Halal food manufacturer KQF has opened its first standalone store.

The 5,000 sq ft former unaffiliated convenience store opened for business in Blackburn on Monday. It will eventually create 10 jobs and a store manager is currently being recruited. Opening hours will also be extended from 9am-8pm to 7am-11pm - making it the first ‘100 hour’ store in the local area.

“KQF certainly isn’t new to the retail business because we’ve been running a factory shop for many years,” said managing director Faruk Vali.

“Having a new KQF Superstore in a central location gives us the opportunity to bring our complete product range to a much wider range of customers.”

A spokesman for KQF added that the store was in an “excellent” location for the local Muslim population - the prime target market for the company’s range of products.

It was “very much a family superstore, located on a busy main road near the centre of town with its own off-road parking,” he said.

KQF has run a factory shop since the company was established in 2001. When KQF moved to its current, larger location, it created a 600 sq ft factory store, complete with a butchers department.

The opening of the new store tops off a successful year for KQF. In July, it was awarded Grade A rating under the British Retail Consortium’s quality standard for food manufacturers.

In September, it relaunched its website with an online shop featuring its most popular products. And it followed this last month with the launch of new product packaging.

It introduced green cartons for its burgers, sausages and kebabs under the name KQF Classic. Pink cartons are also being introduced for its KQF Premium range, which includes a variety of larger burgers and sausages for special occasions.

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