Atacost Food Ltd

Store-bought sauces and marinades often contain preservatives, excessive salt, and artificial additives. Althea set out to change that, creating a marinated sauce and seasoning blends using natural ingredients with known health benefits. Her project Atacost Food doesn’t only offer a healthier alternative, but also aims to educate the community on how the natural ingredients she uses, such as turmeric, garlic, ginger, and thyme, can contribute to better health.

Why did you think your project was important to address health and wellbeing in your community?
Many store-bought seasonings and marinades contain unhealthy ingredients that can contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health issues. This project provided a natural and nutritious alternative. Education was a key aspect of my work: By discussing the health benefits of different ingredients, the project encouraged people to be more mindful of their diets. Being present at farmers markets and local events allowed me to have direct conversations with customers, helping them understand the importance of healthy eating choices. 

What's something that's surprised you in this process?
The challenges of pricing and selling: Finding the right balance between keeping the product affordable for the community while ensuring a sustainable business model was more difficult than I expected. Some retailers wanted to mark up prices significantly, which felt unfair.

Related to that, getting products into supermarkets was more complicated than I expected: The process of securing supermarket partnerships is long and involves strict requirements, something that required networking and expert guidance.

That being said, the strong community response was amazing: Customers were highly engaged, often asking about the health benefits of the product. Some even requested bulk orders after learning about the nutritional value.

What change would you like to see so that more people can be empowered to make decisions on the issues that affect them?
Quite a lot! For starters, more education on food and nutrition: Many people are unaware of how certain ingredients affect their health. Providing accessible information through community workshops, social media, and product labelling would help people make better dietary choices.

Greater support for small food businesses is also needed: Navigating funding, regulations, and retail opportunities can be difficult. Having mentorship programmes, funding opportunities, and simplified supermarket entry processes would allow more local entrepreneurs to succeed.

Community-driven markets are so important: Expanding initiatives like the Black Farmers Market would create more opportunities for small and Black-owned businesses and increase access to fresh, local, and healthy food options.

That brings to my last point, better financial accessibility: Ensuring healthy, natural products remain affordable is crucial. More subsidies, grants, or partnerships could help small businesses keep prices reasonable while maintaining quality.