If you haven’t heard of it yet, Peterborough Celebrates Festival is a three-day, free-to-attend, family-friendly festival held at Ferry Meadows that aims to celebrate Peterborough and bring together the diverse communities of the city.
 
This year, the festival attracted at least 20,000 attendees and everyone enjoyed the sunny weather and the various activities on offer. Another thing that was on offer was a range of food and drink stalls with a variety of cuisines. And Banjaraa simply couldn’t miss this one!
 
Peterborough Celebrates Festival is an important event for the city, as it brings together people from different backgrounds and cultures. Our Indian-inspired dishes were so popular that we sold out on both Saturday and Sunday! The Open Naan, kebabs, Twisted Indian Nachos and Fat Boy Indians were an absolute hit. Kids were so keen to try our Chicken Keema Mini Naans that we decided to launch kids’ portions of our dishes.
 
We loved the local community spirit at the event. It’s great to see people celebrating their differences and learning more about each other. Apart from that, the festival also helps to promote the city and its attractions, as it brings visitors from different regions. 

As an excellent platform for local businesses and artists to showcase their products and talents, this festival, organized by Nene Park Trust, a charity that manages and maintains Nene Park, is also a great opportunity to showcase all the hard work the charity does to protect and enhance the natural environment of the park, ensuring that it remains a beautiful and enjoyable place for everyone.
 
The success of the Peterborough Celebrates Festival is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the organizers and volunteers. We found the organisational aspect excellent, from the initial correspondence to the final towing of the food truck away. Needless to say, we have put our name forward for the next year and for any other events Nene Park Trust would like us to work with so watch this space!

Our busy food truck got noticed by the BBC local news crew on Saturday morning, while Banjaraa’s owner, Ajay, was cooking fresh Chicken Keema. We think the mouth-watering smell had something to do with the reason for a quick interview and a video shoot… You can read more about it here; Peterborough welcomes three-day community festival and watch the video with us here; Little bit of BBC fame!.

We had lots of fun at Charters International Food Festival this year and can’t wait to tell you all about it.
 
This very successful 2-day event was held in a gorgeous floating beer garden at Town Bridge in Peterborough and Banjaraa had the pleasure to join over 20 traders and hundreds of customers. Fancy seeing us mentioned in ‘Peterborough Telegraph’? Have a read just here; ‘Sun shines on Peterborough pub's international food festival’.
 
 
A Celebration of International Cuisine
The international food festival showcased a diverse range of delicious culinary delights from all around the world and the attendees had the opportunity to try dishes from various cultures, including Asian, European and Middle Eastern. The participating traders brought their unique flavours and cooking techniques, creating a vibrant and flavourful experience for all. And it smelled so good!
 
It’s all about the atmosphere
To boost the festive mood even more, the event featured live entertainment by Eclectic Ballroom. They added a nice background to the excitement and enjoyment of the attendees with their energetic performances. The combination of delicious food, lively music, and the sun undoubtedly created a memorable experience for everyone present.
 
Charters: The Floating Pub
This international food festival was not the first of its kind in Peterborough and the pub's unique location and charming ambience provided a delightful backdrop for the celebration. Charters has become a popular destination for food and drink enthusiasts in Peterborough, offering a diverse menu and a wide selection of drinks. If you’re ever in the area, do visit them to see what we mean!
 
The Significance of Food Festivals
Food festivals nowadays are more than just opportunities to indulge in delicious cuisine. They are a priceless opportunity for cultural exchange that is bringing people together through the universal language of food. These events allow attendees to explore different culinary traditions, broaden their palates and appreciate the diversity of unique flavours from different parts of the world.
 
Banjaraa’s Food Truck
We really hope that Banjaraa's presence added a touch of spice and exoticism to the event, further enriching the culinary experience with our Indian-inspired dishes. We’ve received some lovely reviews from festival-goers for our flavorful dishes so we couldn’t be happier!

What’s next, you ask?
The international food festival held at a pub in Peterborough was a resounding success.  Such events not only satisfy the taste buds but also provide opportunities for cultural exploration and appreciation. If you missed this year's festival, be sure to mark your calendars for the next one and indulge in a culinary adventure like no other.
 
It’s safe to say Peterborough is ready for a food park similar to the ones in other big cities like Kerb London, Box Park London, Dining Digbeth Birmingham or Trinity Leeds. All the city needs is for someone to start it. Is that you?
 
If you’re searching for a food truck festival near Peterborough, rest assured Banjaraa would love to be a part of such a food park in our beautiful city. You can get in touch with us here.
 
See you at the next one?

Food is often used as a means of retaining one’s cultural identity. In the current, post-pandemic environment, more and more employers are refocusing efforts around creating a safe and happy work environment for their teams, with a focus on shared food experiences. 

‘When looking at their overall employee benefits and office perks, more than a third of employees (38%) rank office food as one of their top three work perks, alongside vacation time and professional development’ – a recent survey has revealed.

