A handcrafted food business, which started life in a family kitchen only last year, is going from strength to strength thanks to the owner’s unique spin on the traditional scotch egg – including a version rolled in Bombay mix.
Jackie Williamson launched Noni’s Family Kitchen from her home in south Leicestershire in 2018, producing gourmet scotch eggs, muffins and scones, and priding herself on using free range eggs and locally sourced ingredients.
It has been such a success that in the last six months her scotch egg production has grown from 40 to 500 a week, and the business has taken on its first member of staff.
Jackie sells her food to other businesses that share her passion for quality food, and members of the public, and also supplies vegetarian, vegan and gluten free alternatives from her home in Broughton Astley.
She started making scotch eggs after getting fed up at the lack of healthy savoury alternatives while she was on a diet.
They were so popular with friends and family that when she lost her job supporting adult carers last autumn she started selling them at craft fairs.
They all use locally sourced pork sausage meat, baked crumbs and free-range eggs from a local farm.
As well as a traditional varieties using herbs from her own garden, she has created a chorizo egg using fine orange crumbs mixed with paprika, a sausage, chips and beans version – in a potato chip stick crumb – and a Bombay egg, which are available in pork, vegan or vegetarian, made with spices and rolled in Bombay mix.
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She said despite her success she has no plans for mass production, as she wants to maintain a personal touch.
Jackie has been helped by the Collaborate business support project, run by Leicester City Council on behalf of a consortium of public and private sector partners, backed by the European Regional Development Fund.
One of the partners, the East Midlands Food and Drink Forum, has given her free advice with things such as getting her Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points certificate so that she can continue to supply businesses such as micro pubs, delis, butchers and garden centres.
She is the first person to get approval for making products using eggs and meat in her own home kitchen in Leicestershire, and things are going so well she has just taken on her daughter, Jemma as her first employee.
Jackie has also been invited to go to the House of Commons in October with a delegation of other food and drink businesses organised by Harborough District Council to showcase what the area has to offer.
She said: “Although I love selling to the public it’s wonderful working with other business people who often have that special appreciation for good quality food and drink.
“Although my kitchen has a five-star hygiene rating, it’s much more complicated when dealing business-to-business over a certain percentage of sales rather than the public.
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“The red tape has been phenomenal, and I had to get help if I was going to trade with other businesses.
“The support from Collaborate means I can trade confidently with any size organisation knowing I have all the right legislation in place.”
Jignesh Parekh, technical assistant at the Food and Drink Forum said: “Noni’s Family Kitchen had a few challenges for the approval process with the local council in order to start trading business-to-business.
“We enabled the business to put together all the documentation to meet the requirements and advised Jackie on the various food safety criteria for scotch egg manufacturing.
“I am really pleased that the business has gained the approval with the local council and now growing.”