The recipe for entrepreneurial success: An exclusive interview with Suleman Raza MBE
By Swarupa Tripathy
In the world of hospitality and philanthropy, there are few individuals who can boast a journey as inspiring as Suleman Raza’s.
As a successful entrepreneur in the hospitality industry, Raza is the recipient of double honours from the late Queen. He received a Member of the British Empire (MBE) medal in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his service to business and charity during Covid-19, and the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services for his work with not for profit initiative – Spice Village Uplyft. Additionally, he has many firsts under his belt including hosting the first-ever Iftar party at No. 10 Downing Street earlier this year.
From humble beginnings as a dishwasher to becoming a successful restaurateur and dedicated philanthropist, his story is a testament to the power of determination, ambition, and unwavering faith.
Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, he dreamed of creating a better life for himself abroad and took the plunge at the age of 18 when he travelled to the UK.
Soon after he arrived, Raza’s culinary odyssey started with humble beginnings. As a young man, he set out with a singular aspiration: to make a mark in the world. His initial foray into the restaurant industry took him into the role of a dishwasher, a job that many might consider too menial. However, it was during these early years of toil that he learned one of life’s most valuable lessons: no work is too small.
Whilst working as a dishwasher, he met a “kind” Pakistani chef who started teaching him the basics of cooking. “I was always fascinated with the combination of spices and everything. So, slowly and steadily I learned a lot about cooking and that’s when I started dreaming about opening my own restaurant,” he says. As he ascended the culinary ladder, absorbing knowledge and refining his skills, Raza began to see the potential that the world of food and hospitality had to offer. He soon transformed his passion into a thriving career. The stage was set for something truly extraordinary.
In 2004, Raza, with the help of his brother, Nasir Shahbaz, turned his dream into a reality after opening the first restaurant – Spice Village. “It was only a 15 seater takeaway restaurant. So, with the help of family and friends, we borrowed some money and managed to set up our own restaurant,” he explains. He reminisces the times when he and his brother would do everything to keep the restaurant running. This included cleaning, mopping the floors and even dishwashing.
Owing to their passion and dedication, the business started to take off. He credits the “effort and love” put into the restaurant as the reason behind the early success. Customers were in awe of Raza’s style of cooking authentic Pakistani dishes. After a period of time he managed to sustain a loyal customer base, and built a team that was well trained and well-versed with his method of cooking.
Eventually, the business expanded and new branches were set up, after which he ventured into “the hotel business and banqueting business”. Today, he employs over 200 staff with his group including “restaurants to catering for all the events, event management, as well as our own hotel and banqueting business”.
Although success came early to Raza, he reveals that this journey is not devoid of struggles and roadblocks. To start off, he did not have any “resources” to set up his own business and had to take out loans from his friends and family. He adds, “I remember in the early days how me and my brother used to sit over a table pretending to be the customers, giving an impression to people walking by in front of our restaurant, that there are some people present at the restaurant, let’s go in. The moment they would walk in, we would stand up, greet them and start serving them.”
During the daunting phase of business expansion, Raza was again faced with multiple challenges. Some of the issues that he had to resolve included sourcing more investments for the business and ensuring the consistency of their product, which meant putting enormous amount of time and effort into the business. The biggest challenge, however, was “cutting down on our social life, missing out on our birthdays or family birthdays, children and their parent-teacher meetings”.
The lack of knowledge about Pakistani food in a country where people have only ever tasted and heard of Indian food, was an additional barrier initially. But, today, Raza says that his brand is especially popular among the Pakistani community in the UK. He adds, “You know, it’s like when you arrive in the country, you have a checklist of the places you’ll be visiting. So that brings a huge challenge and responsibility, which requires and demands a lot of hard work, which we still put in to this day.”
The seasoned entrepreneur is proud of how far he has come after overcoming all the problems that came his way. “These challenges actually make the journey so worthwhile. When you look back on them, you kind of reminisce and think, ‘Oh my God, we did this and we did that and look how far we’ve come’,” he states.
Raza is an inspiration to many in the country and the world over; the epitome of passion, hard work and chivalry, he has set an example of what an industry leader should encompass. He humbly admits that despite all the success and accolades coming his way, he has always admired others who have made it big in their respective fields. He says, “So in the early days, I used to still look at some of the celebrity chefs, how they act and how they’re promoting their brands. For instance, celebrity chef, Atul Kochhar was one of my idols. But then later on, I got more into the entrepreneurship and I still look up to James Caan, who is one of the leading entrepreneurs in the country. There are a few others of course… the burning desire of achieving more has always been there.”
Suleman Raza and his businesses have become household brands today, attracting celebrities and high profile individuals from across the world. With that, he admits, that he has to handle huge responsibilities. He overlooks everything from quality control to the delivery of service to ensure the operation of the business is up to the standards.
He explains the processes within the company that are followed to ensure the best results. “There are processes which I monitor on weekly and monthly basis. There are departments such as accounts, quality control department, HR department, sales, which are also very incredible parts of our business. Generally the department heads always report to me. We have a monthly reporting system in place where they report their performances and then we set up the next tasks or next targets they need to achieve.” He firmly believes that his team has played a big role in propelling the business forward to new heights and milestones adding that they are always on the “look out for new ideas, how we can improve the company’s current business model as well as adopt a new innovative way”.
