The unit on Staniforth Road was not glamorous. It had a narrow frontage, a handful of tables, and a freezer that had seen better days. What it had, above all else, was conviction — a belief that Sheffield deserved a dessert experience that went far beyond a soft serve and a wafer.
A City Hungry for Something New
Darnall in 2012 was not where food entrepreneurs traditionally planted their flag. It was a working neighbourhood, not a culinary destination. But Rassam saw something others missed: a community that celebrated together, that marked birthdays and Eids and graduations with food, and that had nowhere near enough places to do it properly.
“We did not open for the food critics. We opened for the family of five who wanted somewhere to go after the school play.”
The menu in those early months was tight. Sundaes, a few waffle builds, and ice cream in more flavours than anyone on the street had tried to stock before. Word spread the way it always does in tight communities: someone told someone, who told someone else, and by Friday evening the queue was already forming outside.
The Queue That Changed Everything
There is a photograph from that first summer that the team still keeps. It shows a line of people stretching past the shuttered newsagent next door and around the corner. The till was ringing. The staff were learning on the job. And somewhere in the middle of it all, the Rassam ethos was quietly taking shape: generous portions, full flavour, and a room where everyone was welcome.
That small unit on Staniforth Road is still open today. It is the original. It is where everything started, and the team have never closed it — not for renovations, not for rebranding, not for anything. Some things you keep exactly as they are.
