New kebab van proves a hit at A20 roadside cafe

A cafe owner has been overwhelmed by the response to his first week running an on-site kebab van.

Aman Hundal has run the Blue and White Cafe on the A20 near Smeeth for three years.

In an effort to expand the popular eatery, Mr Hundal sought permission to open a kebab and piri piri chicken van in its car park.

Finally getting permission in August, he has since been working to get the van kitted out and ready.

He said: “It was not as smooth as I’d hoped it to be, there were a lot of hurdles that we had to overcome which we managed to do in a really short time.

“But it wouldn’t have been as fun if it was plain and simple, we met a lot of people along the way and we thank everyone involved for their hard work.”

Last Thursday, A20 Grill began serving its first customers and so far it has been a roaring success.

Mr Hundal said: “It says piri piri chicken on the van and menu, but due to the overwhelming demand for the kebabs there’s not enough room to have somebody else with us to do the chicken. “It’s got to the point where we may have to rebrand and just do kebabs.”

Despite a few teething problems, the team is now running at full steam and are trying to work out a new system which will allow them to increase the production.

The businessman said: “We weren’t as prepared as we thought – we didn’t think it would take off so well.

“We’ve had to start looking into expanding the team and getting more orders in from the suppliers, as we were running out of supplies.

“There were a couple of bits of bad feedback at the start, which is not the standard we wish to maintain, but by the end of the week we’d got much better. We’re constantly improving.”

Owner Aman Hundal opened his van last week