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Shelly Nuruzzaman is an entrepreneur and co-founder of BANG! Curry, the Brick Lane-inspired meal kits that have taken Britain by storm.
Established as the best-selling curry kit on Amazon, BANG! Curry has sold more than 750,000 sets in its first five years, gaining millions of likes and views on social media and recently launched in Waitrose stores across the country – the first major retailer list for the brand.
Each kit contains 100% natural ingredients and comes in a cardboard pouch with the relevant herb mix, base mix and dry ingredients. To simplify the cooking process, each kit follows the same 3-step process: ‘Prep It, ‘Spice It’, ‘Cook It’. Packed with recipe ideas and tips on how consumers can make their dish their own, POP! Curry gives home cooks the confidence to prepare fresh, Brick Lane-inspired meals in their kitchen.
The range includes kits to make authentic curries such as Korma, Jalfrezi, Tikka, Dahl and Bhuna, as well as kits to make delicious side dishes including Bhajis, Samosas and Pakoras.
What was the inspiration behind BANG! Curry?
I grew up in Brick Lane, London, in the heart of the Bangladeshi community, and spent my childhood surrounded by food. Both at home with my mother who would spend hours playing in the kitchen, transforming the simplest ingredients into something truly special, and in my community, where I would eat in the curry houses along Brick Lane, while my father was friends with all the restaurant owners. .
Growing up and cooking for myself, I became frustrated with the poor quality of the products available to consumers. I felt they were being done a disservice and that they deserved something much better. In Britain, curry is a very popular dish and consumers are true curry connoisseurs, but cooking curry by pouring it from a pot has become the norm.
I wanted to imitate my mother’s curry preparation, but in an easy way and show that it doesn’t take much more effort to prepare authentic dishes and really enjoy them at the same time.
As much as I love that my mother put time and love into her food, for many families this is not a reality. Life is much busier these days and most people just don’t have the bandwidth to spend hours cooking.
Our BANG! Curry kits contain the relevant spice mix, base mix and dry ingredients, taking care of the complicated legwork of a curry dish and allowing customers to follow simple 3-step instructions to create great dishes from scratch at home.
Who do you admire?
It must be my mother. She is such a strong, smart woman. She suffered great hardships when she moved from a comfortable life in Bangladesh to 1970s England. It wouldn’t be for the faint of heart, but she transformed her destiny through sheer hard work and determination. She is still an absolute powerhouse today and I feel fortunate to have had her as a role model my entire life.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
While the road hasn’t always been smooth, we are a product of what we’ve been through and that’s why I wouldn’t change a thing. It has shaped me into who I am today.
To be honest, I never thought I would do this. As a young girl, I was anything but traditional and therefore starting a curry business related to cooking was not really in the plans. But life has a funny way of working, and somehow you end up exactly where you’re supposed to be.
What defines your way of doing business?
It’s still strange to see myself as an entrepreneur. It’s been a long road to get here and it happened very organically, so I never planned for the way I wanted to do business; it all just evolved along the way.
Being in the food business, the quality of the product can really make or break you. My emphasis has always been on creating the very best products and while we have built a successful brand in terms of sales and listings, I have never – and never will – become complacent in this area. We differentiate our products by responding to customer feedback. We are always improving and I don’t think I will ever stop believing there is room to get better. This is what has given us an edge in taste, quality and end product.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Test the validity of your idea, because you will have to put every ounce of energy into your vision. I did the exact same thing in the early days of BANG! Curry. I had to prove that the concept would work and that people were interested in making Indian dishes in their own kitchens, so I gave group cooking classes from my home. They were very popular and confirmed to me that there would be a demand for them, so I put all the profits from the classes back into product development and tested them at farmers markets to get customer feedback to help refine the recipes. Businesses don’t happen overnight; you need resilience and it can be difficult.