01 N16 Londis

N16 Londis is a Londis, but it's clearly something more than that. How did you turn a franchise corner store into something that feels so distinctly yours, and what made you want to bring your culture's food into that space in the first place?

The interest in making food for the shop actually started from customers saying our shop always used to smell good when we were making lunch for ourselves during a busy work day. This inspired my mum to invite people to learn about the traditional homemade Gujarati cooking that we were lucky enough to grow up with. What we ate at home was once something we only experienced behind closed doors, but introducing it into the shop bridged a gap between us and the outside world and taught them what we were eating at home. In many ways, this shop is our home. Across my grandparents, parents, my brother and I and my niece and nephew, we have made so many friends over the years. My dad talks to older customers who remember him as a young boy. My brother will catch up with the young dads about parenthood. I have become best friends with people who initially reached out to the shop over Instagram. And so from the beginning our ethos with food has been "from our plate to yours".

Running a small business is one thing. Running one that also functions as a community space, feeds people affordably, and stays true to something personal is another entirely. What does it actually take to keep this going, and how do you balance the franchise model with the warmth you've built into it?

A continuous conversation with your customers is important. My grandparents always used to say listen to what your customers want and always get it in, even if they're the only person who buys it. I think this taught us to always understand what people are wanting in the food and drink scene, and how to stay on top of things. Staying with Londis is pretty key to our intentions with the shop. Sticking with a bigger company, we have access to better offers for our customers, while being a franchise means we still function like an independent and have a lot more freedom when it comes to buying. This helps us create a high-low price point in our shop, which means we can provide for a variety of customers with different economic backgrounds. As the shop has been here since 1979, we feel we have a duty to protect the older residents of Stoke Newington, while also welcoming in the new. We don't want to exclusively stock higher end products. We'd like to keep things accessible for a wider audience, and that's also why our food is reasonably priced (around £4/£4.50). This means our clientele is very diverse, and that is where the warmth and community-feel comes from.

You're doing pop-ups, catering, and expanding into new spaces. What are you most excited about for the year ahead? And is there something about your community - the people, the neighbourhood, the culture you carry into the store, that you wish more people knew or paid attention to?

We're usually taking things day-by-day at the shop. Everyday it seems to get busier and busier, and people are always approaching us with new projects, which is exciting for me and my brother as we get to have a little more creative-freedom than just working in a shop. I'm hoping to launch a supper-club-style model in the shop this Summer, where we have a guest chef take over our takeaway food one Saturday, each month in summer. In terms of what I wish people paid more attention to – I think one of the key elements of a healthy, thriving community in which long term residents and newer arrivals can all mix together is making sure you engage with a variety of places. It's easy to stick to places that look cool or have slick marketing, but some of the best businesses and most interesting people can be in places that look very unassuming. Obviously, for our shop, we're more visible now, and social media has helped us to connect with a wider audience. But for all those years when we had zero social media presence, people could have easily walked by our shop and assumed we were a bog standard corner shop. So go to the cafe or the corner shop or the takeaway in your area that maybe doesn't immediately grab your eye, talk to the people who work there, and get to know their story.