THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE KLC AWESOME Meet the movers and shakers behind your favorite food concepts By bazaar staff
Way back in 2008 Mohammed and Mubarak Jaffar, launched Kuwait London Company (KLC). A year later, KLC ventured into the food business by opening The Kitchen, and the rest is history! Today they have over 21 different concepts hailing from different cuisines around the world and counting and they even opened a cloud kitchen in Dubai. And most recently launched their newest menu concept called Battle of the Brands exclusively on Talabat and Carriage. Achieving greatness is no easy feat and can only be accomplished with a team of self-driven, motivated, and creative go-getters who can get things done and think out of the box. KLC prides themselves on hiring some of the smartest people in the business. We spoke to Chef Biju Kurain (Executive Chef), Ibrahim Abutamam (Head of Operations), Mohammed Mansour (Finance Manager) and Sanoj Shahul (Head of Design) to learn more about what they do and who they are. Chef Biju Kurain What is your role at KLC? Executive chef in KLC. I completed 8 years at KLC. My role is to make sure everything in the BOH (back of house) is going smoothly, and standards are being met.
with Junkyard, and it’s a mixture of all cuisines, like burgers, Mexican, salads, sweets. So as a Chef, we love the variety of cuisines. There are a lot of great new brands that I also like, but for me my favorite is still Junkyard.
mayonnaise, all kinds of cold cuts, cheese, turkey, bacon, chicken, tomato. What do you think will trend this year? In Kuwait I think Mexican and healthy food will become more popular this year
When did your passion for food start? My father was also a chef, he would cater for marriage parties during my childhood, so I took after my father and became passionate about cooking. I liked cooking from a young age.
What’s your favorite food? My favorite food is the southern Indian biryani called thalassery dum biryani. I actually had some yesterday! It’s the dish I cook the most.
If you were an Ice-cream flavor, what would you be and why? I’d be strawberry because my wife loves strawberry.
What is your favorite KLC brand? Of course it’s Junkyard, because we all started
What is the perfect sandwich? It would be a club steak. Toasted bread,
What’s your favorite KLC dish? Junkyard buffalo wings.
should be colorful, green, red, white. I wouldn’t put meat in it, most important is the halloumi.
If you were an ice-cream flavor what would you be and why Mixed vanilla and chocolate.
Ibrahim Abutamam What is your role at KLC? I am head of operation. For all the operations in Kuwait and the GCC, the expansion plans. Basically, I’m in charge of managing anything operation related, from supply chain to delivering the food, I make sure everything is running smoothly. Which is your favorite KLC brand? I like Junkyard because I have special memories with it, it’s the first brand I worked on. But now there are many brands I like, like Taco Eataco, but Junkyard holds a special place in my heart. . What is your favorite food? And what do you cook the most? BBQ is my favorite cuisine. I like to cook pasta because it’s the easiest to cook! What is the perfect sandwich? First it should be a huge sandwich, full of greens, cherry tomatoes, cheese, halloumi, parmesan, it 150
What do you think will trend this year? I think food trucks will become even more popular this year. I believe in the summer, food trucks featuring artisan ice cream will trend.
What’s your favorite KLC dish? The Kitchen’s halloumi wrap. It’s really delicious.