Aspire Foods has a Taste for Business

A Rochdale business hopes to capitalise on the growing popularity of frozen Halal cuisine such as Italian, Mexican, English and Greek convenience foods.

Aspire foods has launched a new range of Halal Italian foods under the brand "Halal Italian". The company is manufacturing frozen halal pizzas and lasagnes to satisfy the growing demands of second and third generation Asians, who can now look forward to the best in western cuisines.

Younis Ali, Managing Director of Aspire Foods, hit upon his business idea while working in Telecoms around Europe "As a Muslim I had to choose the vegetarian options whenever I was abroad and realised that there were many people in the same boat, I've done a lot of research and found nothing like this in the market." His concern was that the market was lacking quality authentic halal western food. Younis discovered that there was a large cottage industry trying to provide Halal western food without quality branding.

Younis recognised that the current £700 million market was fragmented and identified the opportunity for a more structured approach. He developed a highly professional business plan built on detailed research from Mintel, the Halal Food Authority and other sources. Business Link North Manchester also supported the company in sourcing potential suppliers, creating a strong Halal brand identity to deter newcomers, and developing packaging and promotional material.

Younis said, "Just seven months on, our business is up and running and looking on target to achieve its projected Year 1 turnover of £250,000."

Many Muslims in the UK like Western food, but due to the way it is prepared, they have no choice but to buy the vegetarian option. Younis will be offering pasta, lasagne and pizzas under their brand before moving on to traditional English dishes, Mexican and Greek range. It took the company extensive research to find genuine certified quality Halal ingredients including the cheese.

A series of consumer tasting were conducted to ensure the taste and quality was acceptable. The business venture has gained considerable amounts of interest in the UK, with the products tasting like the non-halal versions that are available in the market.

All the products are hand made and individually wrapped to give the authentic home made taste. The products are currently being sold in Asian supermarkets in the North West, West Yorkshire, Midlands and the South, and the company is looking for distributors nationally.

www.aspirefoods.co.uk