‘FAMILIES HAVE OUR SUPPORT’
Arfan pledges to maintain mission
FAST food restaurant owner Arfan Mohammed has vowed to continue helping people – after becoming renowned for his kindness during the pandemic.
Arfan, aged 43, owns Sizzlers in Abbey Hulton which first opened in 2019.
During the pandemic he and his team of 20 staff delivered food parcels to the vulnerable.
They have helped bereaved families cover the cost of loved-ones’ funerals and supported people with medical conditions to get life-changing treatment.
Now he says he is not stopping as part of his mission to ‘bring the community together’.
Arfan, from Longton, starts his day by reading the
Qur’an and praying. He says being a Muslim is one of the inspirations behind his work.
He said: “When the first lockdown started a customer contacted me saying ‘I can’t go and see my mother and father’. They said can you
go and give my father some food because I don’t know if he’s had anything or not.
“I knocked on the door and the gentleman came out.
“He started crying and said to me he wanted me to stay and talk.
“I then thought to myself there’s got to be a lot of people out there who need help. I started helping.
“A local girl passed away and her parents didn’t have any money for her funeral so I was approached by one of the locals asking if we could help. I started raising money.
“I raised money for disability equipment. There was a guy in Bentilee who had an eye operation and the Government would only fund so much.
“My main objective was to bring families together so they appreciate one another.
“Someone asked me ‘when are you going to stop helping people?’. You don’t stop helping people.”
Arfan says he owes his success with Sizzlers Fast Food to his mother and late father, Haji Muhammad Fazal, who died from lung cancer in 2004.
Arfan said: “I was taught to help people by my father and faith. He used to help local people.
“The worst thing that could happen is losing a loved one and the worst thing after that is having the pressure to try and raise money for their funeral if you haven’t got it.
“I don’t want any other families to think they don’t have the help or support.”
Arfan is now looking to set up a ‘Sizzlers Foundation’.