insideKENT Magazine Issue 39 - June 2015 | Page 161

BUSINESS
TURNING

Food into Business cont.

Jane Jones // Chilli Jam Factory // www.chillijamfactory.co.uk
"The recipe came first, and the business came
from that. I hadn’t deliberately set out to start a
business but it seemed like the next logical step
to me, and so I took the plunge. As for the first
batch, that was made one evening when I was
bored and the family loved it. It was they who
suggested I start marketing it, and since then it
has become a success story. Now I have six

varieties and heats, as well as sauces and
chutneys too.
"My biggest mistake was paying a small fortune
for a stall at a big event that lasted five days, as
we lost out on an awful lot of money. I’ve learned
from it though, and I’ll do my research before
ever signing up to anything like that again. My

biggest triumph was getting my five-star grading
from the council – that was a really wonderful
feeling. And that leads me to my bit of advice:
make it legal. Tell the council what you are
planning and let them check out your cooking
area and procedures. It’s an amazing feeling to
get a five-star grading, and it opens up a lot more
doors as well."

Richard Wise // Wise Owl Cider
// www.