Believe In Yourself & Trust the Process - Nimrat Gill, Village Curry & Spice
Nimrat Gill
Interview with Restaurant Manager, Village Curry & Spice
Exciting update!
Did you know that this Village Curry & Spice article was the first feature created on Steveston People—when I launched the original site in 2022?
From having such positive experiences with this wonderful local business, I was inspired to write an article about them, but had nowhere to publish it. So I created StevestonPeople.com as a place where the article could live, and where I could continue to add features about the people in this community.
So what’s the exciting update? Village Curry & Spice has opened a second location and an expanded menu!
Message from the Gill Family: The Gill family has some exciting news to share. Firstly, we're thrilled to unveil our new and improved location in Surrey, BC. We're incredibly grateful for the overwhelming love and support from the Steveston community these past two years and also the loving customers who traveled all the way from Surrey and Delta to try out the food. Now we are closer to you too! Wherever we go, we bring not only the flavours of our food but also the unity and hospitality of Steveston.
But that's not all! For our beloved Richmond community, we have some thrilling updates to our menu. Prepare your taste buds for a delightful experience with our new additions. After savoring our delicious curries, be sure to indulge in our in-house Milk Badam and Kulfis, perfect for beating the summer heat.
Join us as we continue to spread the love, flavors, and warm hospitality of Village Curry. We can't wait to share these exciting moments with you this summer!
Most popular dishes served at Village Curry & Spice
Alright, now let’s get to the original article…
Written, May 2022
“Believe in yourself and trust the process.” These encouraging words by Nimrat Gill have been echoing in my mind since we talked on April 10th, 2022.
Nimrat is the Manager of Village Curry & Spice. Having officially opened for business last year on April 2nd, 2021, her family’s restaurant recently celebrated their one year anniversary of serving authentic Indian cuisine in Steveston Village of Richmond, BC, Canada.
My family moved to this neighbourhood in 2020, and since Village Curry & Spice opened, they have been a favourite spot of ours for affordable and comforting meals. Inside the clean and casual restaurant, the staff are always friendly and attentive. This place has also been our two kids’ top choice on where to spend their allowances–Oh, the joy that naan bread can bring to a five and an eight-year-old!
As a happy customer who loves to learn and write about local independent businesses, I asked Nimrat if she could tell me more about her family’s restaurant. So during her night off work on a Sunday evening (in between studying for university courses and walking Duke the family dog) Nimrat told me how Village Curry & Spice was born from her dad’s passion and talent for cooking. She gave highlights from their first year of operation and explained the role they want to play in the local community.
From left to right: Jag & Gurshaan (assistant chefs), Davinder (grandma), Harpreet (dad/head chef & owner), Jagwinder (mom/owner) & Anureet (cousin/front desk lead)
The main characters
Before you read their backstory, let’s first introduce the people running the show at Village Curry & Spice!
Nimrat’s mom and dad, Jagwinder and Harpreet Gill, are the owners. Hapreet is also the head chef of the restaurant.
As manager, Nimrat is responsible for the website, social media, hiring of staff, and customer feedback. Abhay, her brother, helps out in the kitchen, in the front and occasionally on deliveries.
If you have already been to Village Curry & Spice, most likely you have met Anureet who takes care of customers at the front desk. She is Nimrat and Abhay’s cousin and lives with their family too! Currently, the team continues to expand with Gurshaan, the chef’s right hand man and several new staff serving customers. Nimrat notes that one of the original assistant chefs, Jag, no longer works at the restaurant, but she acknowledges, "he was and always will be a valuable part of the team."
Beginning with a passion, an interest and powerful taste buds
In the Gill household, delicious home-cooked meals by dad have always been part of family life.
Back in their hometown of Amritsar, in the Punjab state of India, Nimrat’s father Hapreet worked as a teacher and a journalist while her mother Jagwinder owned and operated a fashion boutique. But for as long as Nimrat could remember, her dad has had a love for cooking and a deep interest in the history of Indian cuisine.
Moreover, Harpreet’s taste buds could easily pick out the ingredients in the foods he tasted, and the meals he cooked for family and friends would usually result in reactions like, “You should be on Master Chef!”
Chicken Tandoori
Patience and planning
While opening up a restaurant was a lifelong dream for Nimrat’s dad, it still took more than half a decade after settling in Canada to make it happen.
At the time when they moved to Canada in 2015, Nimrat and Abhay were still in high school, so Hapreet and Jagwinder decided to continue saving money through various jobs, and wait until their kids were older before turning their focus and finances on starting a new business.
Now that the kids have grown to be young adults, the Gill family was ready to work together to realise dad’s culinary dream. “I still remember all the discussions and arguments our family had over deciding the name, interior designs, and us working long days to put everything together.”
“Cooking was something my dad’s always been passionate about and to be able to do that for a living was a dream come true,” Nimrat states proudly.
She has always known her dad to be a very cautious and responsible man, and this was the biggest risk she had ever seen him take.
