Spend the day celebrating Turkish Food and Culture, experiencing the 7 diverse regions of Turkey, and meet the renowned brands of the Turkish food and drinks sector at Brand Exchange, a members’ club in the City of London.
The headline sponsor of Taste of Turkey Day is Pınar, a brand in Turkey that offers dairy, meat and drinking water products. Established in 1973, Pinar has many firsts in the food sector in Turkey, such as introducing the first healthy long life milk, first cream cheese, first packaged turkey products and even the first bottled water!
To start the day off, Sofra Restaurants will serve a traditional Turkish Breakfast. In addition to a wide range of Pınar breakfast cheeses, bal kaymak, and gül reçeli, a vast selection of hot dishes including menemen and sucuklu yumurta will also be served. This feast will be accompanied by delicious Turkish Pastry from Simit Sarayi. During breakfast, we will have Jale Erentok Yau, founder of 2PAx and former Managing Director of Busabai Eathai, to speak about the significance of breakfast in Turkish culture. Furthermore, Iley Ozerlat-Gunduz will tell you the story of Ozerlat coffee, which is just under 100 years old. Ozerlat works to make Turkish coffee appealing to all coffee lovers moving the Turkish coffee away from an ethnic speciality positioning.
The festivities will continue into the evening with champagne reception, and canapes will be served by Babaji Pide Salonu. This will be followed by a magnificent Turkish feast prepared by Sofra Restaurants, with dishes carefully selected to give you the best experience of Turkish cuisine. Melisa Atay will introduce you to the best quality and award winning Turkish wines. As you enjoy this experience, the story of the 7 regions in Turkey will be unravelled by Ozlem Warren, followed by a keynote speech from our headline sponsor Pinar.
For those who can’t join us for breakfast or dinner, Ozerlat finest Turkish coffee and double roasted pistachio Turkish delights will be available throughout the day at Brand Exchange.
Taste of Turkey Day is free to attend. Places are limited, request a ticket now for one or more of the desired events.
Former Operations Director at AAYA group; MD of Busaba Eathai; OD of Hakkasan Group.
Highly accomplished Operations, Developement, and Managing Director within the hospitality industry ranging from luxury to mass market restaurant products. Jale also helped Alan Yau to oversee the developement of Babaji pide salon, The Duck and Rice and Park Chinois from creation to opening. Her call to action: http://hackinghospitality.com/
Fourth generation representative of Cyprus's oldest coffee roaster Ozerlat in UK. She launched her family's Turkish coffee business in London in June 2015 with an aim to revive this forgotten coffee tradition. A scientist by training, Iley got a PhD in Cancer Research from Imperial College London and a BA in Biology from Macalester College, USA. After working as an editor at Nature Publishing Group, Iley left her career and turned to her roots and set out to spread her passion of family business and Turkish coffee in the UK.
Ozlem has been teaching wholesome, delicious Turkish cookery in the US, Jordan, Istanbul and England for the
past 8 years and has a popular Turkish recipe blog Ozlem’s Turkish Table. Ozlem also hosts culinary and cultural tours to Turkey. She took part at the “Turkish Chefs of the World”, TV program aired at TRT, National Turkish TV channel and in 37 countries.
A celebrity chef, businessman, and the founder of Sofra and Ozer Restaurants in Mayfair and Oxford Street, which are the only Turkish restaurants in the world recommended by the Michelin Guide. Ozer has prepared food for Royals and VIPs across Europe and is held in high esteem as a chef with genuine talent and creative flair.
Cem Işık joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. Starting his career with Policy Planning, he served at the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi, the Turkish Permanent Mission to the UN Office in Geneva, and the Turkish Delegation NATO in Brussels. At home, he served in the Cabinet of the President of the Republic as Foreign Policy Specialist, and as Head of NATO Department (Defence Affairs) at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has held the position of Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Turkish Embassy in London since 2015
He is continuing his Vice Presidency mission in Yasar Holding INC. Foreign Trade Group. Pinar brand belongs to this group.
Mr. Basbakkal served as CEO and partner in National Britannia Company in Turkey between December 2004 - July 2010. He served as General Manager in Yaşar Foreign Trade Inc. until December 2004.
