Son's appeal is key ingredient to give new flavour to father's Peterborough street food business
A son’s cash-raising appeal is proving to be just the right ingredient to give his father's Peterborough food-making business a real lift.
Harpreet Singh Bisla (37) has launched a plea for donations so he can buy a food truck for his father, Bitnam Singh (57) who runs Bittu’s Kitchen, specialising in a vegetarian and vegan street food.
Bitnam set up the business despite years of hardship that included a heart attack in 2021, the death of his wife in 2023, redundancy in 2025, and having to sell the family home.
Now Harpreet hopes that the providing his father with a food truck will give him a safer and more sustainable base to grow the business as well as easing the physical toll of the work.
He has launched a Gofund me page that has already brought in donations of £4,476.
Harpreet said: “My dad has always been the kind of man who puts everyone else first.
"Through all of it, he never stopped supporting me.
"When I was in financial trouble, he used the very last of his savings to bail me out. No hesitation. No questions. Just quiet, steady love.
He said: “Now he’s trying to rebuild.
"Unable to find another job, he turned to the one thing that’s always brought him joy: cooking.
"He’s started a small food business, cooking everything himself with real care and proper love.
"He’s a one-man band right now – setting up a heavy marquee for every market stall, packing it all down again at the end of the day, carrying everything on his own.
Harpreet said: “I watch him struggle with it and I can see the toll it’s taking on his body. After everything he’s already been through, it breaks my heart.
"So I’m raising money to help him buy a food truck.
"A proper food truck would mean he doesn’t have to keep wrestling with that marquee.
"It would give him a real base for his business – somewhere he can cook safely, serve more people, and grow something sustainable. Something that’s his.
"Something built with the same quiet determination he’s shown his whole life.”
If you would like to donate, the Gofundeme page is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-dad-get-his-food-truck