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Ranmoor Friery owner Rani Sandhu after a charity run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRanmoor Friery on Facebook<\/p>\n
If you take a walk along Fulwood Road, past the nineteenth-century St John’s Church and the classically fronted Ranmoor Inn, you arrive at a small parade of shops. Sitting amongst a hairdresser, wine merchant and deli is the Ranmoor Friery.<\/p>\n
The fish and chip shop is hugely popular with students and chippy tea connoisseurs alike, and it would be surprising if you weren’t welcomed in, served by and engaged in warm conversation with ever-smiling owner and front-of-house matriarch Rani Sandhu.<\/p>\n
Taking pride of place on the walls are various family photos and certificates of Rani’s achievements in both running and generating sizable charitable donations, all of which is eclipsed by the impressive collection of medals on show behind the counter.<\/p>\n
As I discover, the motivation to partake in 10k and marathon running didn’t manifest itself as a response to the need for a fitness pastime. Indeed, it could be said that running itself provided the medicinal and mental health balm for the soul that was every bit as critical as fundraising for good causes.<\/p>\n
As we sit down in the front of the shop to talk, Rani starts by explaining her journey from banking to batter. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had the chippy for nine years now. Before that I had lived in Leicester for pretty much my whole life. I was 39 then and worked for Royal Bank Of Scotland.<\/p>\n
“Redundancies came round, and as my husband was working different shifts and the kids were at school and college, we all agreed we just didn’t spend enough time together as a family. I felt that was a huge part of my life that I was missing. Plus I didn’t have the hunger for banking that I used to have. So I left.<\/p>\n
“This place came up for sale and we decided to run a fish and chip shop in Sheffield \u2013 with zero experience! It was very much a family decision, made between us, to have our own business.”<\/p>\n
As with any fledgling business, especially one in which experience is in short supply, it turned out to be a tough start.<\/p>\n
“We were hopeless when we started. We’d forget customers orders, we’d forget putting fish in the fryer, everything. So many mistakes. But because we’re passionate about food, I used to ask customers for honest feedback. Being Yorkshire folk, they didn’t hold back. ‘Rani, your batter’s too thick, your chips aren’t right,’ they’d say. We learned from that, put things right and have and always will put customers first. It’s all about them.”<\/p>\n
Cooking diversity, especially for vegetarian customers, was also a key development, and one based on family tradition.<\/p>\n
“My mum was 100% vegetarian, so we knew segregation of cookware was
\nreally important and we prepared food separately, to ensure we had
\nauthentic vegetarian food, cooked to customers’ requirements. People
\ncame in and loved it. Vegetarian boxes are now on our menu and are
\nhugely successful, and we got a new client base just for that offering.
\nI’m proud to be following my mum’s tradition.”<\/p>\n
With the business on a solid footing, how did Rani turn to athletic pursuits and charity-based running?<\/p>\n
“It was May 2016 that I began running. My son and I had just signed
\nup for the Sheffield 10k. I’d climbed Snowdon with a group and done some
\n collective charity stuff at RBS, but never anything on my own. This was
\n new territory for me.”<\/p>\n
Next on the agenda was the need to find a charity to run for. It turned out to be a sadly prophetic choice.<\/p>\n
“When we signed up for the run, we met some people from Cavendish
\nCancer Care, and they asked who we were running for. We said nobody and
\nthey said, ‘Well, how about running for us?’ They told us about their
\nwork, what they were doing, and how their targeted support was for
\npeople in the Sheffield community who’d suffered from cancer.<\/p>\n
“A month later, in June, my own mum was diagnosed with lung cancer.
\nShe passed away within two weeks. She was the biggest loss of my life.
\nIt broke me, and I didn’t know how to cope.<\/p>\n
“That’s why I turned to running and doing the charity work I do. It
\nall started by losing my mum, but I needed something aside from work to
\nkeep me going, mentally and physically.”<\/p>\n
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