Jobs created as first Pak Foods supermarket opens in Peterborough

Expanding food chain operator Pak Foods is to open a 12,000 sq ft store in Lincoln Road, Millfield, on Saturday.

The opening will be a culmination of a 15 years wait by the company to move into Peterborough.

Director Mohammed Abdul Razaq said: “Peterborough has been top of our list for 15 years but we have just never been able to find the right premises.

“It is important because we have to be able to provide the range and quality of products that we wish to carry and the store must have good car parking space.

“Our new store will have 40 staff - full and part-time - and we have been recruiting for the last month.”

He said the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed the store’s opening by about six months.

He said: “We acquired the site in September last year and had hoped to open in March but the first Covid-19 lockdown stopped that from happening.”

Pak Foods began operating more than 24 years ago and has five stores across the Midlands - one in Derby, two in Leicester, and others in Nottingham and Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr Razaq said: “We are the largest ethnic supermarket group in the Midlands.

“We sell a range of international food products, catering for a wide range of cultures and tastes whilst also offering various regular everyday items - from all the best known consumer brands - to more niche, hard to find food products like chapati flour, rice and halal meat.

“We aim to buy as much of their produce from local suppliers as is possible, for freshness and to support the local economy.”

Pak Foods is a family owned business which was started by brothers Mohammed Altaf, Mohammed Abdul Razaq, Mohammed Nawaz, Mohammed Ashfaq, Ramzan Akhtar and is now operated and managed by second generation nephews.

Extensive range of non-food household goods

Mr Razaq added: “Despite Covid-19, we plan to expand with further stores to open in Stoke-on-Trent early in the new year with more stores in Burton-upon-Trent and Nottingham set to open in summer/autumn 2021.

“We have a long history of working within our local communities on social improvement, regeneration and charitable projects and are very much looking forward to continuing this in Peterborough.”