Nahim Islam with the Food and Drink award
The new director in charge of the day-to-day running of a popular town centre restaurant is celebrating his first award win since taking over the family business.
Nahim Islam, aged 23, has recently taken a more prominent role at Saffron in Castilian Street, taking the reins from his dad, Naz. He has already followed in his multi-award-winning father’s footsteps, bagging a coveted title at the 2023 Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards.
Saffron was named the winner of the Food & Drink category at the ceremony, hosted by comedian Rob Beckett and staged at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.
For Nahim, a recent graduate with a degree in international business from the University of Coventry, it was his first trophy and a chance to take the next steps in completing the transition to become overall manager of the restaurant.
He said: “For more than two decades Saffron has been a huge part of Northampton’s food and drink scene and I have witnessed at first-hand how dad has grown the business to the point where it has become an exemplar of how to run a restaurant. I have learnt a lot watching him and I am proud and privileged to be trusted with continuing his legacy.
“Winning this award is a huge honour and a reflection of the hard work of our team, our commitment to quality produce and also the continued support of our loyal customers, without whom we couldn’t survive.
“It has been an incredibly tough few years for restaurants. The pandemic, energy price hikes and the cost-of-living crisis have combined to create the perfect storm. Somehow, we have weathered it but we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s a struggle but we are all trying our hardest to survive and, hopefully, thrive.
“Since the start of the year we have seen a 25 per cent price rise in many of our ingredients and, unfortunately, we have had no choice but to pass some of that on to customers. We would like to dedicate this award to them, for sticking by us and continuing to support us. It means an awful lot.”
Saffron was one of three shortlisted finalists, seeing off the challenge of the Northampton Town Centre Hotel and The World’s End to be crowned the winner.
Earlier this year, Nahim’s father Naz was awarded a Certificate for Outstanding Community Contribution by the Mayor of Northampton in recognition of his charity work and commitment to the community.
Naz has raised more than £90,000 for local charities and established a school and orphanage in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh with the help of his family.
Naz is a previous winner of the Heart of Northampton award and was last year given an honorary degree from the University of Northampton in recognition of his services to business and community cohesion.
