Quirky Foods : Towards exportation in 2018

Ambitious and young entrepreneur Amal Musbally, director of the company Quirky Foods, takes us to discover her small business of delicious food which she set up after completing her studies and will be going towards export as from 2018. 

Founded in May 2015, Quirky Foods brings new tastes to people's lives. Amal says that after completing her studies in Cape Town, South Africa in environmental science and oceanography, she found difficulty to bag a job and this pushed her towards entrepreneurship. The company originated after a lunch with friends where the product Tamarino was served and it was a great success. Quirky is a small team but with passionate and hard-working members.

When asked why ‘Quirky’, she replies that “‘Quirky’ literally means peculiar, unusual, eccentric! Our company’s goal is to bring unconventional new tastes to the lives of people. Eating can be mundane and repetitive, but it need not be. It can be fun, exciting and unique. It is with this idea that the company and products were created, to break the rules by providing tasty products using fresh ingredients at a reasonable price.”

A pool of products

At Quirky, she wants to give much more soul and value to sauce, jam, juice and whatever they produce or intend to produce. Food has always been an adventure for Amal. Till now, the aim has been to produce homemade and authentic products. Amal reveals that for the production, fresh ingredients from the local market and products are manufactured only upon order for the freshest experience.

At the moment, the main product line is ‘Gou-T’ (Taste), this consists of these six different types of sauces and chilli pastes:

Tamaso is a tamarind based sauce with crunchy chillies and spices, giving it a mixture of sweet, sour and hot taste.

Tamarino is for those who cannot eat chilli and spicy food. It is good to know that tamarind contains high amounts of dietary fibre and hence aids in digestion. It also lowers cholesterol and blood pressure.

Quirky’ literally means peculiar, unusual, eccentric! Our company’s goal is to bring unconventional new tastes to the life of people.

Pimento crunch is the typical Mauritian delicacy with crunchy chilli pieces with local spices and garlic.

Pimento is a nice classic green chilli paste that can be accompanied with almost every meal. It is a nice mixture of chillies, garlic and green apples.

Mazavaroo is a red chilli paste with a distinct taste of lemon and ginger. It can be used as a side sauce and can be used while cooking to spice up dishes.

Pimento Combava is one of the most popular ones. It is a green chilli paste with Combava zest. The smell and the flavour of this rare citrus fruit is highly appreciated by many.

The products are for sale throughout Mauritius at competitive prices. “Prices are from Rs 50. We are very competitive with our affordable price, quality and taste of our products, we use fresh ingredients without added preservatives and colorants,” she adds.  The young entrepreneur also states that she targets mainly supermarkets. She also takes individual orders when the number of pots exceeds 20 units.

Challenges faced

Yet, after one and a half years of operation and satisfactory progress, challenges remain. Initially, she had to invest around Rs 200,000. “As an SME, financing conditions constrain room for growth. The market remains difficult to access. You may have a great product, but that does not guarantee success. Distribution, networking and marketing matter. The impact of seasonality of ingredients and variations in their price may render costs volatile; some fruits and vegetables are cheaper during a season but can double, even treble in price due to extreme weather conditions or season. To mitigate this, the company has integrated vertically and is cultivating its own chilli, one of the main ingredients, and is looking into cultivating other fruits that are needed.”

Nevertheless, despite the obstacles, she is very firm and dedicated. She has begun to cultivate her own ingredients such as chillies. In the near future, she hopes to grow other ingredients. She also wants to export her products as from 2018 with the collaboration and support of SMEDA.