Artisan mother and son spice and gift business Spice Kitchen – which won the Gift of the Year’s Food and Drink category in May 2022 for its Indian Spice Tin and Silk Sari Wrap – is up for another award this year. This time, co-founder and ‘spice girl’ Shashi Aggarwal, now in her seventh decade, has been shortlisted in The Independent Awards’ Mature-preneur category.
Sashi has been nominated in recognition of her work, not only leading Spice Kitchen, but also for her amazing contributions to the lives of so many people.
“The business was set up for mum ten years ago, in 2012, as a retirement hobby,and she has gone on to achieve so, so much,” says her son and co-founder Sanjay Aggarwal, Spice Kitchen’s managing director. “It would mean the absolute world for people in the industry to vote for her.”
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Sanjay continues: “here are some of the wonderful things my mum has done that she doesn’t even think are amazing:
- creating employment opportunities for women from disadvantaged communities who help her to sew the silk saris for our tins;
- sewing face masks for the NHS for free all the way through the COVID-19 pandemic;
- ensuring we donate a % of our profits to a charity in India to help provide schoolchildren with a meal;
- opening up her home to family members in India wanting to start a new life in the UK;
- writing her first cookbook this year in her seventh decade;
- being an awesome cook and rustling up food for the family and the Spice Kitchen team at a moment’s notice.
New this year has been the launch of the company’s single spice blends into mini tins and trio collections, while for 2023, there will be a range of spiced gins inspired by four different cities around the world, as well as a spiced rum.
The Independent Awards are organised by Holly & Co. – whose founder, Holly Tucker MBE, co-founded notonthehighstreet.co.uk.
Top: Sashi Aggarwal, now in her seventh decade, has been shortlisted in The Independent Awards’ Mature-preneur category.
