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Hemanth explains that, in contrast to most kebab outlets, GDK is primarily a sit-in restaurant as well as a takeaway, with around 60 per cent of customers eating in, depending on the location. As he says: “The concept is quite simple: go to the counter, place your order, take your seat and the food will be freshly made and delivered to the table. “One of the secrets of our success is never deviating from the highest standards. Go into any GDK store and you’ll get exactly the same standard of product. All the meat and bread is provided from the factory in Germany and the signature sauces come fromDubai.” The company says: “Quality and consistency is vitally important and we can only do this by providing all our own ingredients. All meat is 100 per cent pure and grilled not fried. We claim our kebabs provide a healthy alternative to burgers - and one million fans on our Facebook page can’t be wrong.” Round the clock business Indeed, it would seem the appetite for GDK products is well nigh insatiable. “We open at 11am, but people are outside the door at 10.30am and we stay open until 4am,” Hemanth says. “Once kebabs were mainly eaten at night maybe after a few beers, but now they’re eaten virtually around the clock.” The takeaway business is flourishing too. Hemanth recently delivered 120 kebabs to an office party and the five businesses are manned by 120 part-time staff working shifts. “Of course, it’s hard work,” he says. “But it’s not that challenging because the beauty of the franchise model is that all the problems have been ironed out of the system. “So long as you stick to the operation guidelines, the chances of failure are pretty remote. And of course, you get excellent training when taking on a franchise. It took me a long time to find the franchise I had dreamed of running ever since I started with Domino’s back in India. It was certainly worth the wait.” The company says: “There is nothing else like GDK. It definitely offers a unique opportunity for serious investors. GDK is focused on quality and is committed to changing people’s conception of the kebab.” A franchise business of his own No wonder Hemanth, with vast experience in the franchised takeaway business, was not long in flagging up GDK as something well worth looking into when he eventually became his own boss. Hemanth originally believed his career would be in IT and enrolled at the University of Madras to study for a degree in maths and statistics. But things didn’t work out that way. To help fund his course, he started working for the local Domino’s Pizza store as a part- time order taker and quickly became fascinated by the food industry. As he tells it: “It was meant to be a short-termmove to help pay for my university studies, but I quickly gave that up to go full-time in the franchise food sector and 17 years later I’m still there. I moved from an order taker to store manager within a year and was eventually managing 21 Domino’s stores.” Looking for further career opportunities, Hemanth moved from India to the UK in 2006, continuing to work for Domino’s in a variety of management roles, but always on the lookout for a franchise business of his own. He finally found what he was looking for in 2015: “For me, German Doner Kebab ticked all the boxes. The store concept was visually very attractive and the quality of the food extremely high. In recent years, the doner kebab often had a somewhat tarnished reputation as something you have after one too many drinks. GDK turned this on its head.” To finance the venture, Hemanth went into partnership with a former Domino’s boss and opened the first of what would become a chain of GDK restaurants in 2016. “We chose Islington because my business partner knew the area well and thought it would be a great location as regards our target markets and footfall numbers,” he says. On to a winner And so it proved. “The reaction was everything we’d hoped for,” Hemanth says. “Customers kept coming back and were telling us ours were the best kebabs they had ever eaten and that they loved our set-up. People got blown away after their first bite. Like any new business, we had our challenges, but it seemed that we were on to a winner. “There were plenty of kebab shops around, but none were at the same level as ours. The bread and fillings are unique and different and the meat is of the very highest quality. Our kebabs also contain half the calories of many of our competitors.” The winning formula led to rapid expansion. In the next two years Hemanth and his partner opened their Croydon store, followed by Finsbury Park, Kilburn and the award winning Fulham branch. 16 WHAT FRANCHISE | ISSUE 15.8 INTERVIEW “Customers kept coming back and were telling us ours were the best kebabs they had ever eaten” 9