Rival takeaways row over who offered UK’s first vegan doner kebab spit

'Shut up and take my money'

Great British Doner (GBD) in Manchester announced on social media that they are the UK's first to have a vegan doner kebab cooked on a rotating spit or 'baton', just like the real deal.

Viral TikToks show the staff trimming and serving the meat-free delicacy from a rotating skewer.

However, the post has upset another vegan takeaway offering similar products.

Beelzebab, a Brighton-based takeaway, sent a video reply which showed they had won a British Kebab Award for their vegan kebab in 2023.

The rival's clip featured a staff member wagging his finger dismissively at GBD's claims, with the caption: "UK first? Been here since 2014 baby!"

In another comment, they boasted: "Looks good guys but not the UK's first. We've been doing this for over a decade."

But GBD founder Mehmet Korkut, 41, says what sets them apart is that they actually cook the kebab on the rotating skewer, it is not just used for serving.

He claims they are the first kebab house in the country to cook and serve the product in this way.

However, meat lovers remained unconvinced about either of the takeaways' vegan offerings, with some simply stating that 'it's not a doner kebab', poking fun at vegans for copying meat-based products.

Mehmet said: "We are the first to put vegan doner on a baton, people have never seen that before.

"Due to less demand in the past for vegan doner, people were not putting it on skewers because they didn't think they could sell enough of it.

"Usually, the vegan products would just be heated up in the microwave.

"But we will cook a baton every weekend on the skewer under a slow fire.

"We use a proper cooling process and then freeze it - then we defrost and heat up on the spit the next day."

GBD, which opened in June, has quickly developed a reputation for outside-the-box ideas such as the Choco Doner - a chocolate-flavoured kebab.

Since launching the 'never seen before' vegan kebab baton this week, the team have had 'hundreds' of delivery orders already.

The idea to recreate the full kebab experience for vegans by cooking it on a spit came from close to home.

Mehmet said: "One of my family members is vegan, that's where it started from. We took his recipe and tried to keep the ingredients as similar as possible.

"When I tasted it, I was shocked. I thought: OK, this is a good idea. To be honest, as a meat-eater, I didn't expect how good it was going to be - but I love it.

"It's all cooked with vegetables, organic herbs and soya protein. Since we put it out, we have started to get a lot of attention on social media platforms.

"[An influencer] came from London and tasted it and had the same feelings as us. She shared the day before yesterday, and since then, we have taken hundreds of orders from delivery apps.

"We have been contacted by London restaurants asking to test it, wanting to put it on their menus.

"And it's not only for the vegans, meat eaters are enjoying it too. It's changed my whole perspective on what I'm doing.

"When you don't have any expectations and then it takes over your other products, it's surprising. I think I underestimated the vegan population."

Some social media users, particularly those proclaiming to be meat eaters, were not impressed with the idea, claiming it wasn't a true doner.

One user on Facebook said: "Not a doner kebab, then a doner kebab is made with lamb."

Another user said: "I dread to think what is in it. Doner meat is bad enough."

A third person said: "Even meat kebab ain't meat, it's a bit of crap, so I can only imagine how much crap is in this!

"All they've got to do is label it vegan and you all worship it without knowing what's really in it."

Another person said: "Why do vegans want to make everything look like meat?"

Other comments were more positive, with users suggesting it should be expanded nationwide.

One user said: "Looks incredible. All kebab houses should have this."

Another person simply said: "Shut up and take my money."