Second chance from the ashes
WHEN one watches their entire life savings burn to the ground, bouncing back is not easy. But Danny Singh has proven it is possible.
Grafton
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WHEN one watches their entire life savings burn to the ground, bouncing back is not easy.
But Danny Singh has proven it is possible.
At 1am on August 14 last year, Mr Singh woke to find the police at his front door.
"Doomsday," he called it.
"I was totally exhausted and here were the police telling me my shop was on fire."
Mr Singh had poured all his savings and energy into restarting Candsell's Convenience Store on Fry St five months before, only to watch it burn to the ground after an arson attack.
"I was all set up, but it put me years back," he said.
After a family holiday to Fiji to clear his head, Mr Singh returned to Grafton determined to get back on track.
A regular customer had mentioned they knew the landlord of a vacant shop on Bent St.
"Then we entered into a deal on the first day," Mr Singh said.
In early February, Shaye and Gaggi's Diner and Take away opened its doors.
"It took me just seven days to open it up and now we're 10 days in and business is going steady, feedback is good and people love what we have to offer," Mr Singh said.
From Indian curries to fish and chips, burgers and pastas, Mr Singh said his new restaurant guaranteed "value for money".
The restaurant has two menus, a dine-in and a takeaway option, and is BYO.
Operating hours are 10am-10pm Monday through Saturday and 9am-8pm Sunday.
WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM
WHEN Danny Singh's four-year-old twins Div and Vani started calling each other Shaye and Gaggi for no apparent reason, the rest of the family followed suit.
Despite having no idea where the names came from, Mr Singh said they seemed to have stuck in more ways than one.
"Maybe it's some kind of baby language or from a cartoon, we have no idea, but once they started calling each other those names, the rest of us did too," he said.
Wherever they originated, they were the inspiration for Mr Singh's new South Grafton business.
Originally published as Second chance from the ashes
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