
Our family
At the heart of SHICKEN, and everything we do, originates from our family.
It’s a range of meals and kebabs that we have been making for our family for decades, using recipes that our Mum, and her Mum before her, has handed down — through two generations.


Generations of our family — from our past ancestors through to our parents, and now our children — are what drive us to make the very best plant-based products. Delivering the most authentically traditional, restaurant-quality flavours from across India and additional world cuisines in the future, is what drives the passion.
Passion is not the only thing that makes our products great. It's the medley of natural, fresh quality ingredients combined with time and patience to build every curry from a base of onions, tomatoes and a balanced spice flavour explosion.
Finally, we package all this up into a perfect taste sensation which can be enjoyed by families around the world, while they make a positive impact on our environment and animal welfare.
Satvinder & Parm
Co-founders
More Stories
A Little Story Makes us Laugh “Cheat on Chicken”
The reactions that surprise us most always come from meat eaters.
“Can’t believe the texture and flavour.”
“Wait, this is plant-based?”
One story still makes us laugh (from a few years, now become an old saying within our team).
We were in Canada for an exhibition when two guys walked past our stand.
One of them, with a look of pure disgust, asked,
“Is this plant-based? Must be horrible.”
He made sure his face said the same thing too.
In the short chat that followed,
he mentioned he’d been a meat eater his whole life.
Satvinder wasn’t about to let him leave without trying a bite.
The Tikka Kebabs were just coming off the pan.
He tried one, muttering “disgusting.” Then he tried another.
And then he just stared at us.
Silent for a few seconds.
What he said next? We’ll never forget it.
“I feel like I just cheated on my wife.”
We had to ask why.
Because that’s such, an interesting (or made our jaws drop), response, we’d never expect that.
He explained that since he’d eaten meat his whole life,
eating something plant-based (something that tasted this close to meat with rich flavour),
where he couldn’t tell the difference, felt like cheating.
Cheating on meat.
Cheating on what he’d always known.
A bizarre analogy, yes.
But it says something, doesn’t it?
This is exactly what SHICKEN aims to do, to make food that everyone can enjoy, together.
Think of big family gatherings,
where vegans and meat-eaters sit around the same table.
SHICKEN might not save the day, but it will definitely save the meal.
Founding Story
We’ve been vegan for over 30 years now, and our kids have been vegan since the day they were born.
Food has always been our world, more than 20 years in the industry,
and Satvinder has always had this love for cooking that you can almost taste.
In the early 2000s, we took a leap and started a business.
We even got a retail listing.
But the market wasn’t ready, and it failed miserably.
At the time, it hurt, but looking back, maybe we just needed to wait for the right moment.
Then came March 2020.
The first lockdown. The world went quiet,
and we found ourselves at home with time on our hands,
ideas bubbling away, and all the pieces finally fitting together.
That’s when SHICKEN came to life, almost like it had been waiting for us all along.
The Authenticity
Authenticity means something real to us.
it’s culture, it’s understanding.
Our food carries our own roots, the flavours and memories of Punjab.
But when we create dishes from other places, we take time to understand them too.
When we worked on our Teriyaki,
we went to Japan – to see how people enjoy it, how it’s cooked, and what it truly means there.
Then we “Shickenfied” it.
Kept the soul of the dish, made it plant-based, and made it ours without losing its story.
We don’t pull food away from its culture.
The culture is part of every bite.
Street food is a perfect reminder of that.
There’s something emotional in knowing a bowl of curry or noodles tastes the same as it would on a street in Jalandhar or Tokyo.
Too many products forget that. They lack depth, or authenticity.
We don’t compromise.
Where does the S in SHICKEN come from?
We’ve heard some misreading, the first 3 letters of Shicken might sound like something else (naughty),
but we promise you, the S stands for “superb” & “scrumptious”.
We just took the C out chicken, with a S, it’s even better,
What keeps us grounded?
Family. Always family.
Through every low moment, they’ve been there, cheering us on, picking us up.
One of the reasons SHICKEN even exists is because our family believed we could do it.
They pushed us to start, to keep going.
It’s family and the memories we share that keep our feet on the ground.
And it’s those same memories that shape the flavours we create, always comforting, always familiar, like home.
First Dish of SHICKEN
You’d think our first dish would be the famous Tikka Kebab?
Everyone assumes that.
But no – that one came later, and by accident, really.
Back when our kids were little,
we’d make the kebabs to share with their friends on outings and football training days.
It was just something fun, something quick to pack into a box,
and it somehow became everyone’s favourite.
But our first real dish of SHICKEN?
It was Balti Curry.
A proper, traditional, homely curry,
the kind that fills the kitchen with spice and warmth,
the kind that feels like home even before you take the first bite.
The Core of SHICKEN
We care about what goes into our food.
Nothing complicated: just clean, natural ingredients you’d find in any home kitchen.
We’ve always wanted our meals to be for everyone.
Vegans, vegetarians, meat-eaters who just want something tasty,
and people who are usually left out because of allergies.
Most of our dishes are free from the 14 major allergens,
but you’d never know from the flavour or the texture.
In the end, it’s food we love to eat ourselves, and share with anyone who pulls up a chair.
The Lightbulb Moment
Back in the 90s and early 2000s, eating out as a vegan was a test of patience.
Steamed vegetables and plain rice, that was all most places could offer.
Then came a lightbulb moment. It was 2001, in Singapore.
I (Parm) was blown away by the food there, rich, bold flavours, dishes like vegan laksa and mee goreng that had depth and care. It opened my eyes to what vegan food could really be.
I remember thinking, why not bring that kind of quality and my own Punjabi roots back home to the UK?
It was like planting a seed.
A seed that grew from three generations of recipes, 30+ years of being vegan, 20+ years in the industry, and all those moments of frustration and inspiration.
When COVID hit, the timing finally felt right.
That’s when SHICKEN came to life.
What should SHICKEN feel like?
Like something you’d call a treat.
It tastes so good, and we don’t say that lightly, that you almost forget it’s healthy.
But that’s the point. Real ingredients, cooked well, can be both.