Laila Remtulla, the founder of Red Rose Award-winning Laila’s Fine Foods, has been honoured with an MBE in recognition of services to the food and drink industry, as reported by Lancashire Business View.
Laila founded her company in 1986, ten years after moving to England from her native Tanzania. Initially a ‘hobby’ business operating out of her kitchen at home, it began with Laila approaching her local delicatessen and persuading them to purchase her samosas and onion bhajis.
The operation soon grew to fill a small production unit in Blackpool and her company now supplies major supermarkets across the UK, recently securing a multi-million pound deal with Iceland.
Laila Fine Foods, were granted £58,000 from Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, a Regional Growth Fund programme, to increase manufacturing space and invest in new machinery. The expansion has led to the creation of 15 new jobs, while a further 12 have been safeguarded. The company were also able to leverage £216,000 in private sector investment for the project.
The company has grown significantly and now employs 250 staff with annual sales increasing by 25 per cent since 2011. The projected turnover for 2014 is £18m.
Laila Remtulla, Managing Director of Laila’s Fine Foods said: “The new contracts mean we can take on more staff, and the expansion will also help us bid for additional contracts for future growth. We were able to use the grant from Regenerate to speed up the project so we could start producing new products faster.”
Following her 2015 award of an MBE, Laila added: “I am truly honoured and humbled by this accolade, which would not have been possible without my husband and daughters. This country is full of opportunity and I am so grateful to be part of this great nation. It just goes to show that if you put a lot in, you get a lot out.
To be recognised in this industry is heart-warming and to know that cooking food the way you would want your family to eat it, has brought me here, is amazing.”
