UK Food & Drink Success Stories: Q&A with Black Mamba Chilli founder, Claudia Castellanos, about getting a listing in Abel & Cole

Over the years, Bread & Jam has actively supported the growth of thousands of food startups, from emerging brands getting their first specialty retailer to more established players scoring national supermarket listings. As part of our Success Story series, we’re highlighting fellow challenger brands who have seen some wins, and ask them a few questions. Since their launch, Black Mamba’s sauces have been awarded multiple Great Taste Awards and have been listed in Abel & Cole. In this Q&A, Claudia discusses the successes and challenges of their start-up journey, and how Bread & Jam Festival helped them along the way.

1. Tell us about Black Mamba Chilli, how did it all start?

Black Mamba started from the back of my kitchen in 2010, in Eswatini (former Swaziland). I arrived here in 2008 as a volunteer, after a stint in corporate life in Italy, to find purpose. While volunteering, I learnt that it was possible to have a real, positive impact by working with local rural communities. Black Mamba was born soon after, taking the idea that my now husband had of creating a fun, and modern, chilli sauce, and mixing it with my idea of working in development of communities and women and also threading lightly on the planet. We launched in a very popular festival called Bush Fire in 2010, where we sold all 420 bottles we had made! The rest, as they say, is history.

2. How did you go from an idea to an actual product, and did you encounter any challenges along the way? 

In our case, we took an idea that Joe (my husband)’s sister had created, and we tweaked it literally in the back of our kitchen, to make sure it would had fresh ingredients that could be sourced locally and, as we say in our labels, “no added nonsense”. The sauce was bold and robust and with herbs and spices, and it became an instant hit: this is nowadays our Cayenne Chilli Sauce, that remains the most popular in our range.

Further on, we have developed many more products in our range, with the distinct trademark of “made with chillies” (it couldn’t be otherwise when you’re named after the most dangerous snake in Africa!).

We always look at 3 things when developing products: They need to have an African take, locally sourced ingredients that we can buy from the small holder farmers we work with (that grow the produce following permaculture principles), and that also take into consideration what is happening and trending in our food category. Besides our collection of award-winning chilli sauces (they have all been awarded Great Taste awards in different years), this has led to launch innovative products like our Basil & Cayenne Pesto (made with locally grown macadamias), our hot honey (locally harvested from small bee-keepers and infused with cayenne chillies) and our chilli crunch, this new flavour and texture sensation with our very own African twist

Challenges along the way: many! Financial resources, and also distance with our main markets were (and still are) some of them.

3. Congrats on getting listed in Abel & Cole! Tell us how that happened.

It all started at Bread and Jam last year. I was very lucky to be supported by ITC (International Trade Centre) to attend this amazing event, and to be mentored and prepared by Karen Green for my pitching submissions. One of the ones we got was Abel & Cole. Back then I started communicating with their Business Development Manager, and being very constant at always following up, sending him news and relevant information about Black Mamba and in essence, being top of mind. They didn’t have a buyer for our category at the time, and were working on launching their “beyond organic” initiative where Black Mamba could fit very well, thanks to our impact background and our work with farmers in Africa. Back then we didn’t have a distributor either, and this was part of the homework, so we could have product landed in the UK for Abel & Cole. The whole process took a while, literally 12 months, but I think having a relevant offer that would fit their needs, finding a supportive distributor (Key Brands International) as well as keeping constantly in touch all contributed in getting us our listing.

4. What do you think your pitch at the Bread & Jam Festival was successful? Any tips for others hoping to pitch? 

I think my pitch was successful because I prepared a lot, following Karen’s suggestions: I mentioned everything that a buyer might be interested to know about Black Mamba: our story, our offer, how we would be a great addition for the UK market and also for Abel & Cole, how we were willing to support the growth of our brand. I brought great visuals and samples with me as well, as this always help, and I think I brought enough passion and energy and good vibes to make me at least not easy to forget for the BDM. I think the Colombian accent also helped lol.

5. Would you advise other food and drink brands to come to the Bread & Jam Festival?

Absolutely! It was a fantastic event. Not only for the great opportunity to be able to pitch to buyers, but I loved how useful and fun it was. I learnt a lot more about the UK food and specialty food ecosystem, I created great connections with other food brands and suppliers, and also learnt a great deal during all the panels and additional features. I would also highly recommend the Tasting Panel and the Pod Pod to hear from experts about how you could potentially improve your brand.

6. Any other nuggets of wisdom/advice to share with other food brands starting out?

I think the key aspects are to be persistent, consistent and to stay relevant. If you are passionate enough about your offer (and why you are bringing it to the market), if you truly believe you are bringing something different and better and if you are constantly communicating your main key points (in other words, if you put yourself out there), it is a matter of time before you make an impact. It usually takes long for things to happen, but with these 3 aspects in mind, I am 100% sure a food brand will be successful.