Spicy start for The Larder Boys in Northern Ireland

Novel ranges of artisan flavoured salts and dry rubs have been launched by The Larder Boys, a recently established food business in Northern Ireland.

Based in Belfast, The Larder Boys has created and is now producing unique recipes for seven flavoured salts and four rubs, all of which are on sale in local delis and family butchers.

The seven salts are: steak finisher, bacon, garlic, sriracha, vinegar, lime, lemon and 'ghost' chilli, all retailed at £1.99.

The artisan business was established by Rudi Vidamour and Gary Milligan in January from the duo's longstanding interest in barbecuing.

Mr Vidamour says: "We shared a joint love of all things food related and in particular BBQs. Days where sometimes spent in preparation for a big weekend BBQ, and we loved nothing more than experimenting and perfecting the right blends of spices and flavours to compliment whatever we were cooking. This led us to decide to commercialise our own recipes by setting up a small business."

They set up a small processing unit for blending spices and producing the salts and rubs in west Belfast.

Mr Vidamour works in property and his business partner is an experienced chef. They started selling flavoured salts through Facebook and were encouraged to take the next step into business by the response to the salts.

The next stage in the business was the launch of a website. "This has proved to be a tremendous platform, the response to which from consumers has been fantastic," he adds.

They subsequently decided to set up a small production unit and to pitch for business from local delis and butchers. They are now aiming to expand sales further afield through the website.

Revenue from retailers enabled the small business to develop four dry rubs. The four dry rubs are: sweet and salty, hen, cow and pig, all at £2.75.

Mr Vidamour says the company is also planning to develop a new range of sauces.