Meet the 23 year-old behind booming Warrington food business, Aros Kitchen

With constantly outstanding reviews it’s no wonder Aros Kitchen has become a big hit for people in the North West.

Aros Kitchen has branches in Newton-le-Willows and Warrington but was only started only two years ago. The story of the man behind this booming business, Araz Younis, is incredible.

Araz is just 23 and in the middle of a law degree, which he intends to complete at the University of Manchester this year, after taking 12 months off because of the pandemic.

But that hasn’t – and won’t – stop the likeable young entrepreneur from having big dreams for himself and his popular kitchens.

“I would like to get Aros Kitchens in every big city in the country, so it will be so well-known people will say ‘let’s have an Aros’,” he smiles.

And he wants everyone to try the food that he has created: “If I make this a full-time job the money will be nice to get,” he admits.

“But it’s not about the money. What drives me is giving someone one of my food boxes and seeing the smile on their face when they open it up.”

Born in Kurdistan, Araz moved to the Netherlands with his family when he was one, and to the UK – he lives in Warrington – in November 2016: “Like all refugees, the hope was to get a better life and for me to get a degree.”

While he was studying, Araz worked in takeaway restaurants, and it was there he first started cooking for a wider audience, creating rice and pasta dishes when they were quiet to add alternatives to the menu.

“I was always interested in cooking,” he explains. “My mum has always invited people to come over for dinner and I’d be in the kitchen with her, helping.

“Sitting down and eating together is a big part of our background; when I was younger we wouldn’t eat until my dad was home from work (and that’s why I make big boxes of food now, so families can eat together and there’s something everyone will like).”

The restaurants, however, were born in lockdown, when Araz couldn’t find food he wanted to order -and he started making his own.

“At first it was for family and friends, and then I started to upload it onto my social media and charge people as customers. I still upload everything onto my social platform, so people see the journey from going to the butchers to marinading the meat and cooking the food.”

Araz offers everything from rice and pasta dishes, to chicken, fish, steak, lamb chops, mac n cheese, and, even, roasted potatoes, which he puts into combination boxes, like the Aros Boss Box which includes salmon, boneless chicken, wings, prawns, biryani rice, mac & cheese, roasted potatoes or corn, for just £20!

He says: “It’s hard to describe the food as being one type, it’s a fusion of flavours, and I include a variety of dishes because whenever I go to a restaurant, I notice everyone nowadays orders a lot of sides to try different things, rather than a main meal.”

Such was the success of his dishes, Araz first opened a restaurant – eat in, delivery and takeaway – in Newton-le-Willows, and then in Warrington, with his auntie. He is opening another in Widnes next month with another family member, and a butcher’s shop in Warrington.

Araz is looking to partner with others too to expand his ‘chain’ providing he can be assured they’ll embrace his ethos and quality: “Everything is fresh on the day and what is left over we take to hospitals or people in need,” he says.

His hard work and motivation have been well rewarded, and he still has great plans for Aros Kitchen – but he’s just as determined to get his degree.

“It means I’ll always have something to fall back on,” he says, and he adds, “and my mum wants me to get a degree. And I couldn’t have done any of this without her, and without the support of my family.”