Oz food wizard relishes success in Britain
Bella Jo Kitchen, an award winning Northern Ireland manufacturer of quality relishes and chutneys, has won its first business in Great Britain. The artisan producer is now supplying its products, including a unique fig relish, to leading delis in England such as the Cotswold Cheese Company in Gloucestershire.
The sales follow a marketing drive in England by Jo McGowan, an Australian businesswoman who founded Bella Jo Kitchen in Ballycastle, County Antrim, at the start of this year.
Encouraged by her success in winning two gold stars for the fig relish in the recent UK Great Taste Awards, Jo, a native of Sydney, targeted key delis and farm shops in Britain in early August and succeeded in getting the products listed by several including the Cotwsold Cheese Company in Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire.
Around 30 delis, small food retailers and farm shops throughout Northern Ireland also stock the products. She is, in addition, dealing with inquiries from the Republic of Ireland.
Marriage brought Jo, an experienced marketer who has worked in London and her native Australia, to Northern Ireland. She set up Bella Jo Kitchen, an artisan business, earlier in the year and began to create a range of chutneys and relishes for local shops.
"I was encouraged to set up Bella Jo Kitchen by relatives and friends who tasted the relishes that I made using longstanding family recipes from Australia for dinner parties and other social occasions," she says.
"Winning two stars was quite a surprise, a tremendously encouraging achievement for a business started just nine months ago. I was very keen to see just what the judges would make of the fig relish in particular," she adds.
In addition to the award winning fig relish, the Bella Jo range now includes relishes such as cranberry, raspberry, and Bushmills Whiskey, beetroot balsamic, chutneys including peach, and a mint chilli.
All the relishes and chutneys are handmade by Jo at her small manufacturing operation, emphasising the artisan nature of the products.
Another important influence on the development of the range is Jo's experiences travelling in her native Australia, then in Europe and from her time working in marketing in London.
"Winning the first orders in England is an important breakthrough for me, one that I want to build on. I want Bella Jo to be seen, both here and outside Northern Ireland, as more than just another chutney or relish manufacturing company.
"What I aim to do is to create a modern way of entertaining and enjoying food in a contemporary Britain and Ireland. We are aiming at carrying through with tradition keeping food handmade and natural, and maintaining a high standard of quality, taste and style.
"Today's frenetic world is calling for simpler times and healthier home cooked foods rather than the commercial alternatives in a jar."