Rizah Veselin’s wife sometimes cooks other food, but the very next day Veselin feels like kebab.
The whole family together. Rizah Veseli (left) founded Perniö kebab 27 years ago. Family and restaurant staff with him in the picture: wife Adlije Veseli, daughter Kaltrina Veseli and sister Fatmire and her husband Musli Krasniqi. Roni Lehti
Entrepreneur Rizah Veseli makes kebabs with the same recipe as when he started 27 years ago. The same is also the location of the restaurant. Perniö kebab was opened in February 1996 in the center of Perniö.
In recent years, kebabs have risen alongside hamburgers, pizza and sushi in Finland, if not even past them. It’s already one of the favorite foods at the gas station.
The recipe for a good kebab is simple. According to Vesel, you need good kebab meat, delicious tomato sauce and a crunchy, fresh salad for that.
– The secret of our kebab is in the kebab meat we make ourselves. If I bought kebab meat directly from a wholesaler, the customers would disappear, Veseli states.
Kebab’s most important raw material is kebab meat. Roni Lehti
98 percent of their kebab meat is domestic beef, the remaining two percent is spices.
The Perniö kebab restaurant uses 400 kilos of meat a week, 100,000 kilos a year.
For a few years, Veseli has also been known as Johtaja. Thanks nephew Arjan Krasniqwho suggested that Veseli start making Tiktok videos.
– Back then I didn’t even know what Tiktok was.
Now Veseli really knows – and many people know who he is. The last time he was at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, people came to greet him and pat him on the shoulder. People recognize Tiktok star.
Rizah Veseli (right) and her right-hand man Musli Krasniqi show that their metric baby is well over a meter tall. Roni Lehti
Siskonpoika also came up with the name Johtaja. Customers have adopted it and expect to see Vesel behind the counter. Sometimes the restaurant is called that we are now leaving to drive from Helsinki and we want to make sure if the Manager is there.
And he is.
Veseli says that the restaurant is his whole life. The home is just a walk away and the wife is also involved in the company. The daughter is responsible for the roll kebab factory, whose products can be found in stores.
– Everything in my life is here. Hobbies stopped 27 years ago. Good luck wife Adlije is included, otherwise there would be problems at home. We’re doing pretty well, Veseli grins.
He is at the restaurant first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, every day. And the night doesn’t always go to sleep either.
Arjan Krasniqi shoots a new Tiktok video about “Leader”. Roni Lehti
– At night, I think about Tiktok ideas and solutions to the restaurant’s problems.
For almost 25 years, Veseli thought about how to put a meter long roll kebab dough in the oven.
– Then I came up with it one night.
But this realization cannot be revealed, because otherwise everyone would make a meter of kebab from a uniform dough.
Veseli has been eating kebabs every day for 27 years, but he is still not bored.
– I can’t say why. The hostess cooks good food, but the very next day she feels like kebab, Veseli laughs.
Perniö’s kebab takes Rizah Vesel all the time. Working with him are daughter Kaltrina, wife Adlije, sister Fatmire and sister’s husband Musli Krasniqi. Roni Lehti
The apple has not fallen from the tree for a long time. Vesel’s daughter and the manager of the roll kebab factory Kaltrina Veseli laughs that a lot of kebabs are eaten at his house as well. In fact, her young children are the most avid kebab eaters.
Veseli only learned how to make kebab in Finland. The civil war in Yugoslavia drove the Kosovar family to Finland. The asylum seekers ended up in Salo, where Veseli was initially working in another kebab restaurant.
When Perniö’s property was found, the decision to have his own restaurant was easy. At no point did it occur to me to move away. The roll kebab factory has also been built in the same areas.
– Perniö has embraced us, thanks Veseli.
When Rizah Veseli once took his kebab to a local store for a test, the shopkeeper called after half an hour to ask if there was more. Nowadays, roll kebabs are sold all over Finland. Roni Lehti