He began to work as Marketing Manager in Yaşar Foreign Trade in 1984, as Deputy Director of Sales, Marketing and Sales Manager, Regional Director in Tehran, and Regional Marketing Manager in Moscow.
Melisa is working on promoting and selling of Turkish wines in the UK. As well as selling the wines of her family business, Prodom Wines, she is also helping other wine brands from Turkey to enter the UK market. Prior to this, she has gained work experience in Marketing, Real Estate, Property Developement and Investment. She has an MA degree in Global Management and Marketing from Regent's University, and a BA degree in Politics and International Studies from Warwick University.
David is the CEO and founder of Brand Finance plc, the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation since 1991 and since January 1995 has specialised entirely in this area. David is a passionate writer and has written many articles for the marketing and financial press on branded businesses and brand valuation and is the author of numerous publications. He also lectures on the subject of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation at many of the leading business schools around the world.
Traditional Turkish Breakfast
Prepared by: Sofra Restaurants
Headline sponsor: Pinar
Product sponsors: Simit Sarayi, Ozerlat, TFC and Eda Quality Foods
Speakers:
Jale Erentok, CEO and Founder, 2pax
Iley Ozerlat, Director, Ozerlat
Huseyin Ozer, Chef and Founder, Sofra Restaurants
Servings of Ozerlat Turkish Coffee and Turkish Delights can be enjoyed at the Brand Exchange Member's Lounge anytime of the day. Please request a ticket, and wait for your confirmation. When you arrive at Brand Exchange, you will receive your pass which will allow your access to the event.
Registration & Champagne Reception
Aperatifs prepared by: Babaji
Product sponsor: Melisa Fine Brands and Tees
Mezzes
Main Course
Dessert & Turkish Coffee
Prepared by: Sofra Restaurants
Headline sponsor: Pinar
Product sponsor: Melisa Fine Brands, Ozerlat, TFC and Eda Quality Foods
Speakers:
David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance
Cem Isik, Turkish Embassy
Ozlem Warren, Culinary Expert, Ozlem's Turkish Table
Melisa Atay, Founder, Melisa Fine Brands
Cuneyt Basbakkal, VP, Yasar Holding Foreign Trade Group
Huseyin Ozer, Chef and Founder, Sofra Restaurants
Brand Exchange is a renovated, grade II listed member’s club with historical character and modern facilities. It has a relaxing ground floor lounge, felxible events and conference spaces and also available for meetings, workshops and press launches. The venue is located a stone throw away from London’s first coffee house known as ‘The Turk’s Head’ opened in 1652 by a Levant Turkish trader, Pasqual Rosée who imported coffee from Turkey for the first time to London.
Brand Finance and Dialogue Agency, as well as Brand Exchange are part of Brand Finance Group Companies. We have organised this event to increase awareness about the Turkish food and culture, as well as promoting the Turkish brands of the food and drinks industry who have entered the UK market.
For 40 years, Pinar, one of Turkey’s strongest brands and a market leader, has become a ‘Source of Life’ for generations at home and now offers a delicious range of products reflecting the best tastes of Turkish produce. Its products are enjoyed by millions of consumers in 26 other countries around the world.
The Sofra (meaning dining table in Turkish) is a restaurant chain in London, United Kingdom, which serves Turkish cuisine. The chef patron is Hüseyin Özer. It was established in 1981 as a small restaurant, which turned later into a chain of restaurants, currently in Mayfair and St Christopher's Place, off Oxford Street. His restaurants are the only Turkish restaurants in the world recommended by the Michelin Guide.
Özerlat have been making and selling gourmet Turkish coffee for just under 100 years. The company’s founder, the great-grandfather Dervis ‘Tahmis' Özerlat, started the business in 1917 in Nicosia, when he became the first person to sell freshly roasted Turkish coffee in Cyprus. This earned him the nickname Tahmis, meaning 'coffee roaster'. Now we they are taking up the challenge to bring exceptional Turkish coffee to the UK and revive a tradition that’s been overlooked for far too long.
Simit Sarayi started out in 2002 to serve fresh Simit to people anytime of the day. Today it operates over 450 stores and has set the mission of becoming the most recognised and widespread bakery café food chain in the world. Today it has stores in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Dubai, Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA. With over 10,000 employees and serving over 650,000 customers daily it has fast become a globally recognised brand.
Babaji is a contemporary Pide hall in the heart of London, near Piccadilly Circus, on Shaftesbury Avenue at the corner with Wardour Street. Pide, sometimes called 'Turkish pizza,' is a boat-shaped flat bread with a variety of toppings that may include ground lamb, or beef; 'Sucuklu,' with Turkish sausage (the 'c' is pronounced, 'j)'; or 'Peyniri', Black Sea-style, with lashings of butter and cheese. Seven kinds of pide are served from the brick oven that sits at the warm heart of Babaji.
Melisa Fine Brands was established in April 2014 aiming to promote Turkish wines in the UK.
TFC group of companies started in 1980, Dalston, with the aim of providing quality grocery products at a low prices for the consumer. The group increase its retail units and diversify its services to include wholesale and import facilities. It now employees over 500 people and continues to grow. TFC Supermarkets have 14 branches accross London, and is continuously expanding their operations every year.
TFC wholesale Ltd. begun operations together with TFC supermarkets. In 2002 the company name was changed to Eda Quality Foods Ltd. Eda Quality Foods is keen to make use of state-of-art technology. With their latest project they are implementing an automation system for daily delivery routes. They are the main agents and distributors of well known brands such as Pinar, and Koska, Dogadan, Dere, Doganay, Duru, Tamek, Piyale, Kristal and Ulker Camlica.
Tees Limited is part of TFC holding groups of companies, operating for over 30 years supplying both the On & Off trade sectors of the drinks industry. They are the importers and distributors for premium beers, wines and spirits, and have become UK's leading distributor for beverage brands from Turkey. The company offers next day delivery service to customers throughout UK. Their customer base includes Efes Pilsener, Kavaklidere Wines, Doluca wines and Efe Raki.
Tailored Turkey is a new travel company, founded in 2014 by Murat Aktas, who design luxury, tailor made experiences to Turkey. We will hand make your perfect holiday, down to the finest detail, from transportation to hotels and the best restaurant table in town, so that you can sit back and enjoy the most indulgent experience in Europe’s most stylish destination.
Founded in 1996, Brand Finance is the world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. Headquartered in the City of London, they are present in over 20 countries. They work on ‘bridging the gap between marketing and finance’.
Dialogue Agency is a Food PR agency, which has been representing food producers with Protected Food Names and other certifications for over 20 years, marketing quality produce and raising awareness of food provenance. Dialogue also featured in The Director Magazine as one of the top 10 UK marketing consultancies for client loyalty. They are the only UK agency to represent the Parma Ham, Parmigiano Reggiano and Gorgonzola Consortia.
Brand Exchange is a renovated, grade II listed member’s club with historical character and modern facilities. It has a relaxing ground floor lounge, felxible events and conference spaces and also available for meetings, workshops and press launches. The venue is located a stone throw away from London’s first coffee house known as ‘The Turk’s Head’ opened in 1652 by a Levant Turkish trader, Pasqual Rosée who imported coffee from Turkey for the first time to London.
Ozlem Warren was born and bred in Turkey, and lived there for 30 years. She feels very fortunate to be a part of this rich and welcoming culture. Turkish cuisine is healthy, delicious, affordable and most recipes are very easy to make. At her popular blog Ozlem’s Turkish Table http://ozlemsturkishtable.com/, Ozlem publishes healthy, delicious, authentic Turkish recipes and guides her readers on how to recreate these wonderful recipes at ease in their home. Ozlem’s Turkish Table also showcases Ozlem’s Turkish Cookery Classes and her Culinary and Cultural Tours to Turkey.
Turkish Fine Wines is a UK company established by Turkish winemakers to bring high quality. Turkish wine to the UK trade. The estates import-ed by Turkish Fine Wines are Arcadia, Barbare, Büyülübağ, Diren, Pamukkale and Vinkara.The quality revolution in Turkish wine over the last two decades has led to great interest, awards and press reviews from the UK. The UK market is an international shop window for us, and one that we are committed to developing. We recognise the challenges for the UK trade in committing to large shipments from Turkey while developing this new category.
Apr 21st, 11:26AM 
