Our Story — Flame Fast Food

It started with one small restaurant in Oxford.

The beginning

Flame opened its first dining room on Beaumont St in 2021. Fourteen covers, a single grill, and a flame mark Abdul sketched himself on the back of an order pad. The plan was never to build a chain — only to feed one neighbourhood properly and see where the food took us.

The regulars

Within six months the bookings diary had names we recognised on every page. Tutors from the colleges. Families that came in every Sunday. Students who stayed for an extra coffee because the table was warm. Flame became a small restaurant in the truest sense — somewhere people came back to, not just somewhere they ate.

"We don't run a chain. We run three small restaurants, and that's the way it'll stay."

— Abdul

The growth

When the Cambridge site came up at the start of '26, we thought twice. Twice is too few. A second branch is the moment a small restaurant becomes either a community fixture or a brand on autopilot. We picked Cambridge because it reminded us of Oxford — a place that deserved a better Saturday night.

The mission

Every week we put together food packs for vulnerable families across Oxford. Every month we hand-deliver hot meals to pensioners who can't easily get to us. We donate to local schools, mosques, youth clubs, and food banks. None of this is marketing. We won't be posting photos of it. It's just what a small restaurant should do.

What's next

London is in the works. After that, who knows. We'll keep saying yes to neighbourhoods that feel right and no to everything that doesn't. The flame stays. The restaurant ethic stays. The phone still gets answered on the second ring.

Feeding the neighbourhood, not the algorithm.