There are very few food stalls in Manchester that generate as much buzz as Rita’s reign, and it’s not hard to understand why when you look at the quality of their food. We spoke to Olivia about the business and it’s relationship with Manchester.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name is Theo Cusenbet and today's video is all about a taste of home.
00:05Now here in Manchester we've got a brilliantly diverse cultural identity and you've got an amazing range of different culinary adventures that you can go on.
00:13One of my favourite here in the city is Rita's Reign. On the very rare occasions that I, as an organised adult, forget to pack a lunch, it's the place I'll go to every single time.
00:22It does an amazing range of brilliant Caribbean food options, stuff like jollof rice, rice and peas, jerk chicken and curry goat which genuinely will fill you up to the extent that it becomes hard to do work in the afternoon.
00:34Now I'm delighted to say we're going to be going down there now and talking to some of the staff about the importance that this food has to them, how great it is to be represented here in Manchester and why Manchester feels like the perfect place for them to have set up shop.
00:45So Rita's Reign we do African Caribbean food so I'd say that we've mixed Ghanian cuisine with Jamaican cuisine. We've put our modern day twist on it.
00:55So we've been on here for six years now. My mum worked on here prior to owning Rita's Reign. She works for a Turkish guy serving Turkish wraps and then when the lady who did Caribbean food wanted to just call it a day she said you know what Rita you've been in this industry for years why don't you just give it a go.
01:10So this market is just a hub for a lot of cultures to come together. We used to just share different cuisines. We did burger vans outside the United ground Old Trafford so we did that for 10 years and then that's how my mum found or met the guy who did the Turkish wraps.
01:25And for her to jump from that to owning a business was very drastic I must say. However, with the help of my dad, her husband, he owned businesses, he's done operations so with his backing she really was able to get to the level where we are today.
01:42But it just took off. Honestly, the food talks. We intentionally try and attack the senses. So when you're walking past you instantly smell it. You can hear it because we're constantly chopping.
01:54But then, you know, I'm going to just say it. The food, it sells itself. If you buy it and you eat it, that's how we get, that's how we've been so successful because the regulars, we just owe it to the regulars really.
02:07There's so many loyal customers that we owe it to them. When I first started working for my mum, I was at uni. I was doing a business degree. I didn't really know where I wanted to go.
02:18So when I started working for my mum, I said, look, pay me my salary and if I don't W take into the next year, I'll find a new job. And we did.
02:25Manchester just really embraces the different cultures and I think having a place like this, which has been here for 20 years, it's always embraced different foods, different cultures.
02:34And if anything, this is the heartbeat of the city, isn't it? It's the pathway to everywhere.
02:38So I think it's just a really good location for people to just come together.
02:42Now, as I say, I love Rita's Reign and I really do recommend it.
02:45Don't all go at once, please, because otherwise the already extensive lunchtime queues will become more difficult for me to get through.
02:52But honestly, for the value and for the quality, you can't get much better here in Manchester.
02:56So thank you for watching Manchester World. This has been A Taste of Home.
02:59A Taste of Home.