More about Ā la Bazaar
GYRO GEARLOOSE
Önder is not just the CEO of À la Bazaar, he is also an inventor. Önder has made several machines that the company uses, but that are also successfully exported to other countries. In 2007, for example, he was over in Iran to help install a completely new kebab factory. The Kebco process is the name of one of his unique and most innovative solutions. It is a machine that grills the kebab meat in perfect strips.
"A döner – a rotating grill – tends to make the inside meat dry," says Önder. "But with ready-grilled meat the quality is high and even all the time. In our machine kebabs get perfectly grilled. Always."
A GAZELLE IN JÄRFÄLLA
The company has also been rewarded for its business-mindedness. In 2006 Kebco Kebab, as the parent company is called, became Järfälla Municipality's 'Employer of the Year'. Since the company's start-up in 1993, for four years in succession – most recently in 2006 – the Swedish daily Dagens Industri has also awarded it the title of Gazelle Company. There are now 25 people working in the HACCP-certified factory, but things were different when the company started. The year was 1993, and Önder and a friend stood in a 53 m2 cellar and made kebabs, which they sold to nearby fast-food stalls. The company now supplies kebab products throughout the country, using both its own vehicles and wholesalers.
A SWEDISH KEBAB KING IN TURKEY?
The Swedish company Indiska dreams of establishing itself in India, and maybe things are the same for À la Bazaar – maybe they would like to deliver Turkish fast food to stressed-out Turks? As yet this is not in the pipeline, but you never know.
"I hope that in five years' time we'll have a chain of fast-food outlets – like 'Max', but selling charcoal-grilled and fresh Turkish kebab dishes," says Önder.
After having talked to Önder, heard his ideas and experienced his entrepreneurial spirit, you'll gladly believe him.