In addition to that, employees are now more health-conscious than ever:
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• When it comes to dietary restrictions and preferences, 55% of employees said it was very or extremely important to have office meals that cater to their preferences.
• The quality of the meal and variety of cuisine type are the two most important attributes of office meals for employees.
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But it’s not only the office management that can observe this crucial mindset shift. Let’s look at the reality of industry catering at businesses and large scale operators, such as factories, warehouses and distribution centres.

Some of the questions that the facilities managers working there can be asking themselves are:

• How can we move away from the monotonous and (perhaps sometimes) boring on-site catering?
• How many times does the staff walk into the canteen during a lunch break and wish there was something they really enjoyed listed on the menu – even if it was only once a month?
• How can we improve the company’s culture in line with specific tastes preferences that our diverse workforce has?
  
  

Here at Banjaraa, we’re confident that we’ve got a solution! 

Why not let Banjaraa chefs cook in your kitchen on an ad hoc basis and create bespoke ‘Indian-inspired’ breakfast, lunch or dinner? Have a look at some of our dishes here.

We’ve got experience in working with our site management customers to determine the right catering solution using their existing kitchen facilities. In the last few months, we have been working closely with a large distribution centre in Peterborough and producing fresh Indian-inspired meals in their kitchens for the diverse workforce. 

It’s always important to us to discuss the menu with the facility management, considering the dietary requirements of their staff, including halal, non-halal, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free. Thanks to more feedback and reviews, we have updated our menu to reflect this site’s workforce feedback and are pleased to announce that we have now become regular visitors to this site.

We love seeing smiles on the workforce’s faces in the morning and we know what they are thinking while entering the workplace – ‘The lunch is going to be awesome today because Banjaraa is back!’
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If that sounds like something you’d like us to do for your employees too – get in touch today!

​We are based in Peterborough and if you would like to have a further chat, please email Ajay at [email protected] or call 07557 793973 if you have any questions at all. 

We’d love to bring happy food to your workforce! ​

Our Indian inspired food served from a converted horsebox is both quirky and interesting. The Banjaraa horsebox is ideal for festivals, corporate events, and weddings, to name but a few. 

• Unit: 2003 Wessex trailer converted with cooker, oven, griddle and Bain marries
• Registered with: Peterborough City Council
• Length: 5.29m
• Width: 2.3m (2.5 with the hatch open and lpg gas placed outside)
• Height: 2.76m
• Festival Pitch: 6m frontage x 6m depth
• Power Requirements: 1x 16amp standard C-form hookup
• Waste Oil Requirements: None

Additional information

• We use LPG gas for our oven, stove and other appliances and we require a 16 amp standard C-form electric hookup for lighting and some appliances.
• Our appliances are PAT compliant.
• We have sufficient Public Liability Insurance.
• We are proud to have been awarded 5* food hygiene.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us with the campaign so far with buying #payitforward rewards/vouchers. Your likes, shares and comments have been very encouraging.

Here are some of the stats so far:

Total raised as of today £1010 from 19 supporters. i.e 16% of our target so far.

A few breakdowns so far:

• The 25for£20 and 60for£50 rewards have been the most popular.
• We have had 2 online cooking courses booked which we are very excited to conduct, hopefully during the lockdown! This could become a permanent product going forward (We know how important it is to get the base masala right! And will be making it a mission to teach that online #1atatime)
• 1 private cooking lesson booked for a family.
• One of our past customers has bought 2 extra rewards to give them as birthday and anniversary presents to their family & friends.
  
  

We are looking forward to some of the corporate and future weddings queries we have received so far! 

Thank you again to each and every one who has supported us so far xx
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Do send us a message if you have any questions at all!

The first thought that came to my mind when I was viewing the horsebox, when buying, was ‘it is a perfect fit for Burghley House events’. Once we bought it, we executed the whole branding to provide something different, a genuine story so far and with an aim to provide aWeSoMe food!

Once we were ready, it literally took us a couple of emails to convince the Burghley House events team to invite us to their fine food markets (9 days in total spread throughout the year!) It was just like the universe kept opening the doors we had wished for.

Having done the spring and summer fine food markets, we can proudly say it was a great initial thought to work on! The 3 summer trade days were a total sell out! We we then followed up by attending their Christmas fine food market end of November and everyone loved the food!

Burghley House is where our new product ‘Twisted Indian Quiche’ was launched!

Of course, it was first tested on our prime Banjaraa local Hampton tribe – my family and friends. My kids eat the standard Quiche at least once a week and (me being me) trying to twist and make ‘something different’ all the time – we made about 20 Quiche. We sold 14 and had tasters out of the rest.
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I think there is a huge market for this… maybe one day!

We will be bringing our quiche to the Christmas markets around the area, for people to enjoy during the holiday season with their friends and family.

Thank you Kara & The Burghley House team! U R aWeSoMe!

This year, we carried out our first wedding catering, for a lovely couple in Nottingham.

