In our latest ‘What’s Cooking’, we hear from Ranee Veerassamy, Founder of Rani’s Cuisine. Ranee’s beginnings saw her starting out from a market stall and today she’s thriving in her own kitchen helping newcomers to Australia assimilate. Ranee teaches them how to run a business and hopefully gives them hope for a greater future.
Armed with the desire to empower her customers with knowledge and confidence to cook for themselves continues to be one of Ranee’s key values. At the same time, she aims to educate others that a business like hers is possible. One of her keys to success, she says, is going easy on herself and filtering out negativity.
Your business name: Rani’s Cuisine
How would you describe the business you are in?
Mauritian and Indian cooking classes, a line of food products (curry powders, pastes and pickles) and food service two nights a week. I am planning to start taking people on eating tours to Mauritius and South India in the next couple of years. My family is from Mauritius with roots in Southern India and I have been really enjoying sharing the food, recipes and traditions of my family and ancestors with others.
Don’t beat yourself up so much, take it slowly and build it up. Don’t listen to the naysayers or compare yourself with anyone else. You can do it.
What do you love about your work?
I love the opportunities I have to empower others. In my cooking classes, I show people how to make curries from scratch, leaving them feeling empowered to cook for their guests. I also have a lot of people talking to me about wanting to do something similar and I then have the opportunity to show them how it IS possible for them to succeed, in spite of obstacles.
I also like to see people’s faces light up when they have food that I prepare that they haven’t had for a long time. I once had a friend’s 80 year old father tell me that he hadn’t had that taste for more than 50 years. I also love connecting with others who have food businesses. I have formed some great friendships along the way. One of my goals is to turn my business into a social enterprise in which people who are new to Australia and have difficulties integrating into the workforce (whether it be linguistic, confidence or other issues), can have the opportunity to work and hopefully learn enough to empower them to start their own businesses.
What part of your job would you gladly give away?
All of the administration and paperwork.
If you were starting out in business again today, what piece of advice would you give your younger you?
Don’t beat yourself up so much, take it slowly and build it up. Don’t listen to the naysayers or compare yourself with anyone else. You can do it.
Women start business 41% of the time to solve a problem? Sometimes this means we have a great vision but don’t have enough resources to sustain our business for the long term. Tell us what resources you started your business with.
I started with very little resources, I would host cooking classes for friends and prepare food for their parties in order to raise the money that I needed to start. The business grew very gradually and organically. My husband would help out financially and things evolved from there. I think it took about 4 years before I started paying myself.
As you know we are passionate about women #backingthemselves. So tell us about a time in the last twelve months that you’re really proud of.
I finally made the move from spending a lot of time on my market stall to spending more time teaching classes (which was my original plan) and operating at a fixed location twice a week.
I loved the idea of being part of a group of women where it was safe to ask questions and support others.
As we are always growing and learning, what is the one thing you would like to take time to learn more about?
I would like to spend more time travelling to relatively remote areas in India and collecting recipes and methods. Indian food is so incredibly diverse that it would take a lifetime to learn a fraction of it. I would also like to learn more about how the recipes have survived and changed in the Indian diaspora as more people moved overseas and had to cope with different ingredients and environments.
The world is changing so fast and technology enables us to do so much more. We’re interested in which app you could not live without and why?
I use online banking apps a lot as it enables me to pay my bills wherever I am.
Why did you decide to become a member of Females in Food®
I loved the idea of being part of a group of women where it was safe to ask questions and support others. I drew inspiration from the public posts that Chelsea made and finally decided that it was time for me to back myself and join.
We love to celebrate the successes. Can you give us an example of how joining the Foodpreneurs Formula™ has positively impacted your business?
It has helped me see that I am not alone in the struggles that I face and that many other businesses face the same hurdles. The members help me with strategies to overcome issues and keep the business running smoothly.
Thank you Ranee.
Want to read more about another successful Females in Food VIP member? Check out our ‘What’s Cooking’ interview with Founder of Alive and Wild, Vicki Veranese.