Lemon Masala Curry
A day of excitement and nervousness
On April 2nd, 2021 Village Curry & Spice officially opened for business!
At the time, dining-in was temporarily prohibited due to public health orders to manage the pandemic situation. So the family set up a table by the entrance for take-out orders. And even without a big flashy grand opening, it was still a memorable day for the family, filled with excitement and butterflies in their stomachs!
Nimrat describes that day as “surreal”. “It was my dad’s lifelong dream finally coming true. He’s had multiple jobs in the past, working as a teacher, journalist, truck driver, in construction, etc., all saving up for this moment.”
“I still remember our very first customer and how excited and nervous we felt. He was this old gentleman on his bike riding outside our restaurant. He stopped and ordered a cup of tea and some naan.”
That first day, many relatives came to show their support as well as local shoppers who just happened to be passing by. Another big day for Village Curry & Spice last year was, not surprisingly, Mother’s Day. “It was crazy busy but we were all in sync and working as a team. It felt amazing!”
Chicken Korma
Never stop improving
From day one, Village Curry & Spice has known that seeking customer feedback and actioning suggestions is key to building a great business.
Since dine-in service was not yet available due to Covid restrictions, in the early days of their business, the restaurant would phone customers a day or two after they had received their take-out orders. They would ask those customers how they liked their food and their overall experience.
Managing a website with online ordering was also new for Nimrat and her family, so they appreciated the suggestions on how to make the site more user-friendly, such as improving the delivery and tip options at the check-out stage.
“We were so grateful for all the feedback,” says Nimrat. “It helped us improve and understand the community and market a lot more.”
Village Curry & Spice Storefront on Moncton Street in Steveston Village
Value without compromise
The hope for Village Curry & Spice is to be an enjoyable and tasty way for the local community to connect with the culture and history of India.
Nimrat says, “We want to serve the people of our community with the most authentic Indian flavours. We take pride in our work and our values such as authenticity, clean and top quality ingredients, and most importantly the love and attention that goes into our dishes.”
The restaurant is committed to maintaining their high standards while doing their best to keep prices reasonable. As most consumers are aware, these days the cost of food is continuing to rise, but Nimrat assures me that her family’s business would rather make less profit per dish than to skimp on ingredients or set high prices that are unaffordable for people who want to come and enjoy their food.
At home in Steveston Village
Even though lower rent options were available in other municipalities, the Gill family felt called to establish their business where they feel most at home – in Richmond’s Steveston Village.
“We’ve been living in the Steveston region for the past five years and it feels like home. The community is so nice and friendly, and the views are just amazing,” Nimrat explains.
She finds Steveston Village to be a place where people want to get to know each other, and that makes her feel safe and happy. “We love seeing the same faces walking past, the people with their dogs, and the returning customers.”
Generosity is also a key guiding principle of the culture in Steveston Village, according to Nimrat. For example, last winter Village Curry & Spice was planning to buy Christmas decorations to make the place more festive. But when the manager from the SOS Children’s Village Thrift Store next door heard about this, she offered to lend them decorations from her shop so that the Gill family could save money and time on the decoration project.
“Love the community and the community will love you back,” says Nimrat, stressing the importance of treating neighbours like family. Each Thursday the restaurant sponsors lunches for the team of staff and volunteers at the SOS Children’s Village Thrift Store. Nimrat’s grandma is also involved as a volunteer there too!
Duke, the Gill Family dog recommends anything with chicken!
Trust the process
So now that it’s been a year, how’s business going for the Gill family?
If you only come to Steveston Village on weekends, the holidays, or for special events, you might think that the shops and restaurants around here are getting rich because the area is so packed with people. But in reality, running a business here means that there are some short periods of high sales and traffic followed by many longer and quieter periods of low sales.
“The most challenging part is the slow days during the off-season because there is less traffic in the village. And since the village is in the very corner of Richmond, it is harder for people to come all the way here from other parts of town,” explains Nimrat.
But to prospective business owners and other young businesses in the area, Nimrat advises, “Believe in yourself and trust the process. Some days might seem like a defeat but don't give up.”
Ready, steady, grow
As the restaurant enters their second year of operation, I asked Nimrat how the community can help them to succeed. “Reviews help a lot,” she says, “so if you love the food, spread the word. That’s how you can help us grow. We cherish every customer that walks through our door and are extremely grateful for all the love and support.”
As for next steps, since Nimrat’s dad has such a vast knowledge and interest in the history of food, the restaurant aims to share more of those details on their website and social media in order to give customers an even richer and more meaningful experience with Indian cuisine.
In regards to location in the long run, “We would like to expand it,” says Nimrat, “maybe open another location and get a bigger place where we can offer more services.”
Our Message to the Gill Family
Thank you Nimrat and the Gill family for saying “yes” to this feature on Village Curry & Spice!
By sharing what it’s like to finally realize this lifelong dream and showing examples of neighbourly kindness, you have inspired me to do more to serve our Steveston Village community.
