He blended and synthesised the traditional structure of Turkish Delight and created a brand, which smells like Bodrum with its special scent and taste.

He is an entrepreneur who set up a class A travel agency, operated a hotel and finished three universities in his 20's. He is the chief actor of a life that knows how to appreciate those opportunities and is dedicated to learning and producing. Kanat Kiral: crying out the importance of being able to remain original on the road to success on every occasion.

The foundations of the brand are thrown away too far in fact. During his gastronomy training in Australia, he prepared a bar of delight for athletes as a finishing project. The successful project idea is to find a buyer for 10 thousand dollars. Kanat Kiral decides to carry the business idea of project stage to reality. BDRM Bodrum Lokum, is a brand that adds value to Bodrum, comes out at the end of this difficult journey.

Kiral and his brand, establishing the throne in the hearts of Bodrum, are determined to make Bodrum and its citrus live in the most natural way with its products of delight, jam, candy, cologne, chocolate and coffee by the motto “Eat Live Love” and continue his ongoing R&D studies. Here is what we underlined for you from our delightful chat...

Could you tell us about yourself?


I was born in Ankara. In my childhood we used to come to my grandmother's summerhouse in Turgutreis. However, what really caused for us to settle in Bodrum is we came up with the idea of organising spring festivals of universities in 1986. Coming to large Gumbet hotels four or five times a year and having a house in Bodrum became an important factor that we decided to continue our business life in Bodrum. I established a travel agency in Bodrum in 1990.

Let us hear a depiction about the old and current Bodrum from you,...

Today's Bodrum has changed a lot compared to the past. Bodrum is one of the most natural places in the world. Despite its weariness, it maintains its popularity. It retained the upper segment of holidaymakers in Turkey. It has an elite holidaymaker profile. These people prefer it for its naturalness. People, who used to come to Bodrum, invested in this town without commercial concerns. Bodrum has become a brand with its natural beauty. Currently registered population is 150,000, of course this is only the known number. Bodrum has a cosmopolitan structure with those coming from outside. It will be more different in the upcoming years.

Let us talk about the story of Bodrum Lokum. How did the idea come about?

I am tourism-based and I have worked in the tourism sector for a long time. I studied gastronomy in Australia. I love to study as someone who studied Business Administration at Gazi University and Economy at Bilkent University. I studied hospitality for 2 years and studied cooking. While studying gastronomy, I prepared a bar of delight for athletes as a finishing project and this idea was highly approved. I first met my wife Kelly at that time in Australia. After graduating, she returned to Paris. We could not stand being apart and we decided to get married in Bodrum.

There were plenty of tangerines in the market, unfortunately not evaluated. Therefore, we decided to enter the food industry. The brand, we established in 2010, became a milestone for the wasted tangerines, which did not provide added value. Bodrum tangerine is a special product that it (delete) has a geographical indication. However, tangerine orchards are declining with each passing day more. I think it is not possible to get ahead. Let us show empathy. You cannot say that the producer who has a tangerine orchard staying in a single room to earn ten thousand lire a year and enjoy the garden while there is the opportunity to earn millions by selling his/her land. I am trying to get the products of the small gardeners, who come to me, equally. The raw material in our production facility is 100% mandarin. We dry, mash and freeze the mandarin and then we grind the shells.

The first three years were rough. We did not give up, on the one hand, we have developed our company, on the other hand we have looked after the neighbourhood we live in. Our brand started to be imitated shortly. We enjoy spending what we earn, on the development of our brand and social responsibility projects. In short, we share it with Bodrum.

Should we mention the product range?

Our starting point was delight. Every year we add new products to our product range. We first produced the Turkish coffee with tangerine; I think there will soon be copies released.

We have 5 stores in Bodrum. Our products find the shelves at 530 Migros supermarkets and 32 Metro chain stores throughout the country for 12 months. In fact, we bring Bodrum Turkey alive. Our products are being exported to Qatar, especially to Canada, France and Greece. We can produce and sell 300 tons of delight per year. Our annual production capacity is continuously increasing in line with demand.

My wife Kelly and I are in love with our work. We show more interest in our business than our home. It is my life vision to do original works that have not been tried before. We proceed on the path of life philosophy of "You were born original, do not be a replica of anyone!” My wife is interested in both management and graphic design. Since she is a banker, the accounting is also on her shoulders as well.

Since our establishment in 2010, we have had the ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 22000 International Manufacturing Documentation. I do not sell what I do not eat, so it should not be so different. If you are doing something good and you are declaring it's good, you need to certify it.

You also include the forgotten flavours among your products. Could you tell us about the Kistirma (lokum between 2 wafers)?

In our childhood, when products like wafers were not available, biscuits and delights were sold in separate tins. When you said to the grocer "Uncle, can I get a Kistirma?", he would give you a delight between the two biscuits. As the product variety increases, the Kistirma is forgotten. We have put Satsuma and tangerine delights in it and brought it back to the market. The delights and biscuits used to be glued with water. We glue delights and biscuits with natural marmalades.

Could you tell us about your future plans for your brand?

Our production costs are quite high. We do not do cost save because we would like to keep the quality and the uniqueness to be the originality of Bodrum. There are many productions under the counter in the market. The products, which are produced out of town with sub- production are showing up to be our rivals. We have spent all our energy on our quality and tried to be original. Of course, we desire to grow. Companies are alive like human beings, they act according to the conditions of the environment. We focus on growing as a target, but conditions will also affect it over time.

Can you spend time with your family?

I will be honest. I devote most of my time to work instead of my five-year-old daughter, Kayla and my 8-year-old son, Teoman, who lives in Australia. This is a price. It is hard to get there and grow your business. We get up at 7 in the morning, take our daughter to school and get to work at 8:30. We keep this routine by spending Sundays with the family.