From kitchen cleaner to restaurant boss employing 1,500

From kitchen cleaner to restaurant boss employing 1,500

Acky Khan (centre) began by cleaning restaurant kitchens as a teenager and now employs about 1,500 people

When Acky Khan was preparing for his O-Level exams, he took a job cleaning kitchens at a KFC restaurant in east London.

"It was hard work. It's not the easiest of jobs, but once you get the hang of it, it was a really enjoyable experience," he said.

More than 40 years on, Khan now employs about 1,500 people across 50 KFC restaurants and 30 Starbucks coffee shops, including a newly opened restaurant at Meole Brace retail park in Shrewsbury.

The businessman wants to double the size of his operation within five years, but says hospitality firms are under increasing strain from rising costs.

Before the government's autumn Budget, Khan is urging more support for the sector, which he says offers opportunities for young people that are often overlooked.

"I see them grow up in our business," he said. "The staff are the ones that run this business, not me."

The entrepreneur runs 50 KFC restaurants and 30 Starbucks coffee shops across the UK

Khan says his interest in hospitality goes back to childhood, when a takeaway meal was an occasional family treat.

After getting his first experience of the industry as a teenager, he said he was determined to create a business of his own.

"You can't beat hands-on operations to understand any business," he said.

"Not just that, you also then understand what your people are going through. I know how tough it is to work in those kitchens. I know how tough it is to wash all of those trays and all of that stuff up overnight."

Khan said that experience still influences how he runs the business today. His 28-year-old twin sons are now learning the trade from the ground up.

His first franchise opened in 1996, employing 15 people, but expanding the business involved major personal risk.

Khan said he put his house on the line to secure a bank loan to buy the store.

The difficulties grew during the financial crash of 2008, when he faced the prospect of losing both his home and his business.

"I remember a particular bank that I was with at the time, I was in their boardroom and I threw my keys on the table," he said.

"I said, 'you know what, you can take the house and take the business'."

Even after building a business that now employs thousands of people, Khan said hospitality operators still face "tough" challenges.

He highlighted rising prices and the costs of opening new restaurants.

The hospitality sector was among those most affected by April's rise in national minimum wage rates, while restaurants are also typically high energy users because of their kitchen requirements.

In July, Parliament's Work and Pensions Committee called for a cut in employer National Insurance contributions for under-25s as a way of tackling youth unemployment.

Khan said hospitality businesses offer opportunities that are often "not given enough recognition", especially for younger workers starting out in their careers.

His message to the chancellor is: "Don't forget about us little boys, the movers and shakers that create jobs in all the rural towns."