Family-run Indian street food company ready for next challenge at major West Midlands food hub

It’s been a long, busy, but enjoyable journey for a Wolverhampton-based street food company famed for authentic, homemade curries made from scratch.

Spice Club Roadshow has become a fixture at events around the country, providing home-style curries with a British twist, as well as developing partnerships with the NEC and Birmingham City Football Club and even having a kiosk in the Upper Trinity Road stand at Villa Park.

Now, the company is getting ready to open a stall at the new Alfred Works food hall in Digbeth on May 1, an opportunity owner Mandy Bahia said was an exciting opportunity.

She said: “I’m always on my socials for food and business reasons and I saw that this new place was coming, so I dropped them an email and they got back to me straightaway saying that they wanted to speak to me because they’d seen my concept.

“Within a few days, I had a meeting and spoke to them and they said to me that they wanted Indian food, but the people they’d looked at weren’t doing it how they wanted, so I showed them images of what I can do and they said yes a few days later.

“We’ve had to bring in all our branding and equipment, while also still working in the day, but my husband and dad have been working there from 10pm to 6am, then going to work and doing everything they can for us to be ready for Friday.

“I’m nervous, but also very excited as there’s going to be food bloggers here at the launch and chefs who are coming to try my food and that’s what I want, for people to try it, as I think I have something which other people don’t have and because I am passionate about what I do.”

This passion for cooking came from any early age for Ms Bahia, learning from her mother, and said she started thinking more about working with food while on maternity leave in 2018 and sitting at her home in Bradmore in Wolverhampton.

She said: “I’m self-taught, as I learned from my mum, and as I got a bit older, I started changing a few things, then, in 2018, I was on maternity leave with my daughter and, to be honest, I was looking at life in a different perspective.

“I liked the job I’d been doing, but food had always been there, and there would be moments such as when we would do parties and I would make everything from scratch, like canapes done in a different style.

“When my daughter was born, we had a big celebration and all the family were there and they were all saying ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you doing food?’, so I decided to take the plunge, not go back to work and start my own business.”

Ms Bahia said it had been a daunting prospect starting her own business, particularly with daughters aged nine and three-months-old, and said a number of people had questioned her decision, particularly in regards to the type of food she was doing, but she said the homemade tastes made all the difference.

She said: “I don’t want to disrespect anyone in the Indian Street Food business, but I know a lot of the food they’re selling isn’t their product, whereas everything I make is homemade, such as the 1,000 samosas I do each week.

“It’s all proper food that we would eat at home and that I would feed my family with, but when I take it out on the streets, I’ll put the curry on fries with fresh onions and coriander as I want to showcase my products.

“My husband Satty, when I told him about doing loaded fries, but with keema and cheese and mayonnaise, asked me what I was doing, but I told him he needed to trust me and I took it to the streets and people were amazed as they’d never tried anything like it.”

Ms Bahia said there were plenty of dishes that she created that people loved and said the showstopper was probably her chicken curry because of the taste and consistency and high standards she set for herself.

She said: “My food is always consistent and it’s always of the highest quality, because I am the only person allowed to cook my food.

“I can’t trust anyone else to do this with me as I feel that the quality would start to dip if you have too many people involved.

“Everything I do is fresh and I’m here to make money, but also showcase my products, what I can do, and make something I can bring to people and they can enjoy.”