Reshma contacted through our website contact form and asked if we were available to cater brunch for her wedding day. We discussed everything in detail via email as she requested certain things a particular way including eco-friendly cutlery, a cold coffee brew for her American friends and mini wraps instead of the large wraps we do. Everything was confirmed and booked over a few emails and we were really excited to be catering our first wedding brunch!

We liaised with the events team at the beautiful Langar Hall in Nottingham regarding arrival times. On the day, we were met Justin (The groom) and the events manager who helped us direct the horsebox to its location.

At 1030AM, as the guests started to arrive we served hot cardamom Indian Chai and the cold coffee brew. We also served mini wrap with a choice the following fillings:

• Chili Paneer with peppers
• Mushroom masala
• Potatoes, cauliflower and peas masala
• Masala omelettes (on demand)
  
  

We had our signature fresh mint & coriander chutney with lemon juice, English mint & yogurt. We brought along some extra chopped green chillies as we knew some of our guests would prefer that little extra spice!

In their own words on our Instagram page:

​"Can’t praise you and the food enough, delicious and such a great set up, Ajay you were wonderful, the guests could not get enough of Banjaraa💛 Reshma & Justin😘"

The best part we enjoyed – Playing our part in someone’s lifetime memories.

We just found another niche we would like to continue to serve.
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We wish Reshma and Justin a very happy married life x

Regards
Banjaraa team

The date: 13th May. The time: 8:40AM

A usual morning making sure the kids are ready for school. All done and I open the emails to see this:
“The Peterborough Small Business Awards is delighted to confirm you are a finalist for …

The Peterborough food & hospitality small business of the year 2019

With over 1000 nominations and entries it is quite an achievement to get through to the finals so a huge well done!“

The first words in my mind and on social media from us were :

ME? BANJARAA??

Was this some kind of joke? I knew it wasn’t fake as I had attended the #psba as a guest the year before. I just never thought Banjaraa would be one of the nominees! I didn’t think Banjaraa was ready for any award! It was too early! I was thinking “who voted anonymously for us?!” All these thoughts started to come to my mind and then I shared it on my personal Facebook page.

And boy was I so wrong in my thoughts! The amount of congratulations and personal messages/calls which followed were just amazing. I just wanted to provide some good food ‘1 wrap at a time’ but didn’t know I had touched and inspired so many people on our little journey.

The food & hospitality category had some great finalists. Some were new businesses like us and others have had a great reputation for years. A couple of them have become friends too who have helped/advised in our journey too.

The date came – 12th October and we were both excited and nervous. We attended as a table full of the Banjaraa tribe and I had a speech written down, just in case the nerves and emotion got the better of me!

Sadly we didn’t win, however, as far as I am concerned, Banjaraa had already won just by being a finalist in this category! It’s been a great exposure & recognition so far. Thank you to EVERYONE who has been a part of our journey and continues to do so. Thank you universe!
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Ajay x

Just like any other new start-up, this year has had its ‘first’ in a lot of ways for our corporate and event catering business. Here are some of the firsts we would like to share with you:

Our first ever large-scale event was ‘Belton International Horse Trials’ at Belton house, Grantham. We met some fantastic people and served up plenty of our tasty Indian inspired wraps on a great day enjoyed by everyone.

We also served up some Banjaraa awesomeness at four different festivals around the Peterborough area. These were:

• St Botolph’s Festival on the Green
• Baston Car Show
• Baston in the Blitz
• Langtoft Music Festival

Thanks to the Baston and Langtoft teams for believing in us and booking us for their events!
We are already taking bookings for 2020, so please get in touch ASAP to ensure that we’ll be able to cater at your event.

We also took the horsebox to events around Peterborough, Sawtry, Wittering, and Raunds with the aim of reaching out to as many local small market towns and villages to spread some food love!

We catered for our first private party in Cambridge in the summer of 2019. Mike and his family truly enjoyed the food the Banjaraa way!

We served our first pop-up food with two awesome local micropubs; the Bumble Inn and the Wonky Donkey and it was an absolute hit at both venues.

Out first corporate event was with an awesome local Peterborough company – Coloplast for their family and friends fun day. We look forward to many more corporate gigs in the future. Contact us to receive our corporate leaflet! 

Our first wedding catering was for Reshma and Justin at a beautiful location – Langar Hall. We catered a brunch menu with delicious fillings for them and their 70 guests. A new niche for us! 

Our first wedding fayre was at ‘Hinwick Hall – Wellingborough’. We did something totally different with our mini taster bowls for the potential clients and wedding suppliers. What a location and great owners! Thanks Lavinia from ‘Events in a box’. Our next wedding fayre is at Grendon Lakes, Wellingborough! 

We catered at our first fireworks night, Baston Fireworks, and there are a few other seasonal events coming soon, which we will share in due course!

Oh! And our first finalist entrance to a local award! We are honoured to have been shortlisted for an award at the Peterborough Small Business Awards.

It has been a good learning year, loving the process, building the brand ‘1 wrap at a time’! We shall do another ‘story so far’ end of this year…

Thank you for playing your part in our journey! It’s greatly appreciated!

Dhanyawad!

Ajay