Niche Magazine Issue 50

Page 82

NICHE FEATURE: SANJAY FOODS

What’s for dinner? A great event rests on four pillars – a welcoming venue, great company, memorable entertainment, and – of course – incredible food. Niche spoke to Atul Lakhani, the CEO of Sanjay Foods, to learn how his event catering business survived through Covid WORDS BY TOM YOUNG

E

vent catering is big business, and rightfully so. To be entrusted with the responsibility of feeding large groups of people requires a lot of skill. Get it wrong, and it’s the thing everyone talks about for weeks after… but get it right, and it makes the event. Sanjay Foods was founded by Atul Lakhani as a food production outlet for ready meals. Feeling that this wasn’t his passion, the business was reorganised for event catering. “Having attended a few prestigious events in London, I was bitten by the bug and wanted something equally as glamourous, with the chance to create jaw-dropping experiences for guests.” It’s now grown even further, becoming a fully-fledged event management company, helping clients to design and deliver weddings, corporate parties and charity events. They have

82 | NICHE

MY TEAM AND I ARE VERY RESILIENT AND - DESPITE SUFFERING HUGE LOSSES - WE HAVE BOUNCED BACK

catering rights at over 120 venues across the UK, even acquiring one in 2019 – the multimillion pound IXL Events Centre. It’s now a popular location for weddings, car launches and big seasonal events such as Christmas. “To go from being one of seven caterers, to winning the exclusive rights, to then taking it over – it wasn’t something we’d ever expected, and it still blows me away, to be honest.” It’s been a long journey, but it’s not over yet. Successful growth has come from Atul’s belief in focusing on his own business and his own team. “We empower our staff to uphold the high standards we expect. You’re only as good as your last event, so we heavily invest in training with this in mind.” Atul’s investment in and loyalty to his staff became crystal clear during the pandemic. With the hospitality industry shut

down, and at risk of losing all his profits, Sanjay Foods managed to avoid letting go of any of its staff by reforming into a takeaway business. “We have state-of-the-art kitchens at our Leicester unit, so we made sure they didn’t go to waste, and the reaction was great. We also embraced the Zoom revolution with virtual live cooking experiences.” Having seen the devastation Covid had ravaged upon the industry, Atul was nominated to chair the Large-scale Weddings working group on the UK Weddings Taskforce. This presented information to the government about the industry’s urgent requirement for financial support and helped shape the roadmap out of lockdown. “I was concerned that we would lose all our staff. The government’s furlough scheme provided a lifeline, but the longer the pandemic continued and the wedding industry remained closed, we were inundated with demands for refunds and utility bill payments. Thankfully, our lobbying led to the Prime Minister’s announcement that our industry could reopen in July 2021, giving us a lifeline.” The future is brighter, but there are certainly fresh challenges in the present. “This is the new normal, with unprecedented demand, supply shortages and bottle necks, huge increases in costs and Brexit-led staff shortages. My team and I are very resilient and – despite suffering huge losses – we have bounced back, and are planning to expand our operations.” You can find out more about Sanjay Foods’ catering and event management services at sanjayfoods.com.


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Articles inside

The Boardroom

2min
pages 106-108

Nachural Awards

1min
page 105

Real Entrepreneurs’ Dinner

1min
page 104

Niche Networking

1min
page 102

Real Entrepreneurs’ Awards

1min
page 103

Kazzoo’s Pink Tie Birthday Ball

2min
page 99

From breaststroke to brush stroke

3min
pages 95-96

The Music Room

2min
page 93

Tickled Pink Comedy

1min
page 94

Hospitality dreams

2min
page 86

The Parmar Collection

2min
pages 84-85

Catering through Covid

3min
page 82

Stress management: time out at the spa

3min
pages 78-79

Susie the Foodie

4min
pages 80-81

A night at Mem Saab

2min
page 83

Putting the joy back into clothes shopping

3min
page 77

Mortgages for the first rung of the property ladder

8min
pages 64-70

160-years of homeware

2min
pages 71-75

Building a business

2min
page 63

What happens when you provide a creative space for employees

2min
pages 59-60

Developing a vibrant city

3min
pages 61-62

Personality through professional portraits

1min
pages 55-56

How do they find you? Website building

2min
pages 57-58

Tales from the print room

2min
page 54

The water revolution

2min
page 53

10 years of legal advice

2min
page 50

Introducing no-fault divorce

2min
page 49

Separation without suffering

2min
pages 47-48

Talking Legacies

2min
page 46

Escaping the legally binding contract

3min
page 43

Award applications for long-term success

5min
pages 44-45

Tax advice: how to sell a bus iness

2min
pages 39-40

Niche Business Awards semi-finalists revealed

3min
pages 36-38

Making money in your sleep

2min
page 42

The future of working in Leicester

2min
page 31

Help to grow: a government funded course for businesses

4min
pages 28-30

The sound of Leicester

3min
pages 26-27

Thought Leaders

20min
pages 14-20

A throwback to where it all began

2min
page 24

East Midlands Accelerator extends support

3min
page 13

Generation Next finalists revealed

1min
page 12

Other milestones in Leicester for 2022

1min
page 25

Make a date with Leicester new city guides

5min
pages 10-11

We Asked You

2min
page 21
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