From source to sauce

A cookery course at Ballymaloe led Arun Kapil to leave the music business in London to start a food business in Cork in 2007.

What is special about your business? We produce fresh whole spices and proprietary blends for use at home and in the professional kitchen. The business is family-run, both here in Cork and in Moradabad, India, where family members source the spices for us.

What sets your products apart in your sector? Our focus is fresh spices. They come from partner farms in India and make the trip from source to sauce in just eight weeks. All our products are certified Halal, gluten-free and vegan-friendly.

What have been your biggest challenges? Funding the supply chain, ensuring business expansion is achieved in a sustainable way and remaining open to new opportunities. The Tesco/Bord Bia supplier development programme was vital in this respect. They provided us with the necessary guidance to drive the business forward successfully. Of the three, managing our cash flow is the most demanding as there is a big gap between us paying up front for our raw materials and being paid in turn by our customers for finished product.

What have been your biggest successes? Reaching the point where we employ 10 people, our initial listing with Tesco and breaking into the export market. Our products are now available in 100 Irish Tesco stores, in 141 SuperValus and in 13 Dunnes outlets. In addition, we are selling at butcher's counters and delicatessens in 145 food shops in Ireland and 55 food specialist outlets in the UK. In quarter one 2015, we hope to be listed in an additional 800-1,200 Tesco stores in the UK.

What key piece of advice would you give to someone starting a business? Never sacrifice the quality of your product and continue to pay attention to the small details. Product quality is key and the reason your company will be successful. Our priorities for both our products and our business are quality, integrity and efficacy in everything we do.

Whom do you admire most in business and why? Those who started from nothing and have developed strong businesses through their own tenacity and willingness to take a risk. For example, Karan Bilimoria (Cobra Beer), Marc Amand, the founder of La Rousse Foods, and my father Dr Gyan Kapil, a general practitioner and entrepreneur in the healthcare sector.

What two things could the Government do to help SMEs in the current environment? Develop more programmes to help local suppliers and artisans develop the expertise to expand and access new markets. Put more pressure on the banks to increase their appetite for risk. In your experience, are the banks lending to SMEs currently? No. Again, I think it's about risk appetite. The food industry, particularly the spice business, doesn't follow a conventional model and lenders are afraid to get involved. I think the institutions don't know enough about non-traditional businesses to make informed decisions.

What is the biggest mistake you've made in business? If I had to identify one fault, it would be taking people at their word. But really I don't see decisions that go wrong as mistakes. You decide a strategy based on the best research and market intelligence backed by a strong financial position. If it doesn't work out, you have to be flexible, change direction and move on decisively.

What is the most frustrating part of running a small business? The sheer variety of the various challenges and myriad of issues involved.We used up a lot of energy and all of our money launching the company and getting the products on to the shelves.

What is your business worth and would you sell it? Good question. Don't you need to bring in the professionals and get them to put a value on it? Regardless, the answer is no! In conversation with Olive Keogh