MAKING FOOD AESTHETICALLY PLEASING TO THE EYES IS MY SPECIALITY - CEO FOOD FASHION FUSION
By Kemi Mobuse - Tuesday, March 29, 2016
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| “Our selling point is really taking everyday ingredients and transforming them into extraordinary food. We also aim to use a lot of local produce wherever possible. And I hope that we can give not just Nigeria, but Nigerian cuisine an appeal that crosses cultures.” – Nkem Odewunmi, Founder and CEO of Food, Fashion and Fusion. |
Food,
fashion and Fusion (FFF) was founded by Nkem Odewunmi, a lawyer who
had spent several years in the corporate and non-profit sectors and
interestingly had no formal culinary training. But the sight and aroma of the
gorgeous (permit me to use this word) dishes tells otherwise. She is really
good and passionate about food. It shows.
Nkem says she has been cooking since she was about eight
years old and even as a child she was always intrigued by food – the flavours,
the colours, the textures, the preparation and the eating experience. According
to her, “Even as a child, I would know if I enjoyed something or something
tasted terrible.” “I was that child that would put something in my mouth and
would immediately be able to discern the flavours”.
On how she came about the phrase Food Fashion Fusion, she
had this to say. “When I started a blog, I was writing about my interest in
Food and Fashion; things I liked, trends, things I was doing, things I was
buying, things I was wearing. But when I started the company, because of the
manner in which I go about preparing my food and eventually presenting the
food, I coined what I call “Food Fashion”. So Food Fashion Fusion, beyond just
a delicious wholesome meal, is about beautiful, aesthetically pleasing food;
this is what Food Fashion Fusion is all about.”
She claims she found support in her family who urged her to
go into business and in fact invested in the business after they saw the demand
for her food. Aptly stated on her website, “FFF is a love child that has
been nurtured by all who love me and love good food. I have the
best support I could ask for. My amazing husband and children keep me
grounded while lovingly appreciating and critiquing my culinary
endeavors.”
On her experience over the past years, she admits that “it
has been very revealing”. I started off this business, informally, about three
years ago. A year into it when I realised it would be a viable venture, I went
ahead and fulfilled all the statutory requirements of registering a company,
getting corporate bank accounts. So technically it has been a legal entity for
about two years now. We are in our third year of operations.
“It has been a very organic growth. So I started in my
kitchen, in my home… tiny kitchen. I was just making do with the resource I had
available. I was the only staff in the company for the longest time. And after
two years I was able to map, you know, develop a business plan and with the
support of family and friends who so kindly invested in the company, I was able
to take the very bold, scary, logic defying step of stepping out to setup an
independent office facility where I could operate from and recruit staff and
expand my operations.”
She mentions staffing as a major issue that she is still
contending with this. “Just yesterday I conducted interviews looking for people
to bring onboard. It hasn’t been a very pleasant experience. And it is quite
shocking to me. I have held positions where I had to recruit staff; young
graduates for different jobs, and at the time I thought the quality of
graduates was bad. If I had known what I was going to experience a few years
later, maybe I would have been more lenient or more accommodating. But right
now I am hopeful I would eventually find the right people”.
Nkem admits the internet has helped in the promotion of her
business. Yes she gets most of her orders via referrals, she says that an
appreciable number of people get in touch with her via her website, blog, Facebook andInstagram pages.
Food Fashion Fusion is going places. Nkem was an official
contributor to Expo
Milano 2015 and she is currently a member of Kitchen Connection.
Kitchen Connection links
people from all over the world through an online social media community and
through live video session to either cook together, eat together, or simply
share tips, while contributing to the alleviation of global hunger through its
partnership with Action Against
Hunger.
Every month, Kitchen Connection focuses on a country and
their food and culture. The month of May is Nigeria Month on Kitchen
Connection. The Nigerian cuisine will be showcased and Nkem will be featured
via a live cooking session making an authentic Nigeria meal. The proceeds from
her session will be contributed to Action Against
Hunger.
Nkem would continue to promote good food and Nigerian
cuisine and hopes it would become mainstream globally very soon. She plans to
develop more recipes and document the tasty delicacies of Food Fashion and
Fusion.
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