The question had come up at every interview, every trade event, every time someone from outside Yorkshire had eaten at a Rassam store and asked the obvious thing. When are you coming to us? For years, the honest answer was: we are not ready yet. In January 2023, they were ready.
Why Nottingham
Nottingham Beeston was not a random choice. The area had the right demographic, the right footfall patterns, and something that the team had learned to look for: a community that gathered around food and did not have a Rassam to go to yet. The site due diligence was thorough. The operational planning took longer than previous openings. Going first outside your home turf carries a different weight.
“We did not want to be the brand that expanded fast and thinned out. We wanted Nottingham to feel like Sheffield felt in 2012.”
The store design held to the Rassam standard without being a carbon copy of what already existed. Local touches in the colour palette, a slightly adjusted menu to reflect regional preferences, and the same non negotiable commitment to halal operation and quality that had defined every previous opening.
The Reception
Beeston did not need a long run in. The opening week generated queues that surprised even the optimists inside the business. Social media did what it does when something genuinely new arrives somewhere — it amplified fast. Within a fortnight, Rassam Beeston had its own regulars. Within a month, it had its own mythology.
The day they left Yorkshire was the day Rassam became a national brand. Everything after Beeston was, in a sense, already decided.
