our story
Chapati Man was created by husband and wife team, Chris and Andrea, in 2007. The idea came from Chris taking left-over curry to work in a wrap. The authentic family recipes made by Chris’s mother Martha, combined with Chris’s resourcefulness, awakened an entrepreneurial idea… And low, Chapati Man was born!
Chris and Andrea had been booming it up at music festivals as punters for years and spotted a gap in the market. They identified that festival goers wanted something different, an authentic and high-quality alternative to burgers and chips – Festival organisers were starting to recognise that good festival food was becoming just as important as the music. They saw Chapati Man as a breath of fresh air.
Chapati Man set out on a mission to give fellow festival-boomers a unique, tasty and healthy option in the line of food trucks! Their purpose-built trailer, emblazoned with their striking Indian elephant design became a festival landmark and focal point to meet and eat, returning to the entertainment refreshed and satisfied!
No.1 Food Caterer At Glastonbury Festival 2007
Chapati Man was voted No.1 food caterer at Glastonbury Festival 2007 by Virtual Festivals.com – an outstanding achievement in their first year of trading. A decade later, still at the top of their game, Chapati Man was voted in the ‘top three essential eats’ for Glastonbury Festival 2017 and again in 2019. Adding a host of major events and festivals in the UK – the Chapati Man colourful trailer has quickly become a mainstay at other festivals and events across the UK, such as Bestival, camp bestival, lovebox weekender and the British Grand Prix.
On the Highstreet…
With the booming success of the festival business, Chris and Andrea started to imagine the Chapati Man brand sitting on supermarket shelves – despite the tough economic climate back in 2008, they started exploring how to make this dream a reality.
In 2009 Chapati Man Ltd made its retail debut with Morrisons who were looking to plug a gap in the retail snacks market. Chapati Man had the brand authenticity and the exciting, tasty recipes they were looking for.
A brand new range from Chapati Man was introduced to Morrisons stores in 2013 with an expanded product line up including a Chicken Saag wrap, Chicken Tikka Masala wrap and a Vegetable Samosa wrap.
Our Chapati Man range of food-to-go Indian snacks launched across Waitrose stores in September 2013. They launched with three of our snacking products: our Large Chicken Tikka Samosa, our Bhaji Selection + Mango Chutney snack pack and our AlooTikkis + Tomato Dip snack pack. This was a huge achievement for Chapati Man as the Waitrose food-to-go fixture is predominantly populated with own-label products.
National Competition Winners & Dragons Den…
Chapati Man’s chicken saag wrap, with fresh mint chutney and a cucumber salad, won the National category at the British Sandwich Designer of the Year Finals 2011. A great achievement and something Chris and Andrea are extremely proud of.
Always having the ambition to share the Chapati Man experience with as many people as possible, It was around this time that Chapati Man appeared on national TV when Chris and Andrea made it through numerous auditions to pitch in front of the Dragons on the cult business programme, Dragons Den. Although they did not secure investment, it was a great experience and an achievement to reach the televised rounds of the competition. Our fondest memory of the pitch was when Peter Jones, one of the Dragons, stated that ‘your product is fantastic’!
More recently, Chapati Man brought their spicy Indian wraps to London’s premier pitches of Broadgate Circle, Paddington Central, Chiswick Park, White City Place and Finsbury Avenue Square, serving lunch to city workers across London on a weekly basis. Our lunchtime queues are a booming testament to the appeal of Chapati Man Spicy Wraps. The Chapati Man trailer is often called upon to cater for corporate events, we’ve even been called upon to keep film crews well fed. We felt the crew couldn’t wait for lunch time and for the Director to call out ‘OK people – it’s a wrap’!
Having extended their fan base from all the major UK music festivals to the London street food scene and into the chiller shelves of major multiples such as Morrisons and Waitrose, Chapati Man launched its flagship, Chapati Man store at Whitechapel, East London in November 2023.
With a prime spot in New Road, Whitechapel E1 1HH, Chapati Man’s first fixed premises includes a Central Production Unit on the ground floor to serve the restaurant, takeaways and further planned outlets in London and across the UK.
The new restaurant offers Chapati Man’s chapati rice bowls, Indian burritos, innovative street food snacks and other Indian specialties in a casual and relaxed dine-in experience as well as a slick, grab-and-go operation for the time-pressed city workers. The vibrant branding and contemporary store design has already had a positive impact on the street scene and the team is absolutely thrilled to be part of the dynamic and diverse community of Whitechapel.