A mum and son's "silly idea" for an eBay listing turned into an international business selling spices around the world.
When Sanjay Aggarwal told his mum Shashi, 71, to list one of her homemade spice blends on eBay on Christmas Day he thought it would be a good retirement hobby for her. But the idea proved so popular with customers that it soon turned into a successful family business called The Spice Kitchen.
Sanjay, 39, told the ECHO: "The business started as a retirement hobby for my mum. She's an amazing cook and just an amazing person, she's very entrepreneurial herself.
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"We started on eBay on Christmas Day in 2012. My mum was a bit bored and looking for something to do. I had this silly idea that she could sell her homemade spice blends in a traditional Indian box.
"Every Indian household has them but they're not as easily available outside of the Indian community; putting them on eBay made it a bit more accessible for the wider world.
"We woke up on Boxing Day and someone had bought one. It was meant to be a hobby business. We initially wanted to create a little bit of traction but we never thought it would reach what it has today."
The Spice Kitchen started in Sashi's kitchen at her home in Birmingham before moving into a premises in Widnes, where Sanjay now lives with his wife. Now in its tenth year, the family-run company has since moved into a bigger base in Speke, and now sells its products in over 500 stores in the UK and across the world.
The Spice Kitchen is an ambassador for Small Business Saturday - a grassroots campaign which celebrates and supports small businesses and encourages people to shop local. The campaign is currently touring 23 towns and cities across the UK and arrived in Wirral on November 4 as part of a count down to Small Business Saturday on December 3.
Sanjay said: "It feels amazing. It's definitely a journey we've been on. I feel really lucky that we're still here because it has been a rollercoaster journey in a way.
"Lots of businesses we've seen come and go. I feel really privileged that we're still here.
"It's really good decisions over the last ten years that have kept us here. We've kept everything in house and very customer centric.
"We've kept the sentiment and essence of the business the same and the products are what have kept us around."
Sashi, who was born in Kenya and later moved to India, was the first in her family to travel over to the UK to marry her husband. Her love of cooking was born at a young age, and she still uses a 100-year-old spice grinder that was passed on from her grandmother to blend her spices by hand today.
The Spice Kitchen now sell a range of different products alongside their Indian spice tins that come wrapped in Indian saris made by Sashi, including mulled wine, spiced cider and hot chocolate making kits. The company is also due to publish its own cookbook in May next year full of Sashi's recipes.
Sanjay added: "We're not just about selling spices. We're really trying to empower people to put more flavour in their food and bring their family and friends together through great food.
"We're really excited for the cookbook. That's really my mum's legacy - all those recipes and stuff she's been building on over the years."
Michelle Ovens CBE, Director of Small Business Saturday UK, said: “We are so excited to be visiting small businesses in Wirral and across the UK, as we count down to Small Business Saturday with this tour.
“This year’s campaign is all about shining a light on the nation’s fantastic small firms and showing them some major love, at a time when many are facing a lot of challenges. I would encourage all small businesses across Merseyside to get involved, whether it is in person or online.”
For more information on how to get involved in Small Business Saturday click here.
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