as well as outlets in Preston, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and Hull, and it employs more than 200 staff.
Over its decades of trading the company has diversified and now stocks a huge range of frozen, chilled, fresh and ambient food products. Its product range also includes packaging and cleaning items.
“The product range has evolved as the business has grown over the years,” Mohammed said. “We now supply everything you would find in a food kitchen from supplying the cleaning products to the ingredients required to make gastronomic masterpieces.
“We have over 5000 customers including other wholesalers. Our best selling products are products we introduced into the market which we sell in our own brands.”
The company won Royal recognition for its work during Covid when it helped to ensure the continuity of food supplies.
Mohammed said: “Working with local MPs and leading international suppliers we became an important element of the essential industries, ensuring a consistent supply of food for the most vulnerable through donations to local food banks and hard hit homes, as well as ensuring local food outlets had the stock they required to work through Covid.
“A proud moment for the company was to be invited for an audience with King Charles in which he commended the organisation for the work it did through Covid.”
The company, together with Avant Water, also supplied 1,000 bottles to NHS Bradford when they put out an urgent request for bottled water during the pandemic.
Adams Foodservice is also proud of its work on sustainability and with charities.
Mohammed said: “The company has charity and being green at its heart. The company recycles 99 per cent of its waste and has a fleet of electric company vehicles. It also has solar panels on its major sites.
“In relation to charities the company over the last ten years has helped charities raise over £2.5million in donations through introducing the cake campaign. The company facilitates the sale of cakes with the proceeds going to charity.”
The cake campaign, organised by Islamic Relief UK, delivers chocolate fudge cake to people’s doors during Ramadan, with all proceeds going to the organisation’s ongoing Syria Appeal. Since the conflict began, Islamic Relief has delivered more than £350 million worth of aid inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.
The company has also donated essential items to charities such as the Friary, a Nottingham-based charity which works to end homelessness.
It has also been a part of the Bradford free school meals initiative, which aimed to provide 5,000 free meals during October half-term.
The company prides itself on its relationship with its customers and says it is proud to serve the community.
On its website it says: “We’re specialists in the provision of quality products for all the main catering markets including Fast Food, Indian, Chinese, and traditional Fish and Chips.
“We are a food and drink supplier who work with some of the world’s biggest brands to provide excellent prices on key products, covering ambient, fresh, chilled and frozen foods.
“We provide all the essentials that a takeaway or restaurant may require and can cater towards your every business need.”
Adams Foodservice opened its doors to the catering world back in 1985. Since then it has prided itself on offering the highest quality of products and services.
Its plans for the future will build on the impressive growth it has achieved so far.
Mohammed said: “The plan is for the business to expand rapidly over the next three to five years, we have acquired new strategic sites which will help with the growth. The company is also in the process of taking on further high profile members of the team to help with the growth.”
Last year Mirza Khan celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by his six children, 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Amjad Pervez described his father as “overjoyed” when he opened a card from Queen Elizabeth II.
Paying tribute to him, he said: “He belongs to a first generation of overseas Pakistanis who – with courage, grit, determination and self-sacrifices – lay down the strong foundations upon which we here in UK and Pakistan stand to benefit economically, politically and socially.”
