A CULINARY entrepreneur who produces seldom-seen ready-made African cooking sauces and spice mixes is hoping to win a supply contract with a major supermarket chain.
Racquel Mafura-Roberts, 33, started Pepper And Stew with husband George Roberts, 34, in April 2011, and have swapped making and bottling the products themselves in a Park Royal commercial kitchen to enjoying seeing a Nottingham factory churning out industrial-sized orders for 10 delicatessens.
The couple, of The Heights, Northolt, were one of 10 British food start-up companies from 400 applicants invited to try to woo buyers and experts from Sainsbury’s at a pitching event held at the retailer’s headquarters in Holborn, central London, on Friday.
Mrs Mafura-Roberts said: “The first half of the day was workshops and we had a speech from one of the guys from the Innocent smoothie company and then after that we had different speeches from Sainsbury’s technical, supply chain and packaging people.
“After lunch is when we had to do our pitches. We had about 25 minutes to talk about our business and why we wanted to be in Sainsbury’s,
“I cooked samples from all four of our cooking sauces. The panel loved them and thought it was something different.
“I think it went well and it was very friendly.”
The couple will hear in a few weeks’ time if Sainsbury’s is willing to work with their brand based at Camrose House in Camrose Avenue, Edgware.
Mrs Mafura-Roberts said: “Myself and my husband started the company two years ago and we have been selling at events and markets all over the country, and so the next step is to supply the supermarkets, and this was our way in.”
The former IT support worker, who focuses full-time on the business since being made redundant a few months ago, was inspired after arriving in Britain 20 years ago from Zimbabwe and learning dishes from other African students she met and people like the family of her husband, a Briton of Ghanaian descent.
“It’s mostly come from own recipe book - traditional African dishes with a twist,” Mrs Mafura-Roberts explained.
“There are so many products that are very similar and this is why we wanted to bring something different to the market so more people have access to it.
“African food is something nobody has really explored, except for north African food: the rest of sub-Saharan African has not been touched.
“We find palm nut sauce is the one people find most intriguing, in terms of the taste, the look and the name.”
The Pepper And Stew range comprises four jars of cooking sauces and eight spice kits used to make dishes such as egusi (melon) stew, Cape Malay curry and Tangiers barbecue lamb kebabs.
