Come December, and this Melbourne restaurant, Craigieburn Fish and Chips & Pizza has a poster stuck on its window along with the usual Christmas imagery, which says: “Let’s celebrate this Christmas with us. If you homeless or disadvantaged and can’t afford food this festive season, please come inside and grab a free lunch pack! (sic)” If this isn’t heartwarming enough, the poster further promises: “we promise we don’t let you sleep hungry this festive season! Merry Christmas to everyone (sic)!”
This might very well be a unique place where the needy can be spoilt for choice as they can choose from among 200 items that are sold in this restaurant.
Ranvir Singh Sandhu and Vishal Vohra, both residents of Craigieburn, have been running this local restaurant for the past four years approximately. “I’m Sikh and in my religion, it is mandatory to segregate 10 per cent of our earnings for charity. It is called ‘daswandh’, means one-tenth. My business partner and I (who isn’t Sikh but a Punjabi Hindu) align that we need to give back to society, now that we are financially comfortable, after putting in years of hard work in Australia. We have advised our staff that if any needy person walks into our restaurant and says that s/he wants to eat but can’t afford to pay, they should give them food without asking any questions,” says Mr Sandhu, adding that he takes out daswandh every evening at the close of business and uses that to pay for free food the next day. When asked whether he has calculated the expense incurred by the business by giving away free food, he replies in a nonchalant manner: “We’ve never sat down to determine that. We’ve advised our staff that no bill should be generated for such giveaways. Waheguru (God in the Sikh tradition) is so kind that this expense is met from our profit. With Waheguru’s blessings, as we are donating food to the homeless or disadvantaged, our restaurant has also become more popular and our customer base has increased.”
Their restaurant was recently nominated for the Hume Business Awards, an annual award given to encourage businesses by the local Hume City Council which governs Craigieburn.
Mr Sandhu and Mr Vohra came from Punjab almost a decade ago and started off as students as most migrants of the Punjabi community do. Later on, after a few employment stints, they ventured into businesses.
The restaurant was nominated for this year's Hume Business Awards. Source: Supplied
Craigieburn Fish and Chips & Pizza puts up this poster not once, but twice a year. One is throughout December to celebrate Christmas all month long. The other is during the month of March, which marks the anniversary of the business. However, if a disadvantaged person walks in during the remaining 10 months, s/he won’t be disappointed. Mr Sandhu says that the restaurant’s staff is advised to give free food to anyone who walks in at any time of the year without asking any questions. “We put up posters during December and March only but nobody is turned down empty-handed at any time of the year. Our motive is to help the community. So we follow a no-questions-asked policy,” says he, adding that food is donated to people of all communities, regardless of nationality or descent.
Mr Sandhu makes an interesting and important comment while talking about this noble cause that he and Mr Vohra pursue: “Ever since we’ve started this business, I’ve never seen a person of Indian origin walk into our restaurant. Rather, they enquire from us how they can lend a hand to us in this charitable pursuit. They began by offering money, as is the tradition in India, to buy the raw material. But we refused to take money, rather asked them to bring any food that they may want the needy to have from them. So now, people leave hampers during the festive season, which we give along with our food.”
Usually, a lunch pack that is given away for free comes with a price tag of $9.50 and contains fried fish and potato chips. Most of the food that is donated is non-vegetarian, says Mr Sandhu, although that doesn’t quite incline with the Sikh concept of langar (free community food), where purely vegetarian food is the norm. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” advises Mr Sandhu with a smile, adding that Australia is a largely non-vegetarian society and most homeless people who walk into the restaurant are also Aussie by descent. “And Aussies love their meat,” he adds.
