Viewers regularly tune in to T&A Kebabs’ TikTok livestream to watch others order food
PLENTY of people enjoy a kebab after a night out, but at one Cathays takeaway people can watch others order one from their comfort of their homes.
At T&A Kebabs on Miskin Street, viewers from anywhere in the world get the chance to watch the average night inside the takeaway through a TikTok livestream run by shop managers.
The shop may be better known for appearing in an episode of Gavin and Stacey – as the takeaway visited by Gavin’s stag do in Series 1 – but T&A Kebabs is perhaps better recognised by younger generations for its online TikTok presence.
For store manager Zaid Akbar, the livestream gives people who aren’t on a night out themselves the chance to still feel part of it.
“Some people will get messages from their mates saying that they can see them on the livestream, and then they run to the camera and try to get a conversation going,” he said.
The livestream can also bring back memories for people of their student years in Cardiff, as Mr Akbar said that he’s had messages from people watching the stream saying that said they wished they could be at T&A’s.
The takeaway goes live three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, when the shop is at its busiest, but the shop’s main focus in always on their job.
“My first priority is to serve the food and keep the customers happy,” said Mr Akbar.
There’s certainly no shortage of appetite for watching others order food, as the livestream regularly gets hundreds of viewers.
Mr Akbar said the live feed had upwards of 600 people at its peak all watching at the same time last Friday, while in the course of the whole week, their livestream received 27,000 total viewers.
The livestream is also popular with customers too, as Mr Akbar said that “if people didn’t like it, I wouldn’t turn it on”.
But, he does recognise that some customers do have concerns about appearing on the livestream, which is why the camera is positioned to only capture one half of the till.
“I tell people to go to the other side if they don’t want to be in the livestream”.
The kebab shop began going live on TikTok after years of running an account on the app posting videos. It proved unexpectedly successful.
Mr Akbar confessed to knowing little about TikTok himself, but students leapt at the chance to film a video at T&A Kebabs.
“I put a couple of videos out and before 24 hours had passed people were coming in saying they’ve seen this video, that video, and asking to make a video,” said Mr Akbar.
Within the first year of posting, the kebab shop had its first viral hit when a video filmed with a customer received seven million views. Since then, a number of other TikToks have received tens of thousands of views.
Nationally, a number of other takeaways have found viral success through TikTok such as Binley Mega Chippy in Coventry and Merchant’s Fish and Chip shop in Worcestershire, which gained attention in 2024 after employee Destiny Harold was labelled the “chip shop diva” by viewers.
As for now, Mr Akbar thinks the livestreams help bring a fun and positive vibe for customers who chose to finish their nights out at T&A Kebabs.