When asked what has changed for him since he has achieved so much fame, he says that the main difference between the present and the past is that back then even though he put in a lot of effort and hard work, he had nothing to lose. But after getting a lot of media attention, especially after receiving an MBE this year as well as the Queen’s Award last year, he knows that he has a lot of notable duties to fulfill. “Now I feel I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders because since these titles have been awarded, you have to act more responsibly,” he remarks.
He goes on to reveal how this has changed his approach towards the business as well as its expansion. He says, “I’m pretty much very careful now in terms of how I come across. Even when I’m looking at expanding the brand. So now with all these responsibilities I feel if I look back five years or 10 years, I would have been very aggressive in my approach. But now, we’re much more responsible in terms of carrying out the research.”
Raza, who still maintains strong ties with his home country – Pakistan, expresses his gratitude to the British people as well as the members of his family and friends for their unwavering support. After receiving so much love and help from others, he decided that he would take up initiatives to do the same for those who need it the most. “I’m a Muslim – you give one and in a good way, you get 10 back. So, that fundamental principle has been pretty much the ethos of our business and my character from the day when we started our business or even while growing up, even with the limited resources, we were doing whatever we could,” he says. From the very start, he decided that a certain portion of profits from the business would go “towards charitable work”. He began to “feed a lot of homeless people outside our restaurant”, took excess food to homeless food banks or distributed them to the homeless on the streets.
For him, the connection between food and philanthropy runs deep. He views food not just as a means of pleasure but also as a tool for change. His most well-known project – ‘One Million Meals’ – put him under the spotlight and gave him the much-deserved recognition for his work. As part of this project, he decided to provide food to those working in the frontlines of the healthcare sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. After he started sending meals regularly to one hospital, several others who were struggling took note and approached him for assistance.
He realised that this was not just a local problem, but rather a national issue. He mentions, “I reached out to some of my friends to see how they can support. Because of my hospitality experience, I knew a lot of restaurants up and down the country. So I reached out to them if they can support the local hospital. They graciously accepted it.” Some celebrities also endorsed the cause. He highlighted David Beckham, who is a mutual acquaintance; Raza reached out to him, and he generously shared fundraising appeals on his social media platforms. This significantly bolstered the campaign, as it garnered the attention of mainstream media, ultimately attracting major donors such as Santander Bank, Waitrose, and Marks & Spencer, among many others. He shook hands with numerous brands that joined him in providing support, offering various contributions including beverages, meals, and financial backing to sustain the cause.
He also introduced a campaign to “include a lot of diversity and inclusion work” called Spice Village Uplyft. As a part of this initiative, he has managed to offer jobs to young people from South Asia who have limited command over English. “We also financially help them, help them get into schools, colleges or universities, reach out to our friends circle to support their funding for universities. At the same time we offer them work experience, make them chefs and train them in skills that help them grow in their career.” He has also contributed to the British Asian community by collaborating with the Royal Army to recruit capable individuals who can achieve great heights by making a career in this field.
The 43-year-old’s vision for the future is nothing short of inspirational. On the philanthropic front, he wants to eliminate homelessness from this country completely. He makes a bold statement, “Supporting the local communities is more important than supporting people back home because these are the people you see you come across every day and as a Muslim, our first duty is to look around us, not the people who are behind the wall or in other countries.” But, he stresses that putting an end to poverty and homelessness is his primary goal.
When it comes to his business, Raza intends to make Pakistani cuisine so popular, that it has “its own identity not just in the UK, but internationally”. He also aims to raise awareness within the Pakistani restaurant industry, encouraging establishments to proudly represent their true identity rather than adopting misleading labels. He believes that authentic representation can lead to greater recognition and appreciation of the diverse culinary heritage within the UK. To achieve this goal, he wants to be the first to set up “a Michelin star restaurant somewhere in the central London myself because currently there’s none from Pakistani origin.”
As an individual who has overcome challenges and achieved remarkable success, he has valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those looking to start their own restaurants in the UK. Before signing off, he says that he hopes to “empower and inspire the youth to come up, come forward, maybe start their own business in hospitality, restaurant, food establishment, whatever they want to do, and I want to create a lot of knowledge and awareness in that” through his podcast.
He advises that young business owners need to do a thorough research before venturing into food business. “Make sure you do carry out your research before getting into this business, because one of the key things which makes this business successful is your commitment,” he says. He adds that one needs to put more emphasis on the idea behind the business rather than where to source the funds from. “Main thing should be working on your idea. How strong is your concept? Once your concept is strong, the funding would be there. And then the commitment part is giving those hours and hours to the business, making sure that the business operates properly and invest into your staff,” he stresses. He concludes by again cautioning aspirants to not get completely caught up “in the machinery, plant, ambience, furniture” but focus on “investing into your staff” as that will make or break the business.
Raza’s striking journey from humble beginnings to a restaurateur and philanthropist is a testament to the power of resilience, determination and giving back to the community. His story serves as an inspiration for many in the British Asian community who dare to dream big and work hard to achieve their goals while making a positive impact on the world around them.
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