Curry with Love is a mother & daughter creation
I remember clearly as a little girl, spending hours in the kitchen, cooking with my mum. It was here that I learned the importance of cooking from scratch. Not only was it healthy and tasty, but it was the love that went into making the dish, that made it so special!
So naturally, in 2011 when I fancied a career change, my mum was the first person I went to for inspiration, and together ‘Curry with Love’ was created. Why curry? It’s simple ... We both have a real passion for it. We love the ground spices that can be hand blended to create unique flavours, the whole spices that are added to ensure depth of flavour and best of all, the smell of those aromatic spices bubbling away on the stove is hard to beat. We knew that making an authentic curry from scratch could take hours and we knew there must be an easier way. So we set about trying to create a unique curry kit and after many, many hours in the Curry with Love kitchen, I think we cracked it!
From then to now…
As many of you will know, we started selling our handmade kits on my dads market stall in Bury St. Edmunds. It was November and we’d worked tirelessly for months experimenting with recipes, tasting, testing and re tasting. We went to market with 8 different curry kits and made a grand total of £70 that day. To be fair, we were quite chuffed.
The following week, not only did the original customers return, but their friends and family came too after being recommended. Our small family business continued to grow and mum and I bought our own market stall, where we continued to trade and promote our company.
This was a sketch my dad drew. It was his vision of where he thought mum and I would one day be. Dad died not long after.
Mum and I went on to open our first shop. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the picture dad had drawn. We even had the scales in the window. We loved that shop in Ixworth and it was SO well supported. We felt very blessed that we were achieving our goal.
Mum and I even went to India. We took cookery classes and sourced fair-trade products from a charity that was set up by a local businessman, which helped to empower women by offering them decent work for a decent wage.
(Some of these products can be found on our lifestyle page).
A couple of years on we opened a second shop in Swaffham, Norfolk, which was managed by my sister Amy. Things were good, we loved our customers and we were in a good place. Then the dreaded ‘C’ word appeared and we closed both of our stores, moving all of our business online during lockdown. Like many businesses, our physical stores never recovered. The way in which people shopped changed so much that we just couldn’t manage to keep them open.
It was heartbreaking to loose the shops, but we decided to try and carry on the business online, even adding the lifestyle section as a bit of variety. We have continued to source all of our products from companies and individuals with a moral code like our own. We support different makers and producers who believe passionately about what they do. We support women and family run businesses who are trying to get their products seen.
Mum and I love what we do and we are always striving to bring new, delicious products to the range. We always put flavour, health and authenticity at the forefront. We hope you continue to support us, recommend us and love what we do.
Thank you.
Curry with Love
Norfolk
United Kingdom