A MUM-OF-TWO has told how the food company she started with just £20 in her one-bed flat is now worth a whopping £5 million.
Ramona Hazan, 44, from Watford, Hertfordshire, was working as a computer engineer when she decided to start a houmous and falafel business in the tiny kitchen of her one-bedroom flat in August 2004.
While running a food business was "in her blood" because her dad ran food manufacturing companies, Ramona faced one teeny problem…she couldn't cook.
But after noticing how much interest houmous and falafel was gaining in the market, she set to work formulating the perfect recipes – and she hasn't looked back since.
Now, RAMONA'S is worth over £5million and is available in major supermarkets – including Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Ocado.
Speaking to Fabulous for its Bossing It series, the successful businesswoman, whose daughters are aged 11 and 15, explains how the beginning of her journey started in August 2004.
"Producing houmous and falafel made such sense because it was absolutely part of my heritage," says Ramona, whose father is Egyptian and grandparents are Turkish.
"So I went to Tesco and bought some dry chickpeas, a small jar of Tahini, lemons, garlic and oil (probably under £20 worth of humble, cheap ingredients).
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"I found a packaging company in Hemel Hempstead who were willing to break a box for me in order to get a small amount of little pots to sell to neighbours.
"I bought a £25 Kenwood blender and borrowed a falafel mould that my mum used to use in order to form the balls."
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After much trial and error, Ramona eventually got the recipes just right and started selling little 200g tubs to neighbours and friends.
"I even remember one lady who used to buy 6 or 7 tubs at a time and thinking to myself ‘wow – what a big order!’" Ramona says.
"A friend of mine who was a graphic designer, made us a logo and a label design that I printed to stick on the tubs – a bit cringe now but I was very proud of them at the time."
Ramona recalls how her friends were shocked to hear she'd ventured into the food industry.
"My parents are good cooks, but I didn’t know how to cook," she says.
"I remember being a teenager and burning things.
"When I told my friends I’d started a food business, they were surprised.
"Somehow it crept up and I don’t know where that skill came from.
"Some people can draw, I create art with food and spices."
After sales to friends and neighbours increased, Ramona started approaching restaurants to sell them bigger 2kg tubs.
"My first customer was a Turkish man who runs a French restaurant," she recalls.
"He agreed to put them on the menu every few weeks (sometimes it took me that long to make the orders!).
"My parents are good cooks, but I didn’t know how to cook. When I told my friends I’d started a food business, they were surprised.
"He then introduced me to a vegan fast food shop owner that changed his entire menu to my products.
"Even today, I’m not sure he knew I was making the products in my small flat.
"That leap of faith from him meant I could take a unit and start buying some equipment, buying from distributors instead of Tesco and producing a bit more."
But the busy mum, who was born in South Africa and moved to the UK 22 years ago, soon found her tiny one-bed apartment challenging.
"I was still working, so I put bowls of chickpeas around my lounge in the morning (the kitchen was too small in my little one- bedroom flat) and made my houmous and falafels in the evenings," she explains.
"My husband had to put up with quite a bit in the beginning!
"He still moans about the fact he'd have to
walk around the flat with little bowls of chickpeas soaking everywhere!
"I could only get into our bed through the front because I had packaging all down the right side of the wall!"
However, Ramona's hard work and determination paid off and the business continued to grow in the right direction.
"We started a range of small pots that were in independent stores," the 44-year-old says.
"Then into the major retailers but in the world food fridges, and finally now, on mainstream houmous fixtures with beautiful bright packaging disrupting the fridges."
Seeing her brand on the shelves of major supermarkets is still a pinch-me moment for Ramona.
RAMONA’S TOP FIVE TIPS
- Be flexible – move as you need to in order to adjust to new information.
- You also have to be strong and willing to persevere. Perseverance is one of those words we love to throw around and teach our children. In business, perseverance doesn’t only mean not taking no for an
answer, it means getting up after you’ve been completely flattened. Finding the
strength to lift yourself up and do it for one more day. - Chase profits – not sales.
- Listen to others – Have a group of people who have done it before to guide you.
- Have full faith in your products – if you have doubts, no one will believe in them.
"It’s one of the surreal parts of my life when I walk through so many supermarkets and see my brand and know that’s a recipe that I made in my little kitchen and it’s now in so many places and so many people are eating it," she enthuses.
"It’s an amazing accomplishment and a real source of pride for me.
"I didn’t expect it to be quite as big as it got but I always dreamed it would be."
But what other people may see as an overnight success in reality took Ramona 18 years.
"There’s been different challenges every year," she admits.
"Sometimes I stop and look at how far I’ve come, but then I remember how long it has taken to get here!"
The mum-of-two adds: "I definitely utilised my father’s experience and knowledge to avoid some challenges along the way.
"He could see what was coming around the corner and
taught me the basics that a lot of businesses don’t know.
"That definitely helped me a lot.
"Anyone starting out in any business has to avail themselves to a mentor or a person who has done it before because it is just so easy to take the wrong steps.
Now, Ramona, whose brand has ventured into dips and other products, is continuing to run her successful business all while juggling a family at home.
"The business was a third child," she explains.
I could only get into our bed through the front because I had packaging all down the right side of the wall!
"When you're juggling it you don’t think of it as home life and business.
"It’s just that I have three children, two that are living and one that is an entity. Sometimes they clash spectacularly!
"The school is phoning because the child has fallen ill at the same time as the machines are breaking and both need urgent attention.
"Most of the time you manage like when you have two children or three children.
"It’s not an easy task, but it’s doable."
And Ramona has some words or wisdom for other mothers or women looking to start their own businesses.
"If you’re going to start a business, understand that as a woman you have two responsibilities; one to the business, to build it and give it the attention and effort it needs, and secondly, as a woman we have to show we can do it just as well as men can do it," she says.
"Businesses need women that are passionate and go getting and understand that there's a sacrifice that’s needed to run a business.
"No one should underestimate that.
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"Businesses are all consuming and require full time attention.
"Women are not excused from that reality."
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