Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

First I must explain how I became a restaurant owner. It’s because I see this sector as art. You must be capable of having different approaches to the problems you’re faced in this sector. The traditional businessman will shortly know if he has taking a bad decision whereas for a restaurant owner this will not be evident until very late. One day you'll go bankrupt and that’ll be the day you realise you've done something wrong.

It was by coincidence that I am in this business. I come from a very poor background and family. I didn’t have a place to live at the time. Hence I started working initially so that I can just earn enough to feed my hunger. As I start earning money I spent it on educating myself and buy new clothes.

I never was able to finish primary school. But with the money I earned I took private English tuition when I was around 13.

I wanted to earn more money so that I can further improve myself and to do that I decided to open my restaurant. To open a restaurant you must know both the kitchen side of business as well as the service side.

I used to work both in the morning shift and -to gain more experience- used to work in the evening shift without getting paid. People used to call me "enayi" (chump) at my work place. But in retrospective I am very proud of the work that I have done in those days. Although I started this business as thinking that it'll be temporary for me - it has become my career.

  How & why did you come to UK?

I came to the UK in 1975, when I was just aged 23 and started working in restaurants.

It was a dilemma for me to decide if I wanted to open my own business and go through the stress and challenge or was I to stay working for someone else and earn regular income, have a house, a wife and a car and go on holidays.

One was easy and the other was difficult. I chose the difficult one.

I never wanted to work as a waiter as I didn’t think my English wasn’t at a proficient level. So I started washing the dishes and then eventually moved to a kebab shop to learn the things that happen in the kitchen of a kebab house. I didn’t have no where to stay so I stayed at the kebab shop.

I opened my first kebab shop in 1979. I used to work and study at the same time. The presumption is that if your worker is clever and hard spoken then you wouldn’t trust him with the till, but if he is soft spoken then you wouldn’t keep him responsible for the kitchen. I wanted to be both of them - clever and soft spoken.

I was going to open a spice market in Mayfair. I brought a market place in Mayfair and it would have contained everything you can find in a covered Turkish bazaar in Turkey.

I built my first restaurant in Mayfair with bullet-proof windows. At the time the Turkish Ambassador used to dine in here and there were various terrorist groups who saw the Turkish bureaucrats as targets. And I built my restaurant with the guidance of intelligence services both from UK and Turkey.

  What is your typical day like?

I wake up around 4-5 am and read my notes. I am in our office as soon as it opens and read through all the accountancy reports that have been prepared for me.

I am rarely in the office. I always like to be where the action is - at my restaurants. When ever we open a new restaurant I do not leave it until I am confident that we have established it in that area. I stay that seven days and seven nights to make sure everything is perfect.

When ever we have any problems in a restaurant I always visit that restaurant for two days and try to achieve a positive atmosphere there.

I try to arrange meetings at other restaurants. During our visit me and my staff analyze and also do research - regarding the restaurants service, price, hygiene, decor and the food. This is the reason why my all my staff are very good at what they're doing. When they stop working for me it is inevitable that they become very successful at opening their own restaurants.

I endeavour to supply my customers with different alternatives as the consumer is always changing its style of spending and eating habits. It is our goal to offer delicious food which is both healthy and good value for money.

It is difficult to say which restaurant I’ll be at a given time as this changes depending on where I sense any problems or where I would be seeing my special guests.

  What is your working culture? How do you monitor your staff?

It is the nature of my business that you're faced with unexpected activities all the time. I am constantly moving between my 8 restaurants within London, trying to help my staff and solve any issues.

I feel like I have to constantly educate myself, my staff and my customers if I want to succeed. I speak to and get the views of all of my staff no matter in which area they work in.

I give utmost importance to my staff. I believe that if I work hard and they see me work hard then this will be a source of inspiration for them.

If I make a promise I have to hold on to it. I want to improve the quality of my restaurants. I also have another plan to initiate another brand.

Sofra has become an authentic Turkish brand accepted by the British society. Ozer has made its place in England’s top 10 Turkish companies.

  How about your private life? What do you do in your spare time?

I don’t have any nightlife. I like reading and walking. Three times a week I train at my gym at home with my personal trainer. I love theatre and opera and during the week I take art lessons.

I love travelling, especially outside London. I also do horse riding and fox hunting. In winter times I go skiing.

I play tennis and love sports which involve some sort of action. I also enjoy the green and environment.

Sometimes I travel to France for one day just to eat food and taste it. I must know all the different types of food around the world. I see this as both my work and art.

   What are your thoughts about your competitors?

I see my competitors as my brothers. It is nicer to be a tree in a forest then to be the only tree on a desert. You must support and respect your colleagues and competitors.

Unfortunately Turkish cuisine doesn’t have a positive image because of the many Kebab shops.

Being a restaurant owner requires to be able to understand and operate in many directions and perspectives. It requires a lot of hard work and effort and to be truly successful you need to have an artistic approach to your business.

I believe that our waiters should provide a service to our customers just as you would show hospitality to your beloved guests at your house. The people that work in my restaurants must serve our customers as if they own this restaurant.

  You also sponsor many clubs/societies. Why?

I feel proud that I was one of the first to start a trend of sponsoring social and art related events within the Turkish community. I will continue to be benevolent and be supportive of all the positive improvements for our society.