I remember when I had this business idea at the end of 2012; at this time, I was in the midst of a health scare where my doctor had said that something wasn’t quite right with my heart so referred me to do various tests and visit the Cardiologist. As he wasn’t sure what was wrong, he gave me no advice but something that I had always known is too much salt is not good for the heart.
Whilst waiting for appointments and test results, I decided to cut back on my salt intake. It was easy to stop adding salt to my food but it definitely wasn’t enjoyable and when I started looking out for low or no salt packaged food, I was surprised by the amount of salt in many products. A little bit here, a little bit there and it was so easy to surpass the recommended daily allowance of 6grams. I was shocked further by the amount of hidden salt; (salt in places you would not expect to find it) the most random one to date being salt in hot chocolate powder!
I have always had a natural flair for business so it only felt right to try and provide a solution to the absence of tasty food products with no added salt and that is how Truly Simple Foods was born. In early February I registered the business and in May I really started creating the brand.
Leaving the FreeFrom Food Awards ceremony with 2 certificates makes me proud. As a company that is less than a year old, for both the products we entered to receive an individual “Highly Commended” and “Commended” badge is a big compliment. One of the judges stated that our Sun-dried Tomato & Sweet Chilli Cooking Sauce which received the highly commended badge “‘Tastes strong, robust and hot – but pleasant.’ ‘Great spicing – rich colour” and “Warm authentic smell, lovely taste, creamy and smooth.’ was the feedback about our Coconut Curry & Spinach Cooking Sauce. I am honoured by these achievements and inspired to take our great tasting products to more people!
The results from the doctor came back as fine but I recognise that that’s not the case for many people. There are many people who need to cut back on salt for various health reasons including; high blood pressure, kidney disease, cardiovascular heart disease (the UK’s biggest killer,) diabetes, lupus, and the list goes on. I really wanted the products to provide a flavoursome alternative to the salt-laden products on the market and our sauces, purees and seasonings are a great way for you to infuse flavours in your cooking without the need for salt. I know that cutting back on salt helped me to appreciate the depth and texture that other flavours provide; now garlic, thyme, basil and coriander are amongst my favourite cooking ingredients.
Next month marks the beginning of trading and it has been a crazy year full of ups and downs, sleepless nights, mistakes and opportunities – definitely a great year! Hopefully this upcoming year will provide bigger and better opportunities to take the products to more people that want and need quality cooking ingredients.
It’s been fun and I look forward to the future! 🙂
Thank you very much for reading this, until next time!
Love Truly,
Dayo (Founder)
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