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Suleman Raza
File:Suleman Raza British Food Entrepreneur and Restaurateurs.jpg
Born
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
NationalityBritish Pakistani
Occupation(s)Restaurateur, Entrepreneur, Chef and Activist for vulnerable people living in London, UK
Known forMuslim British Pakistani founder of One Million Meals campaign which was honored with the Points of Light award by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London, UK
StylePakistani cuisine
HonoursPoints of Light, Local Community Hero, GG2 Spirit in the Community Award, 14th British Curry Awards, 11th Asian Curry Awards, Award of Excellence in Catering Industry and Curry King 2019
WebsiteSuleman Raza at Spice Village

Suleman Raza is a British Pakistani food entrepreneur, restaurateur, and activist living in London, UK.[1][2] He also owns the cricket franchise Mirpur Royals in the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) to support and promote the Mirpur talent globally.[3][4][5] In addition, he is the founder of the One Million Meals, a charitable campaign began in March 2020 to feed NHS staff, keyworkers, and other vulnerable people during the lockdown imposed in the UK.[6] He kickstarted the campaign by donating 10,000 nutritious meals from his own restaurant chain, Spice Village, and event venue, Grand Sapphire Hotels.[7][8] He reached out to the food industry and served hundreds of thousands of free nutritious meals by raising funds, donations and collaborations using GoFundMe.[9] Various celebrities like David Beckham, Amir Khan, James Caan, Dr. Saliha Mahmood Ahmed, Adil Rashid, Asad Ahmed and many mainstream media outlets supported the campaign.[10][11][12] By June 2020, One Million Meals served more than 200 locations across UK.[13] The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, recognized the charitable work of the One Million Meals campaign with the Points of Light award in 2021.[14][15] Moreover, the House of Lords awarded Raza with the Local Community Hero for his humanitarian services in London.[16][17][18] Raza has set a innovative trend of drive-thru in-car dining experience through his restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic year.[19][20][21] He has been also working as the co-chairperson of the UK Pakistan Business Council (UKPBC) to discuss the Pakistani business community concerns with the British Prime minister Boris Johnson.[22][23][24]

Early life

Raza was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.[25] He moved to London with his family during the year 2000.[26] Since 2004, Raza has been living in London, running his family business in the restaurant industry and helping the vulnerable communities in London.[27][28] He is married and has five children.[29]

Career

In 2000, Raza began his career as a chef in a Brixton restaurant in London.[28] Four years later, he started a restaurant called Spice Village in Tooting, South London.[30][31] By 2021, Raza has been running multiple branches of his restaurants while serving Pakistani cuisine in South and West London.[32] He had also entered into the event business and owned a banquet, Grand Sapphire Hotels.[33][34]

Due to COVID-19 and lockdown across the country, the food business suffered.[35] So in March 2021, Raza initiated a drive-thru in-car dining trend to revive the restaurant and venue business.[20][29][36] This trend received praise from his customers and got media coverage in many media outlets.[37][19][38]

In August 2021, he entered into Pakistani sports as a owner of the Mirpur Royals squad for the KPL.[39][40][41] At the end of the series, Raza celebrated the success with his team and congratulated the Kashmiris.[42]

Philanthropy

Raza has been working for charitable programs, helping the poor communities, and other philanthropy projects. The prominent projects are following:

Media coverage

The leading media outlets have invited Raza on multiple occasions to discuss the challenges faced by the restaurant workers, food charity campaign volunteers, and his cricket team, Mirpur Royals. The following are the prominent media coverage:

  • In October 2014, Raza's restaurant got featured in The Guardian and recommended by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.[66]
  • On 7 April 2020, David Beckham supported Raza's One Million Meals charity campaign, featured in various leading media outlets. Some of those are Sky News,[67] Arab News,[45] ITV,[68] The Express Tribune,[69] Watford Observer,[70] and Independent.[71]
  • On 14 May 2020, The Proclaimers supported and donated their iconic song for Raza's One Million Meals charity campaign, published in the Edinburgh Evening News.[72][73]
  • In June 2020, Asad Ahmed from BBC London interviewed Raza for his One Million Meals campaign and featured it on BBC News prime time.[6]
  • On 30 July 2020, BBC Good Food wrote about Raza's One Million Meals charity campaign and its contribution to the NHS staff.[74]
  • On 29 August 2020, Murtaza Ali Shah, an anchorperson, interviewed Raza about his charity work in London. He discussed 'No One Eats Along On Christmas' and the One Million Meals charity campaign. Raza thanked the mainstream media, businesses, and various celebrities, especially BBC and David Beckham, for supporting his charity campaign. He also discussed recycling the waste food effectively. He shared how his team managed to deliver the halal food based on the demand of the NHS staff using a form across London.[75]
  • On 4 September 2020, Raza was featured as the British Pakistani food entrepreneur in The News International for serving halal Pakistani cuisine through his restaurants to NHS staff during the COVID-19 pandemic across London.[53]
  • On 9 September 2020, he shared the success and struggles for raising funds for the One Million Meals campaign in a news report published in the Daily Times.[76]
  • In 2020, The Telegraph and BBC News highlighted Raza's One Million Meals charity efforts for the NHS staff and service-based business concerns, specifically for the food business crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[77][78][79]
  • In February 2021, he made an appearance in the anthem song, Kehlo Aazadi Se, of the KPL.[80][81]
  • On 9 March 2021, Iram Mehmood at KPL event interviewed Raza about finalizing the team members for the Mirpur Royals.[82]
  • On 23 March 2021, Sutton & Croydon Guardian featured the 'car dining' service introduced by Raza at his restaurant, Spice Village.[83]
  • In April 2021, Ather Abbasi at UrduPoint interviewed Raza for his innovative idea to adopt the way of drive-thru in-car dining experience. He discussed how he came up with the concept of adjustable trays inside the car while strictly following the SOPs during the pandemic.[84]
  • In May 2021, a YouTube channel, The Halimah Show, interviewed Raza for his career in the restaurant industry, event venue business, One Million Meals charity campaign, and drive-thru in-car dining concept introduced during the pandemic.[85]
  • On 11 August 2021, the UrduPoint's host interviewed Raza about the Mirpur Royals. They discussed the challenges of the KPL series and how it can promote the Kashmir region and its talent globally.[86]
  • In August 2021, Raza was invited as a guest by Sidra Iqbal on the Aaj Pakistan TV program from the Aaj News official channel. He discussed the cricket team Mirpur Royals' performance in the KPL. The other day, he spoke to Shehryar Sajid about the winning combination of his team in the Aaj News segment.[87]
  • On 24 August 2021, KPL interviewed Raza for the Mirpur Royals in the Kehlo Aazadi Se (episode 36) program on their official YouTube channel.[88]
  • In 2021, the Islam Channel interviewed Raza as the owner of the Mirpur Royals squad in the Living The Life show. He discussed his team performance and his charity campaign, One Million Meals. The host also noted that Raza is ranked among the 100 most influential people in the food and hospitality industry by Society magazine.[89]

Honors and awards

Raza received the following honors and awards throughout his career:

See also

References

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