Kaani Kaana Indian takeaway opening in St Marys Lane, Upminster

Kaani Kaana is opening its doors this Friday (April 25) in St Marys Lane following three years at its first site in Chelmsford.

Founder and managing director Sadiq Ahmed spoke to the Recorder about opening the new store and what makes Kaani Kaana unique.

“We’re very, very excited – it’s one thing running a successful store but its another thing opening a second store,” he said.

“We are all about bringing change to the industry and making it better – our whole business model is about being better than everyone else in the country.

Sadiq Ahmed founded Kaani Kaana in 2022 (Image: Sadiq Ahmed) “We are all about customer service – every day we are looking at ways to improve.

“We are so customer focussed – to an extent we are obsessed.”

Sadiq founded the company in 2022 after what he felt is the lack of progression in the Indian and Bangladeshi takeaway market.

His father used to own restaurants and takeaways which Sadiq would spend time in after school.

After 15 years of working in commercial banking, Sadiq returned to one of his father’s businesses.

He said: “I stepped back into my dad’s place in around 2018 and I realised nothing has changed – the odour was the same, the place looked the same, the menu and dishes were all the same.

The store is located in St Mary’s Lane (Image: Sadiq Ahmed)MORE NEWS: The new coffee shop & bakery bringing a ‘Greek vibe’ to Collier Row

“The takeaways hadn’t moved on with time whilst the restaurant sector has moved on with time but I thought we can change this and become an industry leader.”

Despite progression at the forefront of Kaani Kaana, Sadiq confirmed that the classic Indian dishes are left untouched such as the chicken tikka masala or chicken korma.

He said the company “prides ourselves” on the lesser-known heritage dishes across India and Bangladesh.

Sadiq said Kaani Kaana’s heritage dishes are the most popular (Image: Sadiq Ahmed) “We have taken dishes we eat at home as well as regional dishes from Bangladesh and India and they are some of our most popular.

“It’s the way we prepare them – a lot of hard work goes into them – we go to our local suppliers to hand pick the fresh meat that we want and although it takes a lot of effort, we know that the quality will be better and there will be nothing out there like it.

“Only the other week we changed the cut of lamb we use in one of our dishes – it costs us 30 per cent more but we know it is giving a better quality than anyone else out there.”

Sadiq added that Kaani Kaana is “all about the community”.

He confirmed that for the first few weeks, the Upminster store would only be open for pick-up orders but will offer delivery in the near future.