Background
Authentic Curries and World Foods produce a variety of ready-made meals using home style cooking methods for retail, restaurants, pubs, local authorities and major supermarket chain cafes. The company’s 30 employees manufacture over 100 different products at their BRCGS Food Safety, Grade AA certified factory in Rhondda Cynon Taff.
David Smith and Paul Trotman founded the company in 1996 after Paul stayed at David’s Pembrokeshire motel and saw how customers travelled far and wide to sample David’s curries. The two saw the potential in a joint business venture and decided to set up The Authentic Curry Company.
Support from ZERO2FIVE
ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre has a long history of providing Authentic Curries and World Foods with technical support in areas such as internal auditing against BRCGS Food Safety standards and training in HACCP and basic food safety.
Due to new working practices resulting from COVID-19, a ZERO2FIVE technologist delivered internal auditing remotely against BRCGS. This helped the company to prepare for their first remote BRCGS audit in May 2021, which the company successfully passed with a Grade AA.
Instead of delivering the usual face to face food safety training for members of staff, a ZERO2FIVE technologist developed training booklets which the technical manager at Authentic Curry was able to use directly with staff members onsite.
Finally, Authentic Curries made good use of Food Innovation Wales’s COVID-19 tool kit to ensure they followed best practice with regards to pandemic guidelines and restrictions.
Benefits of the support
As a result of the company maintaining their BRCGS Food Safety certification they have been able to secure two additional customers, launch 15 new products and retain sales of over half a million pounds. This includes a range of low-calorie meals for a local health authority and low carbohydrate meals for a Welsh online business who help their customers follow reduced carbohydrate diets.
Paul Trotman, Managing Director of Authentic Curries:
“The support we’ve received from ZERO2FIVE has benefited us no end. It’s been invaluable to have expertise from outside, coming in and auditing us in preparation for BRCGS. All of the involvement we have had with Cardiff Met University has been amazing and it helps things run a lot more smoothly.”
