The decision to go to Nairobi did not come from a market research report. It came from conversations — with customers who had moved between Sheffield and East Africa, with members of the community who had been asking the question for years, with a city that had made its own food culture one of the most dynamic on the continent. Kilimani, directly opposite the Yaya Centre, was the obvious location the moment anyone looked at the map.
Building Rassam in a New Market
The operational complexity of an international opening is of a different order to adding a location in a new English city. Supplier relationships, import logistics, local staffing, and understanding the specific ways a new market interacts with dessert culture all required months of groundwork before a single cone was served. The Nairobi team, recruited locally and trained in Sheffield, were the most important element of all.
“Nairobi taught us that the Rassam feeling is not British. It is universal. Warmth does not need a visa.”
The Kilimani Reception
Kilimani is one of Nairobi's most cosmopolitan neighbourhoods — a mix of long term residents, international professionals, and a young creative community that is building the city's cultural identity in real time. The opening drew a crowd that spanned all three. The queue on day one was longer than the team had forecast. The social media coverage reached further than any previous Rassam launch.
Nairobi was not the end of the international ambition. It was, as one team member put it on opening night, the proof of concept for everything the brand intends to do next. A Sheffield story, now told in Swahili too.
