Forget about Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory! Look a bit closer to home for a true tongue tingling story of how one man launched a family recipe into one of the biggest supermarkets in the country.
Ajay Kainth, 30, of Forest Close, Woodford Green, decided to bring a bit of his culture to a universally loved treat, by creating his own chocolate bar known as the chocomosa, which is now being sold in selected branches of Morrisons.
Ajay said: “It was really exciting seeing them in my local branch. I couldn’t believe they were really there and being sold. It was just the most amazing feeling.”
Born in 1984 in Buckhurst Hill, Mr Kainth went to Highams Park High School, in London where his interests lied far away from the kitchen.
He said: “I have always been interested in engineering and none of the subjects I took had anything to do with food. I did engineering mainly because I like to create things and I have an interest in business.”
But it was in his teenage years that Ajay developed a love of baking, as he was taught how to cook unique treats by his mum.
Ajay said: “Me and mum used to enjoy experimenting together and the chocolate samosa was one of the products we used to make, freeze and then hand them out to our friends and family.”
After he left Hatfield University, he set up his own property business and then ventured into the wedding market, supplying Bentleys Rolls Royces for weddings.
But it was when he worked at a food distributing company where he supplied ethnic food to different independent grocers.
He said: “Working there opened me up to the world of food. That’s where I decided I wanted to build my own brand of food products as I would distribute lots of different products from around the world.”
This was the catalyst that got Ajay’s chocolate covered ball rolling, as he became the manager of the new food company, Fresh off the boat foods UK Ltd, with the chocomosa as one of his first products.
Ajay said: “The idea came to me from supplying the market with normal samosas, where I had seen how popular the frozen samosa market has been all year round as we used to deliver pallet loads on a weekly basis and that’s where it got me thinking.”
After finding a factory to produce his products on a mass scale, and coming up with a funky design, chocomosa was born and ready to be displayed at the Halal food exhibition, where they sold out and met a representative of Morrisons who tried and loved the creation.
He said: “It was quite an overwhelming feeling to be picked up by such a large supermarket. You hear stories of how people try for years to get noticed by some of the big brands and now that we have its just the most nerve racking and exciting feeling.”
Now selling at selected branches of the supermarket, chocomosa is available to buy, being stored in the freezer isle.
Ajay said: “I think my future plans will involved launching a whole new range, where I could put a twist on a lot of known products already out there.”
He added: “My aim is to let the whole country maybe even the world know about a chocomosa. If you don’t like them that’s fine, but if you do like them, then its good to know that people out there are enjoying my work.”
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