Yorkshire couple bag spot on Aldi’s shelves on Channel 4 after fleeing Syria

A Yorkshire couple have secured a spot on Aldi’s shelves after being announced as the winners of tonight's episode of Channel 4 show Aldi’s Next Best Thing.

Razan Alsous and Raghid Sandouk, who run award-winning Sowerby Bridge business, Yorkshire Dama Cheese were crowned winners of tonight’s (April 16) party themed episode.

The six-part series sees food and drink suppliers compete to be listed in over 1,000 Aldi stores nationwide. While Sheffield couple Leeza Murina and Steve Jones missed out on a spot on Aldi’s shelves in last week’s bakery episode, the latest instalment saw contestants present judges with a number of party appropriate food and drink items.

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The party was in full swing as the judges were presented with an alcoholic dessert sauce, black pudding jam, filipino inspired buns and canned wine, alongside Yorkshire’s very own Dama Cheese.

The business specialises in creating a unique halloumi-style ‘squeaky cheese’, made from 100% cow’s milk, alongside other dairy products including yoghurt, butter and ricotta. But it’s their ‘Hello-Mi Rolls’ that they hoped would win over Aldi boss Julie Ashfield.

The couple moved to West Yorkshire in 2012, after fleeing the war in Syria. Razan said: “We had lost almost everything and had to settle into a new life in Yorkshire with three young children.

“Initially, I began searching for a job but despite having a pharmacy degree and a scientific background, my lack of references and work history in the UK made it extremely difficult. After some time, I started to look at what's around me – the expertise I could tap into, the sources of support and other opportunities available.

“I thought, why not create a business and make Syrian cheese from fresh high-quality British milk? And so started our journey - with an idea and a start-up loan of just £2,500 from the Local Enterprise Agency. We had to adapt the equipment we bought and finally got approval to start manufacturing cheese in June 2014.”

The show sees products presented to Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, who deliberates on factors such as price, packaging, shopper demand, and the ability to scale up, before shortlisting contestants down to just two.

Yorkshire Dama Cheese and Nania’s Yard, a drinks company from Bristol which produces canned wine products, were the lucky hopefuls to make it through to the second stage. They were then given four weeks to address Julie’s feedback - she wanted Dama Cheese to produce a new flavour, improve their packaging and make the rolls smaller in size.

As judge Julie sampled the couple’s new and improved product she said that the packaging still “needed more tweaks”, but that the couple had made a “great step forward” in order to make their product look “more premium”. So, would it be enough to bag them a spot on Aldi’s shelves?

The couple make all of their rolls by hand between themselves and a small team of five employees - but the Aldi deal would see them have to produce a mammoth 400,000 rolls.

To their delight, the couple were crowned the winners, meaning that 40,000 boxes of their Hello-Mi rolls will be stocked in the special buy aisle of Aldi stores nationwide.

And second place turned out to be just as good as first as James from Nania’s Yard was also offered a contract as Julie said she believed that both of the products would “sell well on Aldi’s shelves”.

The Yorkshire couple said they were “very happy” about the news. Raghid said: “Escaping from the war in Syria, and coming to the UK - to now being in one of the most important supermarkets in the UK. You’ve got to be kidding us,” as Julie said she “couldn’t help but fall in love” with the couple.

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