ukORGANIC FOOD,
ukORGANIC FOOD,
INindianSTYLE
Applying a city brain to the
curry market has paid
dividends for one
entrepreneur, as
Michael Wale discovers
MAMUN Rashid is an unlikely candidate as a supporter of British farming. Only a year ago he was a city derivatives dealer, but then he had an idea that was to link him closely to British farming.
In true city style he had looked at figures that told him the organic food sector was growing quickly, and that the Indian restaurant business throughout the UK was turning over £2bn/year. His idea was to merge the two, and so Organic India was started last July to provide ready-made frozen Indian meals with organic ingredients.
Fortunately for British farming, Mamun had also taken into account another factor in the organic retail market, that British housewives preferred ingredients produced in their own country rather than abroad, which is how he first found himself in the East Sussex countryside visiting an organic chicken farm.
He recalls: "I spent a whole day there, while we went through the problems of raising chickens, which is fascinating up to a point."
Mamun certainly learned quickly as he toured the land in search of larger suppliers, as the business future of Organic India began to grow, after taking a stand at Organex, the annual organic food and drink trade show at Olympia last October.
* Three directors
The 31-year-old, who is one of Organic Indias three directors, enthuses about British produce as he leads me around the firms Enfield base in North London. He holds up a potato and points at his chefs slicing onions saying: "They come from the same farm in Lincolnshire – Woodlands run by Kevin Davies. I got in touch with him and he came down to see me with all these samples of cauliflowers, which we buy in season, potatoes and onions. I ordered stuff immediately, the only problem was he delivered at 5.30am the next morning, which was terrific, but it taught me that farmers are willing to get up early."
For lamb he went to Wales, because he wanted very lean meat – a good curry must not be fatty. But he came across his present supplier literally in a London street. "I was in a shop called Simply Organic, when I came out I saw this red van with the words Welsh Hook on the side of it and the key words Welsh lamb. They are in Pembrokeshire, and I wrote their phone number down, and rang them up," he explains. "I went down there and tasted their lamb, it was fantastic, beautiful. Ive always preferred Welsh lamb to eat. Now they supply our lamb."
* Chicken ingredient
The other key ingredient he needed was chicken – hundreds of kilos of skinless breast fillet a month. This is supplied by Mark and David Gortons farm in Attleborough, who specialise in traditionally-reared Norfolk poultry.
Mamun has deserted his office and put on a white coat, to share his delight in his products as they are made. He proffers samples of chicken, lamb and even cooked potato, which is Desiree, and watches with pride as I am enjoy the fruits of British farming.
* Italian rice
His rice is imported, from Italy, and naturally all the oriental spices that are needed for dishes like Lamb Korma, Chicken Jalfrezi, Vegetable Curry, Chicken Lemon Korma and Lamb Hindustani, which have just been introduced to Organic Indias range. The smell of these dishes being cooked is mouthwatering, before they are wheeled into the blast chiller, which handles 700lbs at a time, and eventually the staff add the colourful packaging.
He admits he has had offers to source chicken from Denmark and France, but has not taken them up, although they would be cheaper, saying that he is quite satisfied with the quality of what he currently buys.
Already he has views of why British farmers are often up against it price-wise when competing with their counterparts in other parts of Europe. Mamun says with his City background brain engaged: "The weakness in the farming infrastructure here, and why British farmers get such a raw deal, is as far as I can make out, that there are plenty of farms, but there are very few abattoirs. The farmer suffers every time he has to pay to get his cattle, lambs, sheep and even chickens transported to be killed. You have all these lorries, which have to be paid for, criss-crossing the countryside.
* Contrast to Europe
"That is in direct contrast with their European counterparts, where farms, abattoirs, and wholesalers are all in one big complex. All these parts of the supply chain have merged, and serve their local communities. Here the farmer is paying for the cost of raising organic chickens, which is higher because of the longer life span, the slaughter and transport."
He also feels the public should be made more aware of the breed of chicken they are buying. He has, he says, found over 50 breeds of chicken. "But when people go into a supermarket they are offered free range, organic, battery, or corn fed. They arent breeds of chicken. In France they use a particular breed to make Coq au Vin, and it has to be a particular age. Years ago I remember a guy in Soho opening a rotisserie just to sell roast chicken. It was the best chicken I had ever tasted at the time, and when I asked him about it, he told me he bought them especially in France."
Mind you Organic India is about to turn the tables on the French. They are meeting with the giant Monoprix supermarket chain in February to first of all supply the store in Paris taken over from Marks and Spencer, which is retaining its British theme, and then, hopefully, roll out their supply across France.