Yayla
11 June 2021
Yayla is a proud supplier to the kebab industry. The industry contributes over £2.8 billion per year to the British economy, directly employs approx. 70,000 people and creates employment across other industries, such as food ingredients, farmers, packaging & logistics’ to name but a few.
The silent key workers who throughout the Covid 19 pandemic have kept takeaways open, who have ensured food is available to those that want it and have shown that despite all of the food snobbery, they can sell over one million units in the UK every day.
The Doner Kebab; A fine piece of engineered food. Who could have imagined that when the Soldiers of the Ottoman empire skewered meat on their swords and cooked it over a fire that we would one day end up with 20,000 kebab shops on the streets of the UK?
There are many different types of kebabs and recipes throughout the world, however the Doner Kebab made from Lamb remains the original.
In January 2021, Doner Kebabs were voted the 7th most popular takeaway meal in a YouGov poll and they are so popular they now have a National Kebab Day on the 2nd Friday of July. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/kebab-day.
There is no denying that the UK has taken the kebab industry to our hearts, the dedication of the producers, the long working hours, the camaraderie. I spoke to one lady recently, who starts work at 3:00am, ensuring that the vans are loaded and out for the daily deliveries, controls production, takes orders, sells the product, pays the bills, orders the stock, sees the vans back in again and then goes home to look after her elderly parents and tries to have a life outside work. It is these people who make the Doner Kebab industry so special. It is this second and third generation of migrant workers who came to the Uk in the 50’s and 60’s who have contributed positively and made the industry the success it is today, and it is these people who have innovated, encouraged and put their heart and soul into the industry.
Kebab Facts
The Turkish word donor comes from dӧnmek which means to turn or to rotate. The Turkish word kepab means to roast so a dӧner kepab literally means rotating roast.