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By Naomi Marshall
The secret to any appetizing, mouth-watering meal is the addition of the right condiments. Adding the right condiments to a dish usually results in achieving the desired texture, flavour, juiciness and visual appearance.
In Linden, Auntie Annie’s Condiments have been causing a buzz for the past years and have become the preferred additives for a good home cooked meal by many families due to its authentic taste and exceptional quality.
Auntie Annie’s Condiments produces pepper sauce, green seasoning, tamarind achar and mango achar. The business is owned by 22-year-old Keigell Carroll and his mother, Angelica Fortune of Mackenzie Linden.
In an interview with Village Voice News, Carrol related that the business was birthed by his mother who is commonly known as ‘auntie Annie,’ who came up with the recipe to her peculiar condiments some years ago, hence the business was named after her.
According to Carroll, in the past his mother made the condiments, upon request, for persons locally and those going overseas. However, as time went by, Fortune and her son were encouraged by friends and family to turn it into a business and in January 2020, the mother and son duo launched their business, Auntie Annie’s Condiments.
“We got registered in 2020 but we use to make these products on a regular basis for persons to carry to the States or for their use here in Guyana. After a while we started selling the products because someone told us that it is not fair that we do stuff for free,” Carroll said.
Carroll related that the business has grown significantly over the years.
“When we started we use to buy 10 containers for each of the four products so that is 40 containers for one month and sometimes all would not sell out in that month. However, now even though we are in the pandemic, if we buy 100 containers for one month those products would be sell out as soon as we are done producing and then sometimes we would have to go and restock. I think we have grown exponentially since the conception,” Carrol explained.
Auntie Annie’s Condiments are currently being offered in Linden and Georgetown on through the pick up or delivery methods since the products are not yet in stores.
Auntie Annie’s Condiments is currently in the process of adding other condiment products to its list. In the future, Carrol and his mother is looking to turn Auntie Annie’s Condiments into an “empire” that will be able to offer its products countrywide and overseas and provide employment to many.
Carroll is also a final year medical student. He noted that while dealing with business and school can be a bit challenging he manages to strike a balance through effective scheduling.
“I usually have a day put aside to get stuff together for the business. Mostly I would look after business stuff on the weekend and leave weekdays for school and that is how I strike a balance,” he related.
For students who are also entrepreneur Carroll indicated that doing everything one step at a time may decrease frustration and assist in striking a balance. Carroll is encouraging persons who are interest in starting a business to make quality a priority. “I think quality is one of the most important things when doing business and it should be your main priority so if you have a business or product in line and you cannot produce a quality that is long lasting then you could probably reevaluate your stuff and then try again,” he noted.
Interested persons can visit Auntie Annie’s Condiments page on Facebook or call 6561197 and 6677129 or message 6840320 on WhatsApp.
