OFM Awards: Best Independent Retailer – Rafi’s Spicebox

How the sons of Rafi Fernandez transformed her much-loved one-woman spice shop into a national brand – and voted Best Independent Retailer by OFM readers

When Rafi Fernandez opened her first spice shop in Sudbury in 1988, it was a brave, perhaps even foolhardy, move. Fernandez had recently moved to the small Suffolk market town with her family from the east end of London and was “a bit bored”, according to her 46-year-old son Kevin. “She wanted to do something involving food and cooking but had no skills or knowledge for doing it commercially.”

To say that Sudbury wasn’t ready for a spice shop is an understatement. “I don’t think we can emphasise how small and conservative this town was,” says Kevin’s younger brother Lee, 42. “Can you imagine a family of Malaysian-Indians descending on rural Suffolk in the 80s? Nobody really knew what spices were, or what Mum was on about. The only reason she chose Sudbury was because we lived there.”

Continue reading...

from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2wWCZ6e