AS the blazing sun rose over a picturesque valley in Pakistan, the young brothers walked the dusty road to their parents' farm.

The hot, humid scene could not be any further from that of the streets of Normanton in Derby, but the boys were destined to become known as the men who started Pak Foods.

It is a story told with pride by Mohammed Abdul-Razaq, the 51-year-old co-owner of the company.

From a farming childhood in Pakistan, his family's firm in Derby has grown from one small store to a chain of five superstores across the East Midlands. It has an annual turnover of £28 million and has helped foster a thriving, multi-cultural community in Normanton. It has given away many hundreds of thousands of pounds to charities.

As Mr Abdul-Razaq explained, it was a long journey. Mr Abdul Razaq was part of a big family in Kashmir, Pakistan, growing up with brothers Mohammed Nawaz, 45, Mohammad Ashfaq, 38, Ramzan Akhtar, 42 and Mohammed Altaf, 53.

He said: "We lived on a farm and my father Mohammad Hussain and my mother Maqbool Jan worked to grow food and sell it. We were very self-sufficient."

In 1961, their father moved to the UK, joining many of his fellow countrymen. He had some cousins already in England and got a job in a Lancashire mill.

When he moved to Nottingham 10 years later, taking a job at British Celanese, in Spondon, he was joined by his eldest sons, Mr Abdul-Razaq and Mr Altaf.

Mr Abdul-Razaq, who still lives in Nottingham, said: "We got used to the cold weather fairly quickly. It was customs, ways of behaving, and the language that were the big problems."

Despite this, he and his brother completed their education and began work in Nottingham, he in a restaurant and his brother in a bank.

In 1989, with money borrowed from the family, many of whom had moved to the UK, the two brothers opened their first shop, a convenience store in Radford. Within a year, they had made enough money to open another and to take over a travel agency.

In 1993, their brother Mohammed Nawaz, who now manages Derby's Normanton Road superstore, moved to the UK to help the brothers with their business. In 1995, the brothers decided they wanted something bigger.

Mr Abdul Razaq said: "We had a lot of retail experience and we had a farming background in Kashmir. It was what we knew and we were good at it. We wanted a supermarket and so started looking for a property."

One of his friends recommended Normanton. He said: "The area was clapped out. Half of it was boarded up and it was notorious for drug-dealing. People said if we went there we would blunder. But we saw the potential in the area if we did it right."

He said the Normanton Road property was in a bad state. After being refused by several banks, they turned to family again and borrowed £70,000 to develop Pak Foods.

"We had a lot of credit with suppliers throughout the East Midlands because of the reputation we had built up with the shops. We were given £40,000 worth of credit straight up from one supplier," Mr Abdul-Razaq said.

Eventually, after months of work, the store was ready to open in May 1996. It was an instant success.

The banks that had refused credit to the young company said the store might, if it was lucky, make £8,000 in a week. It made that in its first day.

Mr Abdul Razaq said there were different reasons why the store proved such a draw.

He said: "We were pioneering in a few respects. We decided to have our fruit and vegetable stalls outside the front of the shop, in a sheltered forecourt.

"What this did was put the goods up front, gave the shop a fresh market feel. We became known for cheap fruit and veg and so we attracted hundreds of people from not just Normanton, but all over Derby."

From the beginning, they wanted to sell ethnic foods and appeal to multiple cultures.

He said: "We started to undercut other supermarkets in many common items, like milk, sugar and soft drinks. We were growing popular through word of mouth and spent money on improving the store and keeping prices cheap."

The brothers bought nearby property and expanded the shop into a superstore, with a car park and warehouse. In 2005 they opened a branch in Nottingham, then a shop in Stoke and two in Leicester, the most recent opening in 2010.

Mr Abdul-Razaq said Pak Foods had always been generous with its wealth.

He said: "We have supported all sorts of projects, putting money into schools, churches and business in Derby. We raised £17,000 in three days after the tsunami in 2004, reaching a total of £84,000 across all five shops. and we work with the local mosques and the police, helping victims of domestic abuse, giving them food packages."

The company is planning to open even more stores.

He said: "My brothers and I take a more back-seat role now, giving the reins to the younger nephews but this is very much a family business. And Derby has become that family's home."