‘Curry lovers of the world unite’ as Smiths themed curry house flourishes in lockdown
“It started off as a bit of a joke and then the more I thought about it; I thought it really would work as a concept at festivals.”
The Smiths themed vegan curry house ‘This Charming Naan’, located in Manchester, has thrived in business over lockdown with solely takeaway orders.
Coronavirus restrictions have been a threat to most businesses, but for this restaurant based in Retro Bar in Sackville Street, sales have boomed due to more people ordering takeaway in lockdown.
Max Paley, 25, opened for the first time on 15th March 2020, with original plans to run as a restaurant and festival van named ‘This Charming Van’, but England’s lockdown halted this.
After serving at a pop-up stall in Hatch over summer, Max reopened for takeout on the 1st December in his permanent home at the music venue Retro Bar.
Max explained: “The idea came about four years ago and burst out of the love of music, vegan food, festivals, The Smiths, Manchester and I just really stuck with it.
“It started off as a bit of a joke and then the more I thought about it; I thought it really would work as a concept at festivals.
“Now we’re actually a restaurant and loads of different things are possible that weren’t possible before.”
Following only six months of cooking experience after learning from online videos, Max, along with Joe Moores, serves 20 dishes and currently caters at The Rose & Monkey Hotel on Swan Street in Manchester.
When deciding on making the Indian street food business Smiths themed, Max said: “They’re the most prolific vegan band, arguably the most prolific band from Manchester as well.
“They mean a lot to me and my family and definitely resinates with a lot of people.”
Despite not pushing the vegan aspect of the business to the forefront, Max added: “Veganism has been on the up for quite a long time now and particularly in the last two years it has really risen.
“I do believe veganism is the way forward to be honest.”
However, business is not always so straightforward. Max often encourages customers to collect their orders where possible due to delivery services such as Deliveroo and Just Eat taking a big cut of profit.
Max added: “The drivers are very awkward to work with, massive delays and I’ve got really high standards.
“A piece of me dies when I’m sat watching the food waiting to be picked up for 25 minutes.”
Despite business being good, independent restaurants, such as This Charming Naan, did not receive any funding from the government.
Max said: “I fell into a really small percentage of people who, like me, finished their full time employment too early to qualify for furlough.
“I didn’t get any grants because the business wasn’t actually active around that time.
“The whole hospitality industry has not really been helped that much.”
This Charming Naan are always open for new customers and they aim to push to the student market in the future.
“I’ve kept nuts out of the menu and there’s a lot of gluten free options so I’ve tried to keep it as open as possible so I don’t want money to be another thing that stops people ordering so there will be plenty of discounts and deals.”
The curries are priced between £7.50 and £9 and can be ordered from Deliveroo, Just Eat, Get Vegan Grub or can be ordered for collection at M1 3NJ.
