From KFC kitchen cleaner to restaurant boss employing 1,500

Khan traces his interest in hospitality back to his childhood, when a takeaway meal was an occasional family treat.

After getting his first taste of the industry as a teenager, he said he became determined to build a business of his own.

“You can’t beat hands-on operations to understand any business,” he said.

“Not just that, you also then understand what your people are going through. I know how tough it is to work in those kitchens. I know how tough it is to wash all of those trays and all of that stuff up overnight.”

Khan said that experience still shapes the way he approaches the business today. His 28-year-old twin sons are now learning the trade from the ground up.

His first franchise opened in 1996, employing 15 people, but building the business involved significant personal risk.

Khan said he put his house on the line to secure a bank loan to buy the store.

The challenges intensified during the financial crash of 2008, when he faced the possibility of losing both his home and business.

“I remember a particular bank that I was with at the time, I was in their boardroom and I threw my keys on the table,” he said.

“I said, ‘you know what, you can take the house and take the business’.”