Once a thriving brand, German Doner Kebab (GDK) is now seeing some of its London branches collapse. Having expanded nationwide through franchising, GDK is no longer what it once was, and there are almost no new branches opening.
The reason is clear. As meat prices rose, the company reduced the amount of meat served to customers. For example, if your Kitchen doner contains 100 grams of meat, they now add 200 grams of salad on top. Customers, paying between 10 and 15 pounds for their meal, are now searching for the meat in boxes as if they were looking for gold.
They may have established a standard for doner, but they haven’t reached the quality, chili sauce flavor, and visually satisfying experience of regular kebab shops. Turkish kebabs are characterized by their focus on “making the customer’s eyes shine.” Therefore, they serve as much meat as possible to encourage customers to return.
GDK continues with this same stubborn approach. Therefore, instead of going to GDK, people have started to prefer shops that offer enough kebab to fill them up, even if they don’t meet certain standards. As a result, GDK has lost its effectiveness and its profit margins are no longer what they used to be. While some branches claim the fault lies with the staff, the real culprit is the reduction in the amount of meat used. Rising meat prices, however, prevent GDK from changing its policies.