We spoke to on-campus legends Sultans about why they do the things they do

For Sultans, “making other people happy is priceless.” We sat down with on-campus legend, Sal, to have a chat and learn more about the post-sugar saviour that is Sultans.

What made you come to Lancaster university? How long have you been here?

We were born and bred in Lancaster, the family have owned a restaurant in town for 29 years. The university approached them 14 years ago and asked if they were interested in doing something on campus. Now the campus Sultans is their main restaurant.

What are some of the funniest post-Sugar stories?

We get some people jumping on the tables and sofas mainly people being very enthusiastic but they always look out for the people who are feeling sad. Once people poured sauce all over someone’s hair and people licked it off. People will come around back and take orders.

What is the most popular post-Sugar order?

Probably doner kebab, the chicken burger meal deal and the pizza pockets. Sultans is part of the post-Sugar experience; they go hand in hand.

Whose idea were the free poppadom’s?

After a late night, as the lines are so busy and the orders take so long, the poppadoms are a good way to engage the customers and help them sober up – same with the water. We just want them to be happy.

Do you have favourite customers?

We have a lot of favourite customers, not just 1 or 2. We put a lot of effort into the students and those who put the effort back and who’ll always greet the servers and give the love back are our favourites.

Sultans is all about family those who are always open with us, we’re open to them. When people are out, we always try to chat to the quiet ones to make sure they are ok and happy. Once, somebody bought us a card to say thank you. We’re always looking out for people feeling out of place.

What is the sultans serving experience like? How do you work such late hours?

It’s not easy, there are 3 shifts per night. A massive amount of preparation goes into the family business. We feel like we have to be here, but we feel like we know what you need.

For us, “making other people happy is priceless.” It’s not easy work, but we’re always happy when working and we want to make people happy. When we come through the doors, we leave the problems outside. You have to.

Is it true you will deliver on campus?

Last year we started at the end of term. We wanted to help those so far away, and the building work didn’t help. But it’s so busy, it’s hard to be able to. Last year’s 1st year students were the best; they were so friendly and loving. We want to give back with delivery into town, but it’s hard.

Have you ever thought about doing a Sultans karaoke night?

We’ve been thinking about doing events in Sultans, but it’s such a lot of organisation – we’d need someone to come forwards who could do this. We’ve thought about doing things like Fifa competitions, but we simply don’t have the time to organise these events, as much as we’d love to.

And finally, why do you think sultans is the best place to go on campus?

I guess as we’ve been here for fourteen years and we have a legacy – we must be doing something right. But part of this is every year that goes by we try to improve – every year we ask for feedback and we appreciate every bit of feedback we receive.

It all comes back to creating this community of family and friends for you – which is great, but we also feel like our food is so good too and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It definitely plays a part.

We love getting feedback – we love seeing the students giving feedback so that we can try and get better to make you guys happy. You guys never fail to make me happy.

Is there anything else you want to say?

Apologise on our behalf for the works – we know it is out of our control but we know it gets in the way for some people.

Also we know about the talk of Sugar being closed, and we’d love to run a Sugar house event with them – cooking food just outside.

Finally, we’re looking into hiring a stage coach from town to campus for 2nd/3rd year living in town, so they can still get their food – we saw a lancfessions about it!