A SHORT HISTORY OF Yavuz İskenderoğlu - Kebapçı İSKENDER^â 

Father and Mother sides of Mr. Yavuz İskenderoğlu have a blood tie of old. “Sabit Efendi” who was his grandfather from mother side, was a wellknown butcher in 1800’s , earned his nick name as “Libertine” because of his fond of sharing and entertainment. He was a beloved one in Old Istanbul City, used to sell meat on his horse, while enjoying his time. Grand Grand Father of Mr. Yavuz, who’s called “Iskender, Son of Mehmet” used to go to Istanbul to help his Uncle Sabit during summer times, when he was a kid. His assigment was to cook the meat on the horse, while his uncle sells the meat on the street. During that period, he had the idea of cookinng meat vertical to ground, instead of parallel. By this way he tried to stop cooked meat smell, by prevent droping of meat water onto the fire. Although it seems childish at that moment, Sabit Efendi encoraged him, not to break his heart.

Around 1850’s, the family was selling roasted lamb or tandoori at Mehmet Efendi Restaurant, which was a very common job in Bursa. Later in 1860s, the business continued to grow with the support İskender Efendi (1848-1934) gave to his father Mehmet Efendi. In such a time in the Ottoman period when meat (tandoori or roasted lamb) cooked was sold not only in specific locations but also on trays carried on head. İskender, the son, was in search of making some changes in the job and polishing it up with the courage he got from his Uncle Sabit. His father told him to stop inventining something, not to cause any problem. Then he first told his ideas to his mother and finally, in the end, he made the proposal to his father to roast the lamb on a large vertical spit, which had been cooked parallel to a fire on the ground for centuries.

To do that, he set a fire in a vertical fireplace, removed the bones and nerves from the meat to be roasted, cooked it on a skewer by constantly spinning before the fire and served it after cutting into thin slices. That different way of serving captured very close attention in Bursa and the food began to be named as "the spinning kebab of İskender Efendi". The meat was without any bones, cooked before fire set in a vertical fireplace and cut in a different way. However, the way it used to look was still different from today; it was simpler, no forks and knives were given, thin slices of meat were placed on a pita, which was called "alaturka" then, and it was served with yoghurt, tomato paste and butter to make it a plate of flavor. From then on, the word "İskender" has connoted that plate. In those years, the population of the Bursa city was so small and the city consisted of such a few neighborhoods as Kayhan, Tahtakale, Reyhan, Maksem and Tophane. The people knew each other. The place where Döner Kebab was served then was a location of just 20 or 30 square meters. After the alphabet revolution in 1926, it moved to the first restaurant with a signboard.

In time, people began to refer to the food with "döner kebab" or "döner", and the name "Mehmet oğlu İskender Efendi (İskender Efendi, the son of Mehmet)" was what was written on the first signboard of the restaurant, which has transformed later into a business name in our world of commerce. Used for quite a long time, the business name Kebapçı İSKENDER^â  or "İskender Efendi" went through a process of gaining a reputation in which it has become identified with the city of Bursa and integrated the food with its characteristics. İskender Efendi, the son of Mehmet, had three sons and he taught everything to them. My father Süleyman İskenderoğlu (1909-1965), İskender Efendi's second son, taught all the finesses of the job to us, his own children. Now I keep this flag flying and train my own sons Oğuzhan and İskender Kayhan İskenderoğlu in everyway that I can to hand that flag to them when it is time to.

As it is the way in all the businesses, in İskender Döner Kebab, the main centre where care and love are to focus on is customers. If the skills of empathizing and sharing with customers had not been demonstrated, the name and flavor could not have been kept in the way it is now all throughout those nearly 150 years.

In consideration of the point where we are now and the fact that the trademark is that of a culture developed in nearly 150 years, the "İskender Efendi Mansion House Project" was planned as a necessary cultural investment, and it was so important to implement it between the years of 1997 and 2003 as a restitution work.

In addition, the importance Yavuz İskenderoğlu - Kebapçı İSKENDER^â , which has completed its industrialization using the latest technology, machinery, equipment and infrastructure, has attached to the University-Industry cooperation has helped it come to the position where it is today.

Within the framework of our quality studies, we are proud of being the first in our segment to achieve the ISO 9001 and HACCP standards and get their documents from both the authorized national institution TSE and the English firm Quality Assurance. Now, we are trying to achieve the standards of ISO 22000 (system of food safety management), which has been internationally approved.

The Turkish Patent Institute has registered our trademark as a one of commodity and service, and the title of CTM Community Trade Mark (A European Union Trademark) has been officially given to us and registered too. Sticking to the atmosphere in our first restaurant in Kayhan Bazaar, now the floors and tables are furnished with marble, woodwork in İskender blue is used on facades, the daisy of YYavuz İskenderoğlu - Kebapçı İSKENDER^â , and kündekari are placed in the restaurants, forks are served as wrapped in papers, grape juice is served in hygienic bottles with lids. All such details are aimed to develop and frame the concept of our restaurants today and that concept is a part of our franchising studies as well.