Entrepreneur, restaurateur, property investor, developer, business angel, chef, screenwriter and occasional actor, Iqbal Sheikh Hussain, managing director of Dundee-based SHK property and investments, will next year invest some £20million in restaurants across Scotland, taking him closer to the realisation of his aim for SHK to be the biggest restaurant property group in Scotland.
SHK specialises in investing in individuals seeking to establish and develop restaurant projects. In addition to providing tenants with a comprehensive range of advice on everything from business plans, cash flow, management, sales, marketing and success optimisation to refurbishing premises, business rollout strategies, including franchising, SHK offers sale and leaseback arrangements, will help raise finance for various ventures and, where appropriate, invest directly in licensed trade operations.
Hussain opened his first restaurant at the age of 16 in Dundee and has proceeded to build a portfolio of 20 bars and restaurants throughout Fife and Tayside over the last 20 years. St Valentine’s Day, February 08 sees the launch of his latest venture, Bollywood, a 175 seat buffet restaurant in Dundee featuring a bar designed to look like the Taj Mahal, which will introduce organic Indian food to the city.
Enjoying a close association with Bollywood, having introduced Scotland to the industry in 1996 when he acted as host to various Bollywood producers, Hussain is currently in discussion with a Bollywood director about ‘Peace’, a film script he has written which combines a love story set within an environment of fundamentalist terrorism within the UK.
Hussain featured in last year’s ‘Jute, Jam and Islam’ documentary on BBC2, which focused on the story of how his father left his homeland to escape increasing unrest after the partition of India and Pakistan and seek out a better life, finally arriving in Dundee to find work in the city’s jute mills. The film revealed the emotional response to the terror attacks in London and how they have affected the 3,000-strong Muslim community.