{"id":12052,"date":"2015-10-27T18:41:39","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T18:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/?p=12052"},"modified":"2015-10-29T12:36:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T12:36:35","slug":"curry-king-lord-ghulam-noon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/curry-king-lord-ghulam-noon\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Ghulam Noon, Curry King of Britain, who Catered Indian Food to British Taste Buds"},"content":{"rendered":"
Britain owes its taste of Chicken Tikka to Lord Ghulam Noon or Ghulam Kadebhoy Noon, a food baron of Indian origin.<\/strong> Famous as \u201cCurry King\u201d in the culinary world, he made his fortune by catering Indian food to the British taste buds. Lord Ghulam Noon\u2019s journey from a small sweet shop in Mumbai (then Bombay) to a multibillion dollar food empire in the United Kingdom is an eventful one full of inspiration<\/strong> despite an honors scandal for his whopping donation to the Labour Party.<\/p>\n Noon Baron was born into a Muslim family in Bombay in 1936.<\/strong> His father owned a small sweet shop, and he died when Ghulam Noon was only 7 years old. A relative was trusted with the family business until he joined it at the age of 17. He got his first entrepreneurial lesson in food business when he renamed the shop \u201cRoyal Sweets.\u201d He stepped into the shoes of an ambitious entrepreneur and expanded the family business by exporting Indian sweets<\/a><\/span> to international markets.<\/strong><\/p>\n Lord Ghulam Noon traveled to London in 1964 when he realized the popularity of Indian food<\/a><\/span> outside the country.<\/strong> He started with a sweet shop in Southall, London, in order to cash in on the demand for Indian food by the Brits. He founded and ran several food product manufacturing companies in London. The backbone of his entrepreneurship in the UK was the business of Noon Products, which he set up in 1987 after his permanent settlement there with only \u00a350 in 1972.<\/p>\n One of the most popular Noon Products is Bombay Mix, a traditional Indian snack.<\/strong> What is known as Chanachur<\/em> in India is called Bombay Mix in the UK and Ireland. Named after Bombay, the previous name of Mumbai, it is a mixture of dried, spicy ingredients. His confectionery company was known as Bombay Halwa. However, it is Indian chicken tikka masala, which added to his fame and fortune.<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the units of his food business in the UK was that of packaged meals, which he started with 11 employees in a small setup<\/strong>. With orders for packaged meals from Birds Eye, Sainsbury\u2019s and others pouring in, it became an ultra-modern factory and the workforce touched nearly 1000 people by 2006. His business was the largest for packaged Indian food in the supermarkets of London. Thus the chicken tikka masala dish became a favorite of Britain.<\/p>\n His business suffered a serious setback due to fire breakout in the factory in 1994, and one of his entrepreneurial initiatives bit the dust in the USA<\/a><\/span>.<\/strong> He was not just a businessman but a fighter. On strength of his vision and optimism, the company was up in 10 weeks of the disaster. Surprisingly, he did not lay off a single employee. Diversification of the business into such areas like aviation catering, dietary supplements and luxury cruise liners is a proof of his entrepreneurial acumen.<\/p>\n Lord Ghulam Noon was a dedicated Indian-British citizen. He was a diehard supporter of the English Cricket<\/a><\/span> team.<\/strong> He flew to London in 1966 to celebrate England\u2019s victory in the Football World Cup. He was a member of Surrey County Cricket Club, too, and proudly possessed 30 autographed bats.<\/p>\n His love for Britain was out of question. Reacting to the July 7 blasts in London, he stated<\/strong>, \u201cThese (terrorists) are monkeys who tie bombs to their chests and pull the strings. They are kids. They have been brainwashed. The Muslim community has a responsibility to make sure that those in the business of brainwashing people should be brought to book.”<\/p>\n The food baron was a social entrepreneur as well. He was a member of several charitable trusts including the Prince\u2019s Trust, Care International, and Cancer Research UK. He used to make monetary contributions to a trust for the education of girls in rural India<\/a><\/span> and a Jewish-Muslim interfaith organization.<\/strong> In 1995, he established the Noon Foundation with four million pounds to promote education of girls and fund health projects. He was once elected President of the London Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n