A Ghanaian, Mary Kukua Anderson, is bringing the flavours of Ghana to Wales through her home-based food business.
After having her son, the Ghanaian mother sought an entrepreneurial path that would allow her to work flexibly.
‘Since becoming a mother to my son Ronen, I realised the challenges of returning to a conventional full-time job,’ Mary told the ITV News network. ‘I sought a way to work from home, and I noticed a gap in the market for African restaurants in areas like Pontypridd, Treforest, and Taffs Well.’
On Valentine’s Day (February 14), she organised a gathering for the University of South Wales Ghana society, demonstrating her culinary talents and Ghanaian flavours, which marked a big advancement in her path.
‘Opening my own food service was initially suggested as a joke by friends, but I saw it as a genuine opportunity,’ Mary said.
‘I began by cooking for friends, and soon my passion for sharing my cultural cuisine turned into a burgeoning business,’ she added.
Mary personally delivers her homemade food to guests, making sure they taste the real flavours of Ghana, while primarily travelling on foot. ‘Sometimes it’s raining, and you need to go and deliver. You can’t cancel because you need to keep the people coming. I don’t have a car.
‘But when I get an order, I check the postcode, and if it is a 20-minute walk, then I’ll deliver it,’ she said.
Despite juggling the responsibilities of parenting and her expanding business, Mary is upbeat about the future. ‘I hope to open a restaurant right here in Pontypridd. But not just a restaurant but also a bar,’ she shared enthusiastically. ‘All the decorations will be inspired by Africa so when you come in, you will feel like you’re at home.’
Her main objective is to create a warm environment with African flavours and ambience that makes guests feel at home. ‘Right now, I’m not making any money, but it’s satisfying that someone’s getting my food and enjoying it,’ she expressed. ‘Hopefully, they come back again to order.’
For Mary, this is a business endeavour that fulfils her goal to be involved in her son’s upbringing in addition to being an entrepreneurial endeavour.
‘When I’m cooking, he wants to be picked up, and when I pick him up, he just wants to see what I’m doing.
‘It makes the purpose of why I started this in the first place complete because I wanted to be here with him and not leaving him in a nursery or with a carer,’ she concluded.
