Parkgate takeaway rolling back clock with pre-cost of living prices
A TAKEAWAY has launched a new discount business – aiming to be the fast food equivalent of a budget supermarket.
Pizza Station at Parkgate is pitching itself as the place with prices from a decade ago – and steering clear of the trendy gourmet burgers pricing out many families.
The business is based within the fancier Init Burgers on Broad Street, which has allowed the new, cheaper brand to keep overhead costs down.
Business owner Awais Ahmed (18) said: “It started with us just randomly talking about it being expensive now.
“We know that takeaways are not affordable for everyone, so we had a word with each other and asked what can we do about it?
“People seem to like the idea and have been quite supportive. We’ve been looking forward to starting.”
Awais’ dad Zaheer said: “The idea is for a family to be able to get a takeaway for a price they would have paid five or ten years ago.
“We’re trying to make it affordable again, without a family of four having to pay £40 or £50. From a business aspect, we want to give something back to the community. We want to help people during the cost of living.
“There’s meals for £3 or £4, just like you would have paid in many places a few years ago. A lot of places now are only smashed burgers, gourmet burgers, they moved away from the processed burgers.”
Zaheer, who owns Init and has held charitable events linked to takeaways in the past, added: “This is completely new, and probably can work out cheaper than going to the supermarket and doing your own.
“That’s one of the reasons why we can do this, because it’s based with a profitable business, so we are sharing the same staff, and keeping down the cost of gas, electricity, etc.
“It’s a two-way thing. We are willing to take that profit cut. I’m not saying we’re not going to make a penny out of it, but for us it’s more of a community thing. We are saying let’s beat the cost of living crisis together.