T K Khaleel

T K Khaleel (born 18 March 1959) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of Bakemart, a food production company based in Dubai. Khaleel is considered as a pioneer in the baking industry. Under his leadership, Bakemart has become one of the leading baking solutions companies in the Middle East.
Khaleel has worked with many leading companies in the F&B industry like The Centre, Jawad Bakery, and was responsible for the development of Cafe Bateel, a concept cafe serving gourmet foods inspired from various regions around the world. He has a vast experience of over 35 years and through his company Bakemart, he has introduced and popularized the concept of frozen bakery products in the Middle East.
Under the leadership of Khaleel, Bakemart received a number of awards including the Best Bakery in Dubai 2019, and Gulfood Awards.
== Early life and education ==
Khaleel was born in Mahe, Kerala. Khaleel lost his father when he was eight years old, and grew up in an extended family consisting of eight siblings and his mother. In order to support his family in the absence of his father, Khaleel started his working career much earlier than the boys of his age. As such, Khaleel could not pursue any further higher education.
== Career ==
Khaleel started working when he was just 15 years old; he landed a job in Kochi as a salesman for a plastic houseware items company. After a short stint of four years, Khaleel proceeded to Qatar, a Middle East hub for multiple businesses in 1979, by procuring a free visa through his older brother who was already working there, to embark on the thread of his professional career that eventually led him to the present stature.
== The Centre ==
Khaleel’s first job in the middle east was that of a bakery sales assistant at The Centre, the largest departmental store in the region. He worked at this store for fifteen years and gained experience by working with some of the finest bakers from around the world. Khaleel learned from the chefs from Britain, France, Spain and Germany, which gave him the opportunity to learn about diverse bakery products from these regions. This opened up a huge variety of different opportunities in the production of Viennoiseries and other European baked goods. 
During his time at The Centre, Khaleel assumed many roles ranging from bakery assistant, sales assistant, sales supervisor, bakery supervisor, assistant bakery manager to bakery manager. After spending over a decade with world class chefs, Khaleel gained substantial knowledge about several gourmet items and the workings of a bakery. He left his job in 1995 to pursue a new opportunity that would further his knowledge in the domain. 
=== Jawad Bakery ===
Khaleel was offered the position of a project bakery manager by the Jawad Group of Bahrain. This endeavour gave Khaleel the opportunity to explore the other side of the bakery business. As a project bakery manager, Khaleel was responsible for creating two in-store bakeries inside supermarkets and one industrial bakery that would supply supermarkets from the beginning. Khaleel worked on this project for three years, and his work was highly appreciated by the members of the Jawad group as well as the locals. He was considered the man behind the change in the bakery culture in Bahrain.
=== Cafe Bateel ===
The development of Cafe Bateel from the scratch is one of the greatest achievements of Khaleel. After gaining experience in industrial bakeries and running a bakery department, Khaleel embarked on the journey developing a bakery cafe with an investor. 
In order to bring the cafe culture in Qatar along with sticking to the traditional roots, Khaleel along with his investor designed Cafe Bateel with a rich interior decorated with baked breads and pastries. This cafe served pastries, coffee, homemade chocolates, Italian gelato, breads, pastries, and restaurant-style food. This concept cafe became a huge success under the leadership of Khaleel.
=== Bakemart ===
After gaining substantial experience in the baking industry for over twenty years, Khaleel decided to start his own business. Khaleel initiated the first step to build his business by partnering with potential investors, Mr Aboobacker, a leading real estate owner, and Mr. Narayanan, a master businessman and owner of five different companies. Mr. Aboobacker helped in organizing the structure of the company and Mr Narayan helped in the administration and accounts department.
Bakemart started with a vision to introduce frozen baked goods in the Middle East. Initially, it was a small factory of 10,000 square feet in Qusais, Dubai with 25 employees. It was quite challenging in the beginning, as five star hotels were hesitant to buy frozen products. This was a major setback for the company as they were not able to meet the basic demands like staff salaries, property rents and other expenses. 
To overcome this situation Khaleel decided to approach one of the leading supermarkets in the United Arab Emirates, Choithrams group. LT Pagarani, Chairman of the Choithrams group provided an opportunity to Khaleel which helped him highlight the benefits of frozen bakery goods. Khaleel was provided one store to run in Umm Suqeim for Bakemart. At this store, Khaleel introduced different kinds of breads originated in different regions of the world which attracted many customers and did exceptionally well.
With the increasing accomplishments of Bakemart, the company started making its way into hotels. In 2005, the company opened a factory in Qatar and started supplying to multiple hotel chains and super markets. Bakemart was eventually adopted into all the major 5-star hotels by 2006, thus revolutionizing the hotel industry. 
In 2008, Bakemart launched Bakemart Plus in Thuraya, Media City. This was an operation based factory that supplied bread in the locality. At the same time, Bakemart also started a similar small scale operation in Bahrain. By the end of 2010, Bakemart was also supplying Emirates, one of the leading airline companies in the world along with other similar high-profile clientele. 
In 2013, Bakemart started its first cake boutique in Karama, this store offered gourmet French cakes. In 2014, Bakemart opened its second factory in IMPZ, Jebel Ali. This was a 60,000 square feet semi-industrial and artisanal bread factory. This factory consisted of the most modern equipment and machinery. The factory produced a wide range of products varying from freshly baked French baguettes to Italian ciabattas, crusty rolls, croissants and Viennoiseries and American cookies. It also produced handmade artisanal bread, specialized long-fermented bread and fatayers. 
Bakemart launched Bakemart Gourmet in 2016, a line of premium stores. Bakemart Gourmet by 2020 established 8 gourmet stores. Under the leadership of Khaleel, Bakemart grew tenfold and received multiple awards including the Best Bakery in Dubai in 2019 and Gulfood Awards.
== Personal life ==
Khaleel married Zeenath Khaleel in 1989. The couple has three children named Suha, Nuha and Ali who are 28, 23 and 21 years old respectively. 
== In the media ==
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== References ==
== External links ==
* Official Website
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Category:Indian businesspeople
Category:People from Kerala
Category:Indian company founders