Chef Interview: The story behind Lazeez Street Food

Lazeez is making waves in Edinburgh serving fresh Lebanese food out of their street food truck. We had the delight of chatting with Hussein founder of Lazeez last month (pictured left). We talked about how he started his business and his advice for those looking to start a food truck.

Discover the story behind Lazeez Street Food and how founder Hussein went from an idea with friends to 3 street food trucks in 3 years.

Tell us a little about how you started the business.

I used to work in finance for about 10 years. During Covid I needed something else to do. I was sitting with friends and having a chat and said I wanted to open a takeaway. Within 6-7 weeks I bought the truck and I was doing it out my driveway. I didn’t know what to do with it at that stage. Someone put me in touch with someone from the St James Centre. Within 3 weeks from there I was doing the branding, logo, the menu and working with St James on how the truck was going to look. I still worked my day job the first year. I was busy, I worked 8-5pm at my day job and then from 5-10 ish I was at the truck. We were in St James since 2023 then we expanded into more units across Edinburgh.

Eventually I got to a stage where I had to decide between finance and Lazeez and I thought you know what I can give finance up for a year and then if it doesn’t work I can go back. So I stepped in the business and it started doubling from what it used to do. This is where I need to be, it was the right decision. That’s how we started, I have been doing it for over 3 years now.

How did you come up with the concept?

Food wise I used to do most of the stuff myself at home. Its Lebanese food, that’s where I come from. You kind of miss it in Edinburgh. There are some places but the flavour is different and there is something lacking from the whole experience. Where I grew up you are always friendly and accommodating. Lebanese food is popular and very famous across the world. I thought why not give it a try, there is nothing to lose. It was a fun project when I started. To be fair from when we opened a few months after it started to get crazy busy. I wasn’t expecting it to get so busy.

What advice do you have for people wanting to start a food truck?

Don’t do it. I’m joking! From my experience it’s been really great. A lot of hard work, a lot of hours spent. It depends what you want to offer. You can go the easy route and offer frozen. That’s nice. But if you want to differentiate yourself then you need to think about how to do it right, not just for you but for the customers. Be trustworthy, build that loyalty around your brand.