Ginger adds right spice to healthy life

“If there are two lessons from Ginger Love’s start that I can pass on to people wanting to launch a small company, the first is love the product, and the second is don’t go into debt,” co-founder of Ginger Love, Simon Klaasen, said.

“Our whole family is petrified of debt. Of course, most companies need finance to get going, but I was determined to keep costs down. We worked from a kitchen, our families were our staff and our overheads were almost zero.”

Virginia Brown, Klaasen’s partner, said they have an almost spiritual connection to ginger, which she concedes is unusual, and not easy to replicate.

“But if you are really proud of your service or product that should do it.”

While Ginger Love is in the honeymoon stage of development, Klaasen said there are similarities to the empire started by Cape Town’s Ina Paarman, founder of Paarman Foods, which today is an iconic South African brand.

In 1982, Paarman abandoned a lecturing career, started a cooking school in her garage, and then started sauce manufacturing. Her family invested, her son joined her, and within a few years Paarman Foods products was in every large retailer.

Ginger Love’s kick-off is almost identical. Kitchen start, family funding, and the owners are also the workers.

“We now have a big staff, especially reps, and we are looking at larger premises. However, our work ethic has not changed. We live for this brand. Cut costs, love the product, trust people, and work hard. That’s how one starts a company, and hopefully, as we extend product range, we are Paarman of the future.”