Food Chain - Issue 214 - September 2026 | Page 107

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gafoor
“ We’ re a broiler processor, but we’ re mostly a sales and marketing business. Our job is to supply our customers with fresh, raw chicken,” Mark explains.
That distinction matters. Poultry processing provides the foundation, but the real challenge is understanding demand and responding to it. The company serves food manufacturers, ready-meal producers, mealkit operators, and restaurant chains, building relationships that often grow over years.
About 25 years ago, the second generation of the founding family stepped into leadership roles reshaping the strategy. They wanted more than just higher volumes. They aimed to reposition Gafoor to reach a broader customer base.“ They wanted to grow the business. They didn’ t see the business as purely halal, so they decided to invest and make sure we had the right compliance standards and operational mentality to supply business-to-business customers that we were targeting,” Mark remembers.
Expanding into new markets was an evolution, not a departure from Gafoor’ s roots. The company remains one of the UK’ s best-known halal poultry brands, supplying wholesalers nationwide and running three company-owned stores in London.
As customer requirements evolved, Gafoor expanded its product range and processing capabilities. Today, it supplies everything from whole birds to highly calibrated boneless whole muscle, diced, sliced, and marinated products, and tailors output to each customer’ s needs.
Long-term relationships
As the business grew, the leadership team faced a choice. It wasn’ t whether to expand, but where to focus. Instead of going head-tohead with big supermarket suppliers, Gafoor
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