FTG founder Kewal Dulai arrives in Britain from India with just £3 in his pocket – a limit set by the Indian authorities at the time. You can read his story here

With business going well, in 1973 Kewal opened a retail shop in Basingstoke, called 'Flying Fashion', which his wife, Chandran, ran. It formed the foundations of the company that has gone on to become the global success that is ‘Flying Trade Group’.

This eventually led to the selling off of the fashion business in 1994, so Kewal and his sons, who had by then joined the business, could concentrate fully on developing the food business.

Surya Rice was the first rice off the production line at the new site in 1998, soon followed by Laila Basmati. The very same Harwich site now sprawls across 11 acres and is home to Surya Foods head office and some 500,000 sq ft of storage space.

Launched in 1999 the Laila brand, today one of the UK’s top 3 brands - was initially conceived to appeal to a Muslim market - with the name inspired by the popular, Romeo and Juliet style love story of Laila and Majnu.

Established in 1895, Cawoods has been a processor of dried salted fish in the UK for over 125 years.

Surya Foods Managing Director Harry Dulai felt the great efforts of many in the ethnic food sector were being overlooked by mainstream award schemes. World Food Award winners included Levi Roots, for his contribution to popularising Caribbean food, as well as brands like Vita Coco. The scheme closed in 2018 because of a significant shift in perceptions towards world food brands – which had officially gone mainstream. The awards were regularly hosted by comedy legend Lenny Henry at a star studded gala dinner in London.

Surya Hotels was founded in 2010, with the purchase of our first site in 2009. The group now has a portfolio of 13 hotels. Take a look around our beautiful sites here.

WFA is a UK-based charity on a mission to tackle the hunger issue. Since its inception in 2011, WFA has been helping improve some of the millions of lives around the world affected by hunger in the UK and abroad.

In a bid to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan, following the worst floods in the country’s history, Laila launched its first ever Rice for Life campaign in association with the British Red Cross

Laila’s ‘Rice for Life’ campaign returned in October 2012 with the simple message – buy one pack, save one life. Supporting British Red Cross’ work in Pakistan to prevent easily treatable diseases from claiming lives needlessly

Singled out for creativity and flair in the development and promotion of world food.

The programme highlighted the role of the UK’s fastest- expanding SMEs in leading economic revival.

Laila’s third Rice for Life campaign was its most ambitious yet - to donate one million servings of rice to the poor and hungry via UK foodbanks and NGOs in India and Africa. UK rice donations were channelled through leading UK foodbank charity The Trussell Trust

Fareshare specialises in saving good food destined for waste. Surya Foods joins industry giants like Kelloggs and Nestle in becoming a regular contributor to the leading UK charity.

The spotlight of the world's press was on Colchester in February 2016 as details of the Roman Arcade beneath One Castle Park emerged following Flying Trade Construction's excavation work.

The site produces Surya Foods leading halal Humza brand, the UK’s No.1 World Food Frozen brand, among other ethnic lines and has undergone multimillion pound investment.

Laila launches a major, on pack campaign with NHS Blood and Transplant, backed by celebrity chefs Todiwala and Ching He Huang, to highlight the critical shortage of blood donors from BAME communities.

Struggling pub, threatened with closure, given new lease of life. Specialist real ales and guest ales, as well as ‘hearty traditional food’, are at the heart of Flying Trade's transformation.

Installation of state of the art Swiss Buhler machinery doubles Surya Foods' Harwich site's processing capacity from 10 to 16 tonnes of rice per hour.

Flying Trade Group secures a position in the prestigious ‘Sunday Times Grant Thornton TopTrack 250 league tables.

Laila Basmati rice has thrown its support behind a national project which aims to help feed hungry children during the school holidays.

Humza adds 15 new Skus to its frozen food line up as part of a raft of NPD to expand its convenience offering to busy families.

with a new multi temperature distribution centre opening in Colchester, which will create 85 new positions and a new snacking company and brand in Harwich which will create a further 30 new positions.

Phase one of a major £10m project to restore the iconic George Hotel to its former glory is completed and officially opened by Colchester Mayor Peter Chillingworth.

With annual sales edging toward £12m, Laila has achieved the biggest branded growth among the Top 3 UK dry rice brands for the second year running.

Muslim shoppers could top up their donations to good causes during their weekly shop with the launch of Laila’s ‘Love to Share’ campaign for Ramadan 2019.

Brothers Harry Dulai and Suki Dulai of Flying Trade PLC (Essex) announced finalists in Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

The Sunday Times 10th Annual International Track 200, released on Feb 10th, 2019, sees Flying Trade Group shoot into Top 100. At position 52, with annual International sales growth of 79%

The group climbed from position 241 to 188 following a year on year turnover increase of 15% – which saw company sales sail past the £150m mark.

Laila Naturals champions the power of pulses.

Laila achieves the fastest rate of growth in the rice category for three years running with annual sales up 30.8% from £12 million to £15 million.

A wide range of popular snacks have started coming off the production line of a brand new production facility at Surya Food’s Harwich site.

In 2020 Laila added more than £5.1m year on year to the rice category with sales growth of 33.6%. (Nielsen 2020)

Judges loved our gluten free, Thai Dragon Pad Thai Noodles so much, we scooped a prestigious, Great Taste award for outstanding quality. For more click here

Booming popularity of Korean cuisine inspires launch of authentic Korean range by global foods leader Surya Foods For more click here

Premium halal brand Humza signs up 2017 BBC MasterChef winner Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed for a major campaign to promote the launch of its brand new frozen turkey range into national retail. For more click here

Annual rice sales now edging towards £21 million according to latest Nielsen data.

The Laila brand expands into spices with the launch of five new skus into Asda this month. For more click here

November 2023

Laila rolls out a major rebrand, introducing an elephant motif on pack to mark its support of elephant conservation work. The new design is a unique celebration of Laila’s South Asian heritage and its focus on natural, wholesome food products, as well as its partnership with international wild life charity Born Free. More details click here

December 2023

The carefully curated food boxes will take in a new destination each month and feature key ingredients, to help create six classic recipes, as well as popular snacks and treats from the destination country - allowing keen home cooks to explore a new foodie culture every month. click here