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Scotland's 'Curry Queen' to expand factory

          Edinburgh (Scotland): Scotland's Curry Queen, Shaheen Unis, will expand her empire. The factory was rebuilt in its Edinburgh premises almost exactly two years after it was destroyed in the blaze. Unis founded her Mrs Unis's Spicy Foods business in 1998 - watched her business burn to the ground after faulty electrical equipment sparked a blaze in May 2005, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. But rebuilding work at the Peffermill Industrial Estate site could not start until the firm's insurance company agreed to pay out, delaying the relaunch of the business. Now Mrs Unis, who was named Business Woman of the Year at the Scottish Empowerment Awards a few months after the fire, has been granted a factory licence and plans to expand her 500,000 pound- a-year business into England. "I am so glad to have the business up and running again. It has been a long hard road, but everyone has been so supportive. We have had limited production at the factory for a few months but it is only now that we are in full production and everything is running as it should," scotsman quoted her, as saying. Recalling the trauma of her business falling part, she said: Tears were just running down my cheeks. The police and fire brigade had to stop me from running into what was left of the building - I just wanted to rescue everything I could - it was 30 years of my work."

          The entrepreneur, who started her business after spending 20 years in the restaurant industry, has already signed up her first distributor in England. She said: "There were times over the past two years when friends and family told me I should just give it all up and sell the site, but I couldn't. I couldn't have done it without the support of my family, and my loyal staff." Her 20 staff have been kept on full pay since the fire and have now all returned to work. Unis, who came to Scotland from Pakistan as a young bride in 1967, started working in her brother-in-law's restaurant in Tollcross in the 1970s before launching her own restaurant, the popular Nadia's, in Dalry Road. The company supplies shops, takeaways and hospitals across Scotland, including Bellvue Cash and Carry in Edinburgh and the city council's own catering arm. One of her most well-known products is her MacUnis range, which combines traditional Indian food with a Scottish twist.
- May 27, 2007