Winner: Rafi’s Spicebox

Finalists: Herbert Todd & Son, Clarksons

THE Retail Business of the Year 2014 has been named as Rafi’s Spicebox - a family-owned delicatessen that has become a successful Yorkshire business thanks to its tailor-made ‘‘curry packs’’.

Founded in 1989 by the late Rafi Fernandez, a cookery tutor and recipe book author, the business is now run by Rafi’s son, Kevin Fernandez, and a team of 11 staff with a shop in Goodramgate.

While judges described Herbert Todd & Son as a very close second in the Retail Business of the Year category, they were most impressed by Rafi’s curry packs, a mix of spices, paste, and chillies that Rafi’s Spicebox staff hand-mix in store to fit the customer’s needs and preferences.

The judges said the service at Rafi’s was “very personal, with the whole team coming across as passionate about their brand”.