Gap Finders - Ramona Hazan from Ramona's

Available for over a year

Ramona Hazan's journey to be a major player in the food industry hasn't been a traditional one. Ramona came to live in London over 20 years ago from South Africa working as a computer engineer, but wanted to start a business and thought it should be in food. She thought Mediterranean food in the UK wasn't that great or readily available, and coming from a Turkish and Egyptian background she started making her own houmous. Ramona would soak vats of chickpeas around her flat, and despite not being a very good cook came up with a recipe that her friends devoured. She approached delis and restaurants who started stocking her food -which expanded into falafels and other dips. Her brand was then called "Me Too" and supermarkets started stocking it in the world food aisles. But just as the brand was growing in sales the #MeToo movement began and she had to change the name- hence RAMONA'S was born. The rebrand involved changing the packaging to be much more vibrant and standing out, and supermarkets started selling it in the main fridges next to the own brand houmous. Now the business is valued at £5million, and sales are booming. Ramona joins Winifred to tell her the joys and trials of getting her products off the ground